SPORT PREVIEWS
Biathlon |
Cross-Country Skiing | Women's Ice Hockey | Men's Ice Hockey | Bobsled
In a sport that requires speed, power and agility, it’s no surprise that the 2018 U.S. Olympic Bobsled Team has the second-most collegiate athlete representation of any U.S. team. Between both the men’s and women’s teams, 87.5 percent of athletes competed collegiately (100 percent of the women’s team and 83 percent of the men’s team).
As student-athletes, Team USA’s bobsledders competed collegiately in track and field, football, volleyball, field hockey and softball. Within a three-year window, they all successfully transitioned their athleticism into becoming world-class bobsledders.
This winter, Team USA is looking to build on its success from the 2014 Sochi Games, where the team hauled in four medals (one silver and three bronze). And with three women’s athletes and four men’s athletes returning to South Korea, the U.S. is primed to reach the podium once again.
On the men’s side, the U.S. qualified three two-man and four-man bobsleds, one of only three nations to do so in South Korea. Chris Kinney (Georgetown track and field), Carlo Valdes (UCLA football and track and field), Evan Weinstock (Brown track and field), Hakeem Abdul-Saboor (University of Virginia, Wise football), Sam McGuffie (Rice track and field and football) and Sam Michener (Idaho track and field) are all first-time Olympians. Meanwhile, Chris Fogt (Utah Valley track and field), Justin Olsen (Air Force football), Nick Cunningham (Boise State track and field) and Steve Langton (Northeastern track and field) are back for their third Olympic Winter Games.
Olsen previously captured a gold medal as a member of the four-man bobsled at the 2010 Vancouver Games, while Steve Langton garnered a pair of bronze medals in both the two- and four-man in 2014. Alongside Langton, Fogt also earned a bronze medal in the four-man in Sochi.
On the women’s side, the U.S. will send two sleds to PyeongChang and looks to continue its strong tradition of excellence – the team has won at least one medal in every Olympic Winter Games since women’s bobsled was added to the program in 2002. Lauren Gibbs (Brown volleyball) is set to compete in her first Olympic Winter Games, while Jamie Greubel Poser (Cornell track and field and field hockey) and Aja Evans (Illinois track and field) both represented the U.S. in 2014. Elana Meyers Taylor (George Washington softball) is back for their third Olympic Winter Games.
Meyers Taylor is aiming for a medal trifecta after picking up a bronze in Vancouver and a silver in Sochi. Meanwhile, driver Greubel Poser and Evans are looking to build off their bronze-medal performance in Sochi.
Olympic bobsled begins with the preliminary heats for the two-man on February 18 and concludes with the four-man finals on February 25. Women’s bobsled competition kicks off on February 20 and concludes the following day. All bobsled competition will take place at the Olympic Sliding Centre in the PyeongChang Mountain Cluster.
Of the 25 athletes on the team, all but four competed collegiately in the NCAA at 14 different institutions. Four athletes – Will Borgen (St. Cloud State), Ryan Donato (Harvard), Jordan Greenway (Boston University) and Troy Terry (Denver) – are currently enrolled and playing collegiately.
Boston University leads the way with four student-athletes on the 2018 roster (Chris Bourque, Matt Gilroy, John McCarthy and Greenway). Meanwhile, Brian O’Neill, Broc Little and Mark Arcobello all played together collegiately at Yale.
“My four years of collegiate life helped prepare me for my future on and off the ice,” said Team USA forward Mark Arcobello. “My collegiate experience gave me the necessary time to grow and learn what it takes to play hockey at the next level. It helped me to prepare for my life after my hockey career by balancing school and sport, and by creating new relationships with both teammates and classmates. I think my time at Yale was vital in my development as a person and as a player.”
The squad is captained by Brian Gionta (Boston College), who is the only player on the team with previous Olympic experience. At the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, the 15-year retired NHL veteran lead the U.S. with four goals in six games. Prior to the NHL, Gionta played college hockey for the Eagles, where he still sits atop the school’s leaderboard in all-time goals scored and is second all-time in career points.
