Frei: Johnson and Johnson got their Olympics chance, regret that next wave of Americans isn’t

Erik Johnson of the St. Louis Blues was 21, while Jack Johnson of the Los Angeles Kings was 23.

The young defensemen took the ice for the USA in the 2010 Olympics at Vancouver, often playing in a pairing.

They came agonizingly close to winning gold medals before Sidney Crosby’s goal at 7:40 of overtime of the championship game won it for Canada. (Before going to Michigan, Jack Johnson had been a Crosby teammate at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Minnesota.)

Although the Johnsons have played many other times for the USA in international competition, including both in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, it was their single shot in the Olympics spotlight.

Erik certainly would have been a deserving choice again for the 2014 Games at Sochi, but neither Johnson was selected as USA team officials went for a younger and mobile, even scooter-type defense for Olympic hockey’s return to the larger international ice sheet.

With the Johnsons back home and taking the NHL Olympic break in 2014, the Americans lost to Canada in the semifinal and to Finland in the bronze-medal game at Sochi.

So now as they’re Avalanche teammates — Jack is 34, Erik is 33 — they’re regretful that most of the top American players in the wave behind them won’t be able to have a similar Olympic experience in their early NHL years.

The NHL didn’t allow its players to participate in the 2018 Games in South Korea. A few current NHL players — including Highlands Ranch native and DU star Troy Terry, now with the Anaheim Ducks — played in those Games before moving to the NHL. But the plan to have contemporary NHL players return in the 2022 Olympics at Beijing recently was scrubbed for multi-layered COVID-related reasons. The most prominent one is that the league hopes to use the scheduled Olympic break to make up as many postponed games as possible.

Even if the NHL returns to the 2026 Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy, the gap between NHL hockey participation will have been 12 years. That essentially can span a full pro career.

On the Zoom call after the Avalanche Thursday practice, I asked both Johnsons about the Olympics.

“It’s unfortunate,” said Erik, a Twin Cities native who spent one season as a Minnesota Golden Gopher before signing with the Blues. “It’s just kind of the world we’re in right now. I was lucky enough to get silver at Vancouver in an unbelievable atmosphere. I don’t know how great that atmosphere would have been this year in China. Hopefully, these guys get a chance to experience the Olympics in North America at some point. It was such an awesome experience for me in Vancouver.

“Guys that I have played with played at Salt Lake City (2002), so hopefully there’s a chance that hockey will be back in the Olympics in North America, in that great atmosphere. That Canada-U.S. game was unbelievable, so it’s unfortunate for the guys that haven’t played in the Olympics before and they haven’t gotten that experience. So hopefully we’re back as soon as possible, and if not, they throw a couple of World Cups in there.”

The site of the 2030 games hasn’t yet been determined. That would be the next possibility for NHL players to be Olympians at a Games in North America.

“I think it’s really sad,” said Jack, who was born in Indianapolis and raised in Michigan. “I can’t even imagine how frustrated they are. Some guys only get one shot. If you’re deserving to be on a team like that, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I feel really bad for those guys.”

Erik and Jack have played together some for the Avalanche, but also have played the caretaker in other pairings, as with Samuel Girard. You probably knew this, but they were on the ice together in the picture at the top. Erik (6) is at left, Jack (3, minus helmet) is farther to the right).

“He and I go back a long way,” Jack said, alluding to when they were teammates in the Michigan-based National Team Development Program as teenagers. “He’s obviously a pleasure to play with. I enjoy him. Playing with him on the ice, I enjoy playing with him. I enjoy being with him off the ice. Through the years, we’ve had time to spend together at other USA Hockey tournaments and it’s been a blast to be able to reunite on an NHL team with him.”

Jack Johnson on staying safe: "I avoid people in my normal life, so it was nothing out of the ordinary for me."

— Adrian Dater (@adater) December 30, 2021

The experience has included the various COVID-related circumstances that have kept the Avalanche out of game action since a December 16 loss at Nashville. At least of this typing, they’re scheduled to face Troy Terry and the Ducks Sunday afternoon at the Ball Center.

“We’ll probably be healthy for the first time all year,” Erik said. “It’s no different than coming into training camp and getting into some preseason games. Obviously, the games are more important now. I think the guys are hungry and healthy.”

Johnson had tested positive for COVID in early 2021, with mild symptoms. He said that during the rearranged holiday break and Avalanche shutdown, he worked out in his home gym and on a neighbor’s outdoor rink.

“I have enough access to ice, I would say during the season,” he said. “They have a couple of little kids who are local hockey players. They have the boards and refridgeration system, so it’s  very nice setup. He just has a bigger yard than me, too.”

Terry Frei (terry@terryfrei.com) is a Denver-based author and journalist. He has been named a state’s sports writer of the year seven times in peer voting — four times in Colorado and three times in Oregon. His seven books include the novels “Olympic Affair” and “The Witch’s Season.” Among his five non-fiction works are “Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming,” “Third Down and a War to Go,” “March 1939: Before the Madness,” and “’77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age.” He also collaborated with Adrian Dater on “Save By Roy,” was a long-time vice president of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and has covered the hockey Rockies, Avalanche and the NHL at-large. His web site is www.terryfrei.com and his bio is available at www.terryfrei.com/bio.html

His Colorado Hockey Now column archive can be accessed here