You never know where you will find interesting hockey stories. Take this article by William Douglas of the Kansas City Star, of all places. Douglas looks at Team USA's family connections in international hockey, namely Zach Parise, Ryan Suter and manager Ray Shero.
Let's start with Zach Parise, who is the son of former NHLer JP Parise, who played with Canada in the famed 1972 Summit Series.
“My dad’s playing against the Russians in 1972 was the highlight of his career,” Parise said. “It was a lesson for us; they played so differently. The Canadians expected to beat them and really saw the talent the Russians had. It really changed ice hockey in North America, seeing how they played.”
Shero, too, had a Canadian father. Hockey Hall of Famer Fred Shero was one of the earliest adopters of Russian hockey strategy.
“My father was a big fan of the Russian way of hockey,” said Shero, who’s also general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins. “He studied Russian hockey and brought their techniques back to the National Hockey League even back in the 1960s.”
Then there is Ryan Suter, the son of Bob Suter, a quiet defenseman with the 1980 "Miracle On Ice" Team USA squad.
It turns out Poppa Suter is quiet off the ice as much as on it.
“I heard more through my friends and teachers telling me where they were when that happened,” Suter said of 1980. “My dad is a pretty quiet guy and doesn’t say too much about it, but it was maybe the greatest U.S. sports team ever.”
You can read the full Douglas article here.
Andy Potts of IIHF.com has another Family Values story, looking at Slovenia's coach Matjaz Kopitar and the country's only NHL player, superstar son Anze Kopitar.
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