Zach Parise named captain of U.S. Men’s Olympic Team; Suter, Brown alternates

By Stefan Kubus –

USA Hockey announced Friday that Zach Parise will captain Team USA in Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Parise’s alternates will be Los Angeles captain Dustin Brown and his teammate in Minnesota, defenseman Ryan Suter – a 2001-03 NTDP alum.

“I was pretty thrilled the other day to get that call from Coach (Dan) Bylsma,” Parise said.

“There’s plenty of guys that wear letters with their own teams so I don’t think our team is going to be lacking in leadership at all.”

Parise, 29, is currently the captain of the Minnesota Wild, formerly served as captain of the New Jersey Devils and was an alternate captain in 2010 for Team USA.

Bylsma, Team USA’s head coach and a Grand Haven native, credited Parise’s work ethic as the most notable characteristic about his newly-minted captain.

“(He has) a work ethic that never quits, a determination, an abrasiveness about playing, a hard-to-play-against type of player. It’s every time, regardless of the score, the situation.”

Parise said the experience of playing in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics helped him immensely, but also playing under his captain there, Jamie Langenbrunner, who was also Parise’s captain in New Jersey.

“When I came into New Jersey, me being a younger guy, how great Jamie was and how great he treated me and the younger players, that’s one of the things you don’t forget,” Parise said of Langenbrunner.

“What was unique about Jamie is that he was able to lead the same way when the team was winning as when the team was losing and that’s always a hard thing, but Jamie was always really good at that, and I think that’s a sign of a really good captain.”

GM David Poile – also the GM of the Nashville Predators – said there was a short list of potential captains that he and his staff developed over the summer. That list consisted of David Backes (St. Louis), Ryan Callahan (NY Rangers), Suter, Brown and Parise. Brown, Parise, Suter and Dearborn native Brian Rafalski served as alternate captains during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Security issues and threats of terrorism in Sochi have dominated the media in recent days, but Parise was quick to address that in his opening statement.

“Us players, we’re all comfortable going there,” Parise said. “I don’t think they would allow us to go if they felt there was immediate danger. I think you have to put your trust in the Russian police and not only that, but the security we’re going to be sending over there, as well. We’ll be in some good hands.

“We can just relax, concentrate on playing hockey, hopefully put on another good show like we did in Vancouver and have a lot of the United States following us like we did last time.”

The puck drops for Team USA’s first game on Feb. 13 against Slovakia (7:30 a.m. EST; NBCSN).