Rounding out Team USA’s collegiate athletes are forwards Ryan Stoa (Minnesota), Bobby Butler (New Hampshire), Chad Kolarik (Michigan), Jim Slater (Michigan State) and Garrett Roe (St. Cloud State), defenders Chad Billins (Ferris State), Noah Welch (Harvard) and Ryan Gunderson (Vermont), and goaltenders Ryan Zapolski (Mercyhurst) and David Leggio (Clarkson).
College hockey also stems deep into the 2018 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team's coaching staff and administration. The team was assembled by former University of Wisconsin teammates Tony Granato, who will serve as head coach, and general manager Jim Johannson, who has been deeply rooted within USA Hockey since 2000 and tragically passed away in January. The duo played together at Wisconsin in the mid-80s and were also teammates on the 1988 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team.
Assistant coaches Allain, Chris Chelios, Ron Rolston and Scott Young also bring collegiate ties to the staff. Allain, who was on the coaching staff at the 1992 and 2006 Olympic Winter Games, is the current head coach at Yale, where he coached Little, O’Neill and Arcobello. Chelios, who represented the U.S. in 1984, 1998, 2002 and 2006, played at the University of Wisconsin before an illustrious 26-year NHL career. Rolston played for Michigan Tech and spent time coaching collegiately, while Young, a three-time Olympian (1988, 1992 and 2002), currently serves as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Boston University.
Team USA is set to compete in Group B with Slovakia, Slovenia and Olympic Athletes from Russia. Men's hockey competition begins with a preliminary round game against Slovenia on Wednesday, February 14, at the Kwandong Hockey Centre.
Of the 23-person roster, all competed collegiately at nine different schools: Boston College, Lindenwood, Northeastern, Minnesota - Duluth, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin. More than one-third of the team laced up as Minnesota Golden Gophers at some point during their collegiate careers, while five athletes competed for as Boston College Eagles and four skated with the Wisconsin Badgers.
The team was assembled by head coach Robb Stauber and general manager Reagan Carey. Carey competed at Colby in both ice hockey and volleyball. Stauber and associate head coach Brett Strot competed alongside each other at Minnesota in the late-80s.
The team boasts four Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award recipients, an award given to the top women’s NCAA hockey player. Most recently, Kendall Coyne (Northeastern) won the award in 2016. Amanda Kessel (Minnesota) took home the award in 2013, with Brianna Decker (Wisconsin) and Meghan Duggan (Wisconsin) earning the award in 2012 and 2011, respectively.
The team is eager to represent the red, white and blue on the world’s biggest stage. As for what team captain Duggan is most looking forward to: "I think just taking in that big moment with my teammates,” said she said. “The 'we made it' moment. The 'let’s do this' moment. The Olympics are such a huge event. You train for it, you prepare. You're kind of in your little bubble with your team and your sport. Then you get there, and you realize, wow, this is so much bigger than my team. This is so much bigger than my country. It's just an unbelievable event to be a part of."
It has been 20 years since women’s ice hockey was introduced at the 1998 Olympics, the first and only Games the U.S. won gold. The team has won two consecutive Olympic silver medals and is looking to climb to the top of the podium in Pyeongchang.
The U.S. is set to compete alongside Canada, Finland and Olympic Athletes from Russia in the preliminary round. Competition is slated to open Sunday, February 11, and Team USA will square off against Finland at the Kwandong Hockey Centre.
The 10-person team (five men and five women) has a unique complexion of background and experiences, with 50 percent of the team having competed collegiately. Five schools are represented – Dartmouth, Colorado, New Hampshire, Vermont and Wellesley – with Dartmouth registering as the lone school with multiple alumni competing for the red, white and blue.
Bailey (Vermont), Emily Dreissigacker (Dartmouth), Susan Dunklee (Dartmouth), Clare Egan (New Hampshire and Wellesley) and Joanne Reid (Colorado) account for the former NCAA athletes, while Leif Nordgren, Russel Currier, Sean Doherty, Tim Burke and Maddie Phaneuf started their biathlon careers outside the collegiate athletics ranks.
Of the group of collegiate athletes representing Team USA in biathlon, Dreissigacker, Egan and Reid are first-time Olympians, while Dunklee previously competed in Sochi. Bailey is the most experienced on the team, having competed in the previous three (2014, 2010 and 2006) Olympic Winter Games.
