Canes all for chance at gold

RALEIGH -- To Brandon Sutter of the Carolina Hurricanes, it's a no-brainer.

The 2014 Winter Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia, and Sutter would like to be a part of the Games. One of his goals is to compete for Team Canada and help Canada win - he hopes - back-to-back hockey gold medals.

"I think everybody wants to have a chance like that," the Canes center said this week. "If that chance comes, obviously I'd be thrilled."

Whether Sutter will get that chance is in question. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has been doggedly noncommital when discussing NHL players participating in 2014.

Bettman has talked of how a two-week break for the Olympics disrupts and compresses the NHL schedule. He has talked of the possibility of injuries to top players in the Games. Looking to 2014, he has questioned how TV ratings would suffer given the time difference.

When the Canes' Eric Staal was slammed into the end boards early in the third period of Canada's game Wednesday against Russia - Staal needing assistance to get off the ice - one could almost imagine Bettman having a "told-you-so" look. As it was, Staal returned to the game as the Canadians rolled.

Sutter, 21, understands all of Bettman's points but also had one of his own to make.

"I think it's good for the game to have the best players playing," he said. "I think if countries are going to be represented, they ought to be represented by their best players."

That's the way it has been since 1998, when the NHL first closed down the regular season to allow its players to compete for their home countries in the Olympics. It often has made for riveting games and great TV, and no more so these past two weeks in the Vancouver Winter Games.

As Canes coach Paul Maurice said, it has been an "entertainment spectacle."

It's estimated 21.5 million people in Canada watched Team Canada lose to the U.S. 5-3 on Sunday - about two-thirds of the Canadian population. If Canada plays for the gold Sunday, and especially if it's a rematch against the U.S., the viewership may be higher.

"I think a majority of the players would be extremely disappointed if we were not a part of it," Canes forward Erik Cole said. "I think it's something we're going to keep doing."

Cole says that having been a member of Team USA, coached by Peter Laviolette, at the 2006 Torino Olympics. He also says it despite having a mostly miserable time, with travel problems and lost luggage and housing issues for his family in Italy taking away from his Olympic experience.

Nor did it help that the U.S. played poorly, finishing a disappointing eighth.

"There were a lot of ways it could have been better," Cole said. "It wasn't nearly the atmosphere I thought it would be. Nonetheless, it was a good experience in spite of all the headaches."

For the Canes' Tim Gleason, a defenseman on Team USA in Vancouver, it has been just the opposite. The U.S. team is undefeated and in today's semifinals against Finland, and Gleason said he's having "a blast."

"It's one of those things where you have the dream as a kid, then you get here and it almost doesn't make sense, trying to take it all in," Gleason said this week. "It's a one-time thing, and you want to make the most of it."

The Canes' Rod Brind'Amour was chosen for Team Canada for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Then playing for the Philadelphia Flyers, he joined such stars as Wayne Gretzky and Steve Yzerman on Team Canada.

"It was a huge event," Brind'Amour said. "The players always wanted to play. It's something you miss out on. It really didn't make sense not to go."

Brind'Amour said he wasn't sure why 2014 was being debated, given the exposure the Olympics provide for the sport and the players' desire to compete.

"I understand the owners don't want it because of the risk to players," he said. "You don't want a Staal going out.

"I just think overall, once every four years, if we can take a break and let the best play. It makes for a great tournament."

Some players, including Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, have said they intend to compete in Sochi regardless of the NHL decision. But there's time for the NHL and the NHL Players Association to settle such issues and make it a part of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Who knows, Sutter may get his chance in 2014.

"It'd be cool for sure," he said.