By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
To paraphrase a famous orator and the architect of the greatest sports moment of the 20th Century, Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik was born to be a hockey player.
OK, maybe not.
"I lived the first seven years of my life in San Francisco," Orpik was saying the other day. "I didn't even know what hockey was until we moved to Buffalo."
Let me try this again.
Julie Jacobson/Associated Press
Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik adjusts his helmet during the United States' practice at the Canada Hockey Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Monday.
Anybody named after Herb Brooks just had to gravitate to hockey sooner or later. Brooks coached the United States team to a staggering upset of Russia at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., after delivering one of the great motivational speeches of all time. Seven months after that amazing club secured the most unlikely gold medal in history, Orpik was born.
"My dad is from Boston and he liked hockey," Orpik said. "I don't know how he ever talked my mother into that name."
Here's guessing she didn't like Herb.
How proud Brooks would be of the way Orpik has turned out. As the Penguins' most physical defenseman and a key member of the 2009 Stanley Cup champions, to be sure. But especially as a proud U.S. Olympian.
Today, Orpik is in Vancouver, getting ready to pull on a red, white and blue sweater for Team USA's first game against Switzerland at the 2010 Games.
Too bad Brooks isn't alive to see it.
"I got to know him a little bit when I was at Wilkes-Barre," Orpik said of his minor league days when Brooks was working in the Penguins' scouting department. "[Former teammate] Colby Armstrong and I had dinner with him a couple of times. He loved helping players. He was a great guy."
Presumably, Brooks didn't share much about that 1980 triumph. It wasn't his way to brag. But Orpik heard plenty about Brooks and that fabulous team from two of its stars -- Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig -- when they spoke to the U.S. players at an Olympics orientation camp in suburban Chicago last summer.
"I think the biggest message they sent was telling us who we are representing," Orpik said. "It's bigger than our team. It's bigger than anything we could ever imagine."
The United States of America.
"What an honor," Orpik said.
It's not one that Orpik takes lightly. He didn't think much of his chances of making the team until the orientation camp for the prospective players.
There, the coaches told him to go back to the Penguins and do nothing more than keep playing his game this season, keep making sound decisions with the puck and, most of all, keep playing with that physical edge. Orpik did just that, helping the Penguins to second place in the Atlantic Division at the Olympic break, just one point behind the New Jersey Devils. He ranks fifth in the NHL with 195 hits.
The U.S. coaches rewarded Orpik by selecting him for the Olympic team.
Now, he will be asked to bang around the opposing stars in Vancouver. That means a few up-close-and-personal moments with Penguins teammate Sidney Crosby when the Americans play the Canadians Sunday.
"I don't think it will be that weird," Orpik said. "We go against each other in practice. We're both competitors. You can't let up on a guy like him. As soon as you do, he'll make you look pretty stupid."
The Canadians and Russians are considered heavy favorites, the Americans pretty much also-rans. That's OK with Orpik. Who knows better than a guy named after Herb Brooks that miracles really are possible?
"It's not a seven-game series where the best team almost always wins," Orpik said. "It's a short tournament, a one-game elimination when you get to the cross-over. It's going to come down to goaltending. We have a pretty good one."
The Buffalo Sabres' Ryan Miller.
Regardless of the outcome, Orpik plans on enjoying his Olympic experience to the max. He was disappointed the NHL players missed the opening ceremonies Friday night, but he plans on making up for it by getting out of the Olympic village and meeting some of the world's other great athletes.
It's not as if he'll lack for company. Former Penguins teammates Ryan Malone and Ryan Whitney also are on Team USA. Malone will be his roommate.
"I've already told him I'm going to need some sleep," Orpik said, grinning.
"It's going to be a blast."
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Maybe Orpik wasn't born to be a hockey player, but he sure is glad he became one.
Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
First published on February 16, 2010 at 12:00 am
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