Bailey, a UVM cross-country skier, finished eighth in Sochi and has his eyes set on the podium in South Korea. The Catamount alum was a three-time All-American at Vermont and finished second in two successive NCAA championships. Internationally, he battled back from the brink of retirement to win the 2017 world championship and become the first U.S. athlete to qualify for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
Dreissigacker, an All-American rower at Dartmouth, transitioned to biathlon after a hand injury sidelined her rowing career. She finished fifth in the individual at the 2018 IBU world cup en route to qualifying for the team. The Big Green alum comes from a family of Olympians, as her sister, Hannah, was a member of the 2014 U.S. Olympic Biathlon Team. Dreissigacker’s mother, Judy Greer, represented Team USA in rowing during the 1976 and 1984 Games, while her father competed for the U.S. in 1972 in rowing.
Dunklee, a Dartmouth skier and cross-country student-athlete, registered one of the most successful biathlon seasons of her career in 2017 after winning a silver at the world championships and becoming the first U.S. woman to win a biathlon world championship medal. At Dartmouth, Dunklee garnered first-team all-east honors as a member of the women’s Nordic ski team. She also earned all-Ivy and all-region honors with the cross-country squad.
Egan, a track and field and cross-country skiing student-athlete at Wellesley and New Hampshire, has competed for the U.S. in the previous three world championships. Most recently she placed 20th in sprint, 22nd in individual and 24th in mass start at the 2017 world championships.
Reid spent her college years representing the University of Colorado. A five-time first-team All-American, she won the 2013 NCAA freestyle skiing championship during her senior season, before transitioning to biathlon. For Reid, competing in the Olympics is a family affair. Her uncle is five-time Olympic speedskating gold medalist Eric Heiden, and her mother is 1980 Olympic speedskating bronze medalist Beth Heiden Reid.
The team will have plenty of opportunities to showcase their athletic prowess as biathlon competition kicks off on February 10 and concludes on February 23. All biathlon competitions will take place in the Alpensia Biathlon Centre in the PyeongChang Mountain Cluster.
One of the first teams to begin competition in PyeongChang, the 2018 U.S. Olympic Cross-Country Ski Team has its sights set on the podium after soaring up the international rankings in the last decade.
With 75 percent of the team having used the collegiate ski system to develop their skills, the 20-person team boasts a balanced roster of veterans and first-time Olympians. In total, seven different institutions are represented on the U.S. cross-country ski team this winter in South Korea.
Dartmouth will be represented by five cross-country skiers: Rosie Brennan, Patrick Caldwell, Sophie Caldwell, Anne Hart and Ida Sargent. Hart and P. Caldwell are first-time Olympians, while S. Caldwell and Sargent are back for their second Games. In Sochi, S. Caldwell recorded the best American women’s Olympic finish after placing sixth in the freestyle sprint. Most recently, she teamed up with Sargent to earn a third-place finish in the team sprint during the 2017 world cup in South Korea.
Alaska Pacific will also be represented by five athletes: Brennan, who skied while earning her master’s degree at APU, Erik Bjornsen, Sadie Bjornsen, Rosie Frankowski, and Kikkan Randall. Frankowski is the sole first-time Olympian representing APU, as the Bjornsensiblings competed in Sochi. Meanwhile, Randall is a five-time Olympian who has represented the U.S. in every Olympic Winter Games since 2002. Both S.Bjornsen and Randall are seeking to build from their outstanding performances at the 2017 world championships, where S. Bjornsen earned bronze as part of the team sprint classic and Randallearned bronze in the sprint freestyle.
Simi Hamilton, a three-time All-American on the Middlebury ski team, will be racing for the U.S. in South Korea after also competing in the 2014 and 2010 Olympic Winter Games. He finished fifth in the team sprint classic in Sochi, and most recently finished fifth in the team sprint classic and 10th in the 4x10k relay at the 2017 world championship.
Logan Hanneman (Alaska Fairbanks), Tyler Kornfield (Alaska Fairbanks), Kaitlynn Miller (Bowdoin), Caitlin Patterson (Vermont) and Scott Patterson (Vermont), all first-time Olympians, round out the remaining collegiate athletes competing on the cross-country skiing team.
Cross-country skiing competition begins February 10 and concludes February 25. All competition will take place at the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre in the PyeongChang Mountain Cluster.