Ice hockey: Slate Hill's Nick Abruzzese named to US Olympic hockey team
The NHL’s decision to withdraw its professional hockey players from the Winter Olympics has provided an opportunity for a Mid-Hudson native.
Harvard University captain Nick Abruzzese, from Slate Hill, has been selected as a forward for the United States men’s ice hockey team that will play in the Beijing Games next month. He was a fourth-round draft choice by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.
A junior, the 22-year-old Abruzzese leads Harvard in scoring with five goals and 16 assists in 13 games – his 1.62 points per game leads the NCAA. He has seven multiple-point efforts this season, including a goal and two assists last Saturday against Union.
Abruzzese made an immediate impact during his 2019-20 season, leading all NCAA freshmen with 44 points (14 goals, 30 assists). He was named the ECAC Hockey and Ivy League rookie of the year, also earning first-team honors in both leagues. He was named a second-team all-American by CCM/AHCA Hockey.
The 2020-21 Harvard season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A former Minisink Valley High School student, Abruzzese played four games with the New Jersey Junior Titans of the North American Hockey League in 2016-17; and two seasons with the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League. He had 13 goals and 36 points in 2017-18 and 29 goals and 80 points in 2018-19, leading the USHL in scoring in the latter and earning all-league first-team honors.
“We’re excited about the roster we’ve put together,” said John Vanbiesbrouck, general manager of the 2022 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team and also the assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey. “The Olympics are the biggest stage in sports and it was fun to hear the enthusiasm our players have to represent their country. We’re fortunate to have a deep talent pool -- thanks in part to all the great work of our volunteers in communities across the nation -- and with the mix of players who are part of our team, we’re looking forward to competing for a gold medal in Beijing.”
Former Rangers coach David Quinn is the head coach of the Olympics team.
For years the NHL was reluctant to allow its players to participate in the Olympics because the Games always took place during the middle of the season. Following the lead of the NBA, the NHL relented and sent its standouts to the Games in 1998 (Nagano, Japan); 2002 (Salt Lake City, Utah); 2006 (Turin, Italy); 2010 (Vancouver, Canada) and 2014 (Sochi, Russia). The league decided against participating in the 2018 Games in Pyeonchang, South Korea, but was set to return for 2022; however, the spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19 and a growing number of canceled NHL games prompted the league to withdraw in December.
That left USA Hockey to quickly piece together an amateur team to compete in Beijing. The team was announced on Thursday afternoon.
The men’s ice hockey tournament runs from Feb. 9-20. The United States will play China (Feb. 10, 8:10 a.m.), Canada (Feb. 12, 11:10 p.m. on Feb. 11) and Germany (Feb. 13, 8:10 a.m.) in the opening round of group play.
The Mid-Hudson has an historic tie to Olympic ice hockey. Longtime Army coach Jack Riley guided the USA team to the gold medal at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games and played in the 1948 Saint Moritz Games.
kmcmillan@th-record.com
Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Beijing Olympics U.S. men's hockey team Nick Abruzzese
