Malone has been Bugsy for a while now, so no problem there. Not
exactly what his mother had in mind, but since the old man once also played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, she had to see it coming. Ryan Suter is "Suits," the same name his dad, Bob, went by when he was playing for that "Miracle on Ice" team.
The other Ryans had to reinvent themselves so to speak.
Ryan Callahan is Cally, Ryan Kesler is Kess, Miller is Millsy, Ryan Whitney is Whitty, Brian Rafalski is Raffi, like the children's crooner. Pretty standard hockey nicknames.
And Bobby Ryan?
He's Bobby.
OK, so it's not a severe handicap. Turns out, Team USA has communicated better than any team in this tournament, which is why they're lined up to play in their second gold-medal game of the last three Olympics.
Consider the formula to yesterday's blowout. Malone scored the first goal barely more than 2 minutes into the game by reading and following Kesler's forecheck, intercepting goalie Miikka Kiprusoff's clear attempt and firing it into an empty net. Paul Stastny and Zach Parise played a little two-man postup on the power play for the second goal, after Rafalski fed them the hockey equivalent of an alley-oop.
Dustin Brown, the Los Angeles Kings' captain, created two consecutive power plays with his forecheck. Malone chased down a dump-in to create the third goal, scored by Erik Johnson. As the score grew and the place
quieted, you could hear players not on or with the puck shouting out instructions, serving as eyes to those on or with the puck.
You just never heard anything that rhymed with lion.
The United States has not
allowed more than a goal to any team but Canada in this tournament. Early on, that was more about Miller than communication. Defensemen tried too many home-run clears, seemed confused where to play and who to play it to, necessitating some
