Chris Drury is on this team because he is Chris Drury

Sporting News, Feb. 20, 2010:

On the day before Team USA's biggest game of the Vancouver Olympics, American general manager Brian Burke stopped to chat with a small group of reporters, including Sporting News' Craig Custance. Burke shared his thoughts about Sunday's showdown against Canada, the Winter Games and a few other hot topics.

What does this game against Canada on Sunday mean to your young team?
Playing the tournament favorite in front of a rabid crowd: It's going to be a good test for our group.

How do you handle Canada's size?
We've got some size, too. We've just got to try and get some line matchups the way we want them. We purposely brought some beef for that reason.

What have you been most pleased with about Team USA?
The goaltender (Ryan Miller) has lived up to his billing so far. I think you've seen how (coach) Ronnie (Wilson) has juggled the lines a bit. We've tried to have a versatile group of players. I think we've demonstrated that guys can move up and down the lineup. Because we have some small skill guys, we deliberately brought some sides of beef. That's going to be important tomorrow.

These Olympics have been called the Glitch Games because of some of the things that have gone wrong. Do you agree with that?
I think that's (bull). I've been to four Winter Olympics; this is the best one I've been to in terms of organization. You're going to have glitches in an event this size, this many people, logistical things, with multiple venues. You're going to have glitches. I don't know why people are whining about it. I think it's been extraordinarily well run. This is my fourth one, it's not like I'm a novice. I think they've done a marvelous job here. I wish people would quit bitching about it.


USA's Chris Drury celebrates after scoring against Norway in the first period on Thursday in Vancouver. (Julie Jacobson/Associated Press) via cbc.ca

There was some debate about Chris Drury being on this team, but he has played well. Does that validate that selection?
I'm not interested in being redeemed or validated. We either got the right group and we are going to have success or we didn't and we're not. As far as Chris Drury, like I said at the time, Chris Drury is on this team because he is Chris Drury. That's all you need to say about Chris Drury. He's a winner and he's a leader. We can count on him to do the right thing in every situation on the ice; we can count on him to help the younger players. I'm just thrilled that he is here and, so far, he has played well.

You started at noon (Pacific time) in the first two games. What do you think of the noon starts?
I think playing at noon sucks. I think it is very hard for NHL players to play at noon. But we've played two games at noon and you haven't heard a word about it (from) our team. Not one player has complained about it and we won't because our theory is no complaints, no excuses. That's our team motto in Toronto. A complaint is a prelude to an excuse, and an excuse is a prelude to losing, and so it's no complaints and no excuses. Now that we played the two games, now I will say that I don't like playing at noon. We didn't complain about it. That's what I'm saying. If people complain about the ice being bad, play at noon — the ice is fine.

Go USA!

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