Turin – Jordan Leopold touched Italian soil Monday after four flights and two hours of sleep. He packed so frantically for the trip, he forgot his hockey helmet.
Goalie John Grahame flew in at roughly the same time, riding another around-the-world route. When the two players finally converged in the athletes village, it was the first time they had met, much less played together.
But 48 hours before their first faceoff, Leopold and Grahame were Team USA in Turin.
The bulk of the U.S. men’s hockey squad and all the coaches are scheduled to arrive today – almost half delayed by the massive snowstorms in the Eastern United States, the rest by the NHL schedule.
“We feel kind of out of place right now,” said Leopold, a defenseman who plays for the Calgary Flames.
“It’s a little bit strange,” said Grahame, who minds the Tampa Bay Lightning net but hails from Denver. “Me and Jordan will get to know each other pretty good.”
“By tomorrow,” Leopold added, “we’ll probably be best friends.”
Both men sounded weary and looked bedraggled. Come Wednesday night, though, their 21 teammates may display that same droopy demeanor. The schedule should read “United States vs. Jet Lag.” Almost all of the Lat- vian squad they will meet has practiced together for a week in Italy, and the team already has played an exhibition game.
Are the Americans worried?
“Yeah, a little bit,” said Jim Johannson, the U.S. senior director of hockey operations. “What we’ve found is historically, the first day isn’t the tough day, it’s the second day. That’s the tough day.”
Which means adrenaline usually keeps jet-setting players upright the first 24 hours. After that, the body must catch up. That means there may be some tired legs Wednesday night.
The team will hold a single, 75-minute practice tonight to refresh some of the offensive, defensive and special-teams strategies coach Peter Laviolette installed at an orientation camp last September in Colorado Springs.
“It’s not the ideal way you’d like to prepare for a game,” Grahame said. “But (there is) that switch – that competitive juice – that just turns on and you’re ready to go. Everybody has been playing this game for a long time.”
The players had three hopes for their first day in Turin: sample the food, see the city, and the most important task of all.
“I’m going to try,” Leopold said, “to stay awake.”
Staff writer Bill Briggs can be reached at 303-820-1720 or bbriggs@denverpost.com.
