Ex-NHL Star Mullen Supports U.S. Effort

Although he was once an NHL All-Star, Brian Mullen was content to remain in the background of the United States’ 13-2 victory over Germany Saturday in a pool-play game of the In-Line Hockey World Championships at Disney Ice.

“I haven’t scored in the tournament yet,” Mullen said. “But as long as the team is winning, I don’t care about that.”

Mullen’s teammates scored six consecutive goals to close the first half and break open a 2-2 game. The United States also held the Germans scoreless for a 29 1/2-minute stretch.

The victory set up tonight’s showdown at Disney Ice between top-seeded United States (3-0) and second-seeded Canada (3-0). Tonight’s 7:30 contest is a rematch of last year’s gold-medal game, won by the United States, 13-5.

“I don’t want this to sound like it’s going to be this big rivalry or anything,” U.S. defenseman Joe Cook said. “It’s just another game on the way to the finals. We’re all buddies and it’s going to be a hard game.”

Saturday’s game was tough early for the United States before it broke it open by scoring four goals in the final 3 minutes 40 seconds of the second quarter to take an 8-2 lead at halftime.

Chris Valicevic had three goals and three assists and Cook, formerly of the Bullfrogs, had three goals and two assists. Teammate Scott Drevitch added two goals and four assists and Joe Burton had two goals and two assists.

Mullen, 35, didn’t score Saturday, but he has tallied 260 goals and 362 assists during an 11-year NHL career that included an appearance in the 1989 NHL All-Star game as a member of the New York Rangers.

Mullen hadn’t played any high-level competitive hockey since he retired from the New York Islanders in 1993, and he didn’t faced any until his first workout at Disney Ice Tuesday with the U.S. team.

“I’m still getting the cobwebs out,” Mullen said.

Mullen, who works in the NHL fan development program, isn’t a stranger to roller hockey. He grew up playing the sport in his neighborhood near the old Madison Square Gardens in New York.

“There was only one ice rink there in the early ‘60s and the only ice time we got was from midnight to 6 a.m.,” Mullen said. “So, our team practiced on roller skates, you know, the old quad-skates with the steel wheels that you wore until the wheels ground down to the size of a dime.

“So what am I doing playing here? In some ways, I can help legitimize this sport. And if I never had played roller hockey when I was growing up, I probably never would have made it to the NHL.”

In other games:

Canada 15, Switzerland 5--Gerry St. Cyr, Brent Thurston and Glen Metropolit each scored three goals for Canada (3-0).

Finland 10, Russia 5--Jarkko Ruutu scored three goals for Finland (1-2). Russia is 1-2.

Italy 9, Australia 5--Fabio Armani scored three goals for Italy (3-0).

Czech Republic 14, Netherlands 4--Michal Konecny scored three goals for the Czech Republic (3-0).