Defense Key for Team USA

With 53 games behind him and the first Olympic faceoff only four weeks away, Team USA Coach Tim Taylor remains concerned about his hockey players’ defensive shortcomings.

“In selecting this team, we looked for speed, skill and hockey sense, and in doing that, we perhaps did not look at the defensive end of the game,” he said. “We ended up with a team with a lot of players who are skilled and gifted offensively. In losing to San Jose (5-4 last Saturday) we took 38 shots and held them to 18. We scored four goals, which has to be enough to win a hockey game. We’ve got to keep working on our defense.”

Taylor expects tonight’s game against Canada at Denver’s McNichols Arena to be an Olympic preview. The teams will meet in the third game of the Olympic tournament on Feb. 17 at Lillehammer, Norway.

The U.S. team is 33-15-5 in its pre-Olympic games, 5-1-1 against Canada.