BEIJING (AP) 鈥� David Quinn has heard a thing or two about the U.S. being the youngest team at the Olympics and does not believe it's a bad thing.
鈥淥bviously we are young, but it鈥檚 no reason we can鈥檛 have success,鈥� the U.S. coach said.
The Americans go into their tournament opener Thursday against host China with an average age of 25. That's younger than the defending champion Russians at 27 and rival sa国际传媒 at 30.
They'll also get another young star soon, with North Dakota defenseman Jake Sanderson expected to arrive in Beijing late Thursday night or early Friday morning after being stuck in Los Angeles in virus protocol. Quinn called it something of a best-case scenario that Sanderson is joining and could play this weekend when the U.S. faces sa国际传媒 and Germany.
鈥淚鈥檓 just so glad he鈥檚 coming,鈥� said forward Matty Beniers, who at 19 is the youngest player on the U.S. roster. 鈥淗e deserves to be here. Freak things are happening like this all the time now, and I鈥檓 just really happy that he was able to get through it, battle through it. He鈥檚 coming, and he鈥檚 going to be a big part of this team, so it鈥檚 going to be good to have him.鈥�
Counting Sanderson, the U.S has eight players under 21, including Michigan teammates Beniers and Brendan Brisson and Boston University goaltender Drew Commesso. It's no secret the U.S. is fast, and that speed was on display in a pre-Olympic scrimmage against sa国际传媒 earlier in the week, and now it's up to players to turn that into winning hockey.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be buzzing around, and we鈥檙e going to be able to play a full 60 minutes and not get tired,鈥� Brisson said. 鈥淲e use our legs a lot. I feel like when we have the puck, we鈥檙e going to be making good plays. And if we get the puck back right after we lose it, if we鈥檙e moving our feet, we鈥檙e going to have it the whole game and that鈥檚 really important to winning.鈥�
The U.S. should be able to score goals in bunches with a talented team that includes . The key to how far the Americans can go in the Olympics is how well they keep the puck out of their own net.
Some of that is on Commesso and 23-year-old goalie Strauss Mann, but youthful exuberance can often lead to mistakes and turnovers all over the ice, and Quinn hopes to keep those to a minimum.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we鈥檝e been focusing on the past couple of days here: playing without the puck so we can get it back and just making sure we鈥檙e moving our feet and reloading and doing everything to get it back and do what we can do,鈥� Brisson said.
Quinn called it a 鈥渧ery coachable group鈥� and has already noticed improvement in a handful of practices. He's preaching good structure and the importance of defending, but the U.S. identity will be speed and skill.
鈥淲e want them to play,鈥� Quinn said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want them overthinking out there. We want them to understand when to make a play and when to live another day.鈥�
Minnesota-Duluth forward Noah Cates thinks the U.S. can 鈥減lay with pace and make it uncomfortable for teams.鈥� Much like the idea that you can't teach size, none of the other teams in the tournament are getting younger.
鈥淥ur energy, you can鈥檛 replicate it,鈥� Cates said. 鈥淭he things we can work on, we can work on. Some things that the other teams need to work on, they can鈥檛, like speed or whatnot. We like where we鈥檙e at and where we can go.鈥�
___
Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno
___
More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press
