I’ve posted stuff for the Miracle on Ice in the past – here is an essay I wrote for a college app once upon a time that examined the political and social implications of the game, here are wallpapers that I posted yesterday, and here are two banners from way back when.

What makes this anniversary so great and prominent, besides the fact that it’s the 30th, is because of an event that happened last night. It was a big event unto itself, no matter what the outcome: the Canada and USA men’s hockey teams were battling it out in the Olympics. Not in a medal game or an elimination round, but just the preliminaries that serve only to establish seeding. Basically, a meaningless game. But Canada was expected to win, and win big – and they didn’t. The US pulled out a 5-3 win on the back of two Brian Rafalski goals and some stellar Ryan Miller goaltending.

That was the celebration after an empty-net goal. No, seriously.

Second-most viewed hockey game in the US since the Miracle on Ice, and second only to the US-Canada gold medal game back in 2002. Pretty impressive, considering it was on MSNBC, which a lot of people don’t even get. Something like 30% of Canada watched it.

But really, this post wasn’t meant to be about last night’s game. As Brian Burke said (and I’m paraphrasing here), “You don’t win any medals from being first in the preliminaries.” Next Sunday is the gold medal game. It is only possible for one of Canada, Russia, and Sweden (the three favorites going into the Olympics) to play in it. This is going to be fun.

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Its that time again, the time where the citizens of each country get their patriotism ready for the supreme contest of athletic superiority. That’s right, the Olympics are coming.

About a month ago, the US Hockey Camp was announced, listing three goalies, twelve defensemen, and nineteen forwards. Its largely a young team, as it seems that the high-end US talent skipped a generation from the days Jeremy Roenick and Mike Modano dominated the scene to now, when Zach Parise (25) and Patrick Kane (21) are the big names for the United States.

Because of the generation gap and lack of high-end talent with Olympic experience, there are very few sure things to make the Olympic team, especially among forwards. That allows the under-the-radar players to get a chance to get looked at, younger players that may have not impacted the league on the same level as any player for Team Canada (which is absolutely STACKED), but who are responsible in all three zones and can shut the other team down. Players like Joe Pavelski.

But why does the Olympic team need Joe Pavelski? Well, he’s the kind of player that gives it his all on every shift, whether his team is up 7-1, protecting a 2-1 lead, or trailing in the third. It doesn’t matter, he’ll be out there working his butt off.

That never-say-die attitude is what got him into the league in the first place; as a seventh round draft pick in 2003, there was little hope of him ever reaching the NHL, much less earning a position on the second line. His skating was the main concern – while he was described as having “excellent awareness, great hands for scoring goals and creating plays, and a dedication to hustle and effort in all three zones,” his speed and skating ability (or lack thereof) was what dropped his value in the draft. He worked on it through juniors and his college years, and he eventually made it to the NHL in the November of 2006.

In the Olympics, teams tend to be completely stacked, so while Joe Pavelski would normally be a second line center on an NHL team, he’ll likely be relegated to third/fourth line duties. And this is why he’s needed – he has great hands and can dish passes, but isn’t afraid of the dirty work. On the Sharks, he’s often the one that goes and digs pucks out of the corners, or plants himself in front of the goalie to try and screen for shots, despite being the smallest Shark (at least when Ryan Vesce isn’t called up).

The lower lines will also need to be used to match up against the top lines of the other teams – like Team Canada’s or Team Russia’s – and be able to shut them down. No problem for Pavelski; according to James Mirtle’s ranking, based on EVGAA and SHGAA as well as the quality of competition, Joe Pavelski is ranked sixth overall in the NHL. That’s above guys with heralded defensive play like Mike Richards, Ryan Kesler, Pavel Datsyuk, and Henrik Zetterberg. Pavelski was one of the top penalty killers for San Jose this past season, and was able to score a few shorthanded goals as well.

Continuing the talk of special teams, Pavelski is also adept on the power play. But, not only does he fill a normal forward role, but he was also used as a pointman by San Jose this past season whenever Boyle or Blake was out. With the lack of offensive defensemen being invited to the camp, Pavelski will give Team USA a more dynamic powerplay with his threat from the point, as well as the ability to be defensively responsible if need be.

The ability to take and win faceoffs is one of the most important skills of the game – a faceoff win usually means that your team has control of the puck and cannot be scored upon. Winning a defensive zone faceoff after an icing is huge. Winning a faceoff in the offensive zone could mean that you could score a goal within the next few seconds. Basically, teams want good faceoff men.

And Joe Pavelski is a good faceoff man; he has the eighth best faceoff winning percentage in the NHL at 56.3%, winning 717 out of 1274 faceoffs taken. So if he is thrown out to take an important faceoff, he will have better than a 50-50 chance of winning it, which is crucial.

Besides all that, he is a leader. I know, I know – there’s all this “leader” and “heart” talk thrown around, but consider this: when guys on the Sharks started dropping like flies when the injury bug hit after the All Star Game, 24 year old Pavelski was chosen as one of the “A”s. At the State of the Sharks in May, he took responsibility and stated that he along with the rest of the second line needed to – and failed – to step up in the series against the Ducks. Many Sharks fan tag him as the future captian, rightly or wrongly.

Plus, Pavelski has a history of coming up with goals when it matters. There’s this goal in the World Championships bronze medal game against Sweden where Pavelski literally creates the goal himself (he goes coast to coast and splits the Swedish D). Then, of course, there’s this one:

Sorry, its my duty as a Sharks fan to post that video as often as I can. But really, Pavelski is not just a defensive grinder, but one who can score – he got a line of 25-34-59 this past year, which is fairly respectable.

To recap, Pavelski is the sixth best defensive forward in the NHL, the eighth best at faceoffs in the NHL, is a fixture on both the PP and PK, can grind it out and score, and will be the hardest-working player on the ice night in and night out. Pretty impressive for a guy who is often an afterthought for those drafting their own US Olympic teams.

Pavelski certainly isn’t the biggest name forward to be invited to the camp, nor is he the flashiest. But he has a solid game that will raise the skill and defensive prowress of the bottom lines, and help Team USA compete against the hockey superpowers of Canada and Russia, as well as the skilled Swedish, Czech, and Finnish teams. He will help contribute to a team that is not necessarily the most skilled in the Olympic Games, but one that can out-grit any team and potentially medal.