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Don Waddell sees better things ahead for USA Hockey's national teams
The USA has been forced to answer many questions about its player recruitment process after last year's disappointing 13th-place finish at the IIHF World Championships. The Americans showed up with a much stronger roster at this year's tournament in the Czech Republic, but team management is still under pressure to get the best and brightest American-born stars to come out. IHWC.NET's Jenny Wiedeke sat down with USA Assistant General Manager Don Waddell to ask him about this year's team and what lies ahead for USA Hockey in international competition.
IHWC.NET: This year's team is a vast improvement over last year's squad. What do you think are the reasons for the upgrade?
Don Waddell: I think it's a combination of a few things. Last year, I think everyone involved with USA Hockey was at some point embarrassed by what happened with our finish, so this year we made a strong effort to make everyone aware of the importance of this tournament. There was no misunderstanding what this year's World Championships means to USA Hockey. The World Cup also plays a small part, and there are some guys that are looking forward to having a chance to prove themselves here. But I also think the pool of available players is better this year.
IHWC.NET: What would you like to say to the players that turned you down this year?
Waddell: What was disappointing was there were a lot of young players that said no to this great opportunity. This is what they do for a living, they play hockey and there's a hockey tournament going on right now. The players here understand that and want to be here playing hockey. Older guys like Mike Modano and Billy Guerin have been through this before and answered the call several times, so we understand when they don't come. We don't expect those guys to come to every World Championships. We're disappointed with the guys that have only been in the league for three to five years and are getting their first opportunity to play here and say no. To say you’re tired from the season is a pretty poor excuse.
IHWC.NET: Do you think that now that the USA's junior teams are experiencing success, we'll see more of the younger players coming to the World Championships when asked?
Waddell: Success breeds success. Once you win, you want to win again. Winning solves a lot of problems. This past World Junior Championship was a big step for USA Hockey, and eventually a lot of those 22 players will go on to play pro hockey and be asked to play in this tournament. We hope the trend will continue and we'll get the right players to come.
IHWC.NET: How do you react come Olympic time when the "stars" start calling you for spots on the team, but they have continually said no to events like the World Championships?
Waddell: The interesting thing is that we're just starting to associate the Olympics and World Championships and World Cup together. We started with the management of the teams with myself, Larry Pleau (General Manager) and Peter Laviolette (Head Coach) on the staffs of both this team and the World Cup. I think that will in time help. If there's a player here that does an excellent job for us, then he's going to have a leg up on a player that said no. If in the end two players are equal, the player that was here will have an advantage because we know him. Now of course players that are in the playoffs or that are veterans (Modano, Guerin, etc.) and have already played in numerous championships are not in this category. But the guys that are in the middle of the road are the ones that we would really like to see here.
IHWC.NET: What does USA Hockey need to do to instil the national pride that other nations like Sweden, Finland and Canada have in their national hockey teams?
Waddell: The World Championships do not get very much coverage in the U.S. When we ask players to come a lot of times they look at the negatives: "It's a long championship, I'm away from my family, it doesn't get much attention at home, etc." But what people don’t see are the many benefits to coming. I think it's starting with this year's team. If we can continue to have success, we'll get that pride. It's already started with the U20 team and this team here now. It's not going to happen overnight. Last year we hit the bottom, but we're moving forward and see some very positive things.
Jenny Wiedeke
Tomppa
