Parise Excited for ‘Everything’ in Vancouver

Parise Excited for ‘Everything’ in Vancouver

January 20, 2010By Amy Gostkowski USAHockey.com Only a few short weeks remain until the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Olympic Winter games, and Team USA has even less time to come together as a team to face the world. Despite the upcoming challenges, Team USA alternate captain and New Jersey Devils forward Zach Parise is hopeful and excited for his first Olympic contest. What does it mean to you to be named an alternate captain on your first Olympic team? I went to the camp in 2006 before they went to Torino, and I didn’t expect to make it but it was good to see how things are somewhat run and get an idea. Then to watch it on TV you really start to get a little excitement about the next one. You start to think “Man I really want to be at the next one.” I was really excited and surprised to be named one of the alternate captains with all the guys on our team that are captains or alternate captains for their respective (NHL) teams so it is a big honor to be named one of the alternates. Zach Parise will serve as an alternate captain for Team USA in Vancouver. Obviously, it’ll be a bit of a challenge being thrown in with new players in such a short time and then competing for the gold. Do you think your past experience on World Junior and World Championship teams with some of the players will make it an easier transition? I think in the short term like that it’s really important to have some familiarity with each guy and that’s why I think that summer camp we had was pretty important. I think everyone before knew each other, but there you get to know each other a little better, you get to do things off the ice together. Every team, I think, has somewhat of an idea of who each guy is and are pretty comfortable with each guy. It’ll be tough, you only get one day of practice and then you’re thrown right into the first game, so any type of advantage you can find or familiarity with certain line mates or players, you’re going to have to use that to your advantage. What are you most excited about heading into Vancouver? I don’t think there’s anything I’m not excited about. I can’t wait for everything. Just the stage that it’s going to be on. Like you said we’ve played World Juniors and World Championships but this is the ultimate. That’s probably the thing I’m looking forward to most, just being one of the 13 best forwards in the country and you know you have your whole country watching. I think that’s going to be the most exciting thing. What will be the biggest challenge for the team at the Winter Games? We start with a pretty tough game against Switzerland, but I think the biggest challenge is going to be getting comfortable on the ice with the system, with the players, with the way each different player plays and reacting off of each other. I think that’s going to be the biggest challenge for every team, and whoever is able to do that the quickest is going to have the most success early. You don’t want to wait two games to be comfortable playing with each other. All of a sudden you could be on the outside looking in. U.S. teams have been on a roll lately with World Women’s Championships, World Junior Championships and Under-17 World Hockey Challenge. Can Team USA keep that going and bring home an Olympic gold? I think there are a handful of teams that really have a legitimate shot to be in the gold-medal game. Hopefully we’re one of those teams. I think we have just as good a chance as anybody. In the short term you have a goalie that’s hot for one game and all of a sudden you find yourself playing for a medal. And Ryan Miller’s been playing well all season. You never know. Anything can happen and I think we’ll be one of the teams that does have a chance for sure. Do you think your time playing with Canadian goaltender Martin Brodeur in the Devils organization will give you an edge when facing Team Canada in February? Well I think the more you play with him the more you learn about him. You learn how competitive he is. Hopefully Jamie [Langenbrunner] and I will be able to take one or two things and spread the word to our teammates and maybe sneak one or two by him. It’s definitely a lot nicer playing with him, though I’ve never played against him, but it’s nice to have him defending your own net.

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