Esche Invited to U.S.A. Olympic Camp

[Jlg-28]

Source: USA Hockey.com

USA Hockey today announced that 39 players, representing 21 different National Hockey League teams, have been invited to the 2005 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Orientation Camp, to be held Sept. 5-8 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

"The orientation camp will be a terrific opportunity for our staff to come together with the candidates for our Olympic Team to assess the potential make-up of our squad," said Don Waddell (Duluth, Ga.), general manager of the 2006 Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team in making the announcement. "It will not be a tryout camp as the evaluation process will continue throughout the first part of the NHL season, however, it will be an important first step in the total process."

The camp is designed to assist in the preparation of the 2006 United States Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team that will compete at the XX Olympic Winter Games to be held Feb. 10-26 in Torino, Italy, and will consist of both on- and off-ice components.

Of the 39 players invited to the camp, four were members of the last two (1998, 2002) U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Teams, including, Bill Guerin (Wilbraham, Mass./Dallas Stars), Mike Modano (Livonia, Mich./Free Agent), Keith Tkachuk (Melrose, Mass./St. Louis Blues) and Doug Weight (Warren, Mich./St. Louis Blues). In addition, Chris Drury (Trumbull, Conn./Buffalo Sabres), Aaron Miller (Buffalo, N.Y./Los Angeles Kings), Brian Rafalski (Dearborn, Mich./New Jersey Devils) and Brian Rolston (Flint, Mich./Minnesota Wild) were members of the 2002 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team.

Of the other invitees to the orientation camp, most have recent experience skating for Team USA on the international stage. Forwards Scott Gomez (Anchorage, Alaska/New Jersey Devils), Jason Blake (Moorhead, Minn./New York Islanders), Steve Konowalchuk (Salt Lake City, Utah/Colorado Avalanche) and Jeff Halpern (Potomac, Md./Washington Capitals) participated in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey along with defensemen Paul Martin (Minneapolis, Minn./New Jersey Devils) and John-Michael Liles (Zionsville, Ind./Colorado Avalanche).

Highlighting the group of four goaltenders are 2004 World Cup of Hockey participants Ty Conklin (Anchorage, Alaska/Edmonton Oilers), Rick DiPietro (Winthrop, Mass./New York Islanders) and Robert Esche (Utica, N.Y./Philadelphia Flyers).

The orientation camp will exhibit some relatively new faces as well, including 21-year-olds Ryan Kesler (Livonia, Mich./Vancouver Canucks) and New Jersey Devils first-rounder Zach Parise (Minneapolis, Minn./Albany River Rats); and 20-year-olds Dustin Brown (Ithaca, N.Y./Los Angeles Kings) and Nashville Predators prospect Ryan Suter (Madison, Wis./Milwaukee Admirals).

2005 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Orientation Camp Roster

Goaltenders: Ty Conklin, Rick DiPietro, Robert Esche, Ryan Miller

Defensemen: Bryan Berard, Mark Eaton, Hal Gill, Tim Gleason, Derian Hatcher, Jordan Leopold, John-Michael Liles, Paul Martin, Aaron Miller, Brian Pothier, Brian Rafalski, Andy Roach, Ryan Suter, David Tanabe

Forwards: Jason Blake, Dustin Brown, Erik Cole, Matt Cullen, Chris Drury, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, Bill Guerin, Jeff Halpern, Chris Higgins, Ryan Kesler, Mike Knuble, Steve Konowalchuk, Ryan Malone, Mike Modano, Zach Parise, Richard Park, Mark Parrish, Brian Rolston, Keith Tkachuk, Doug Weight

NOTES: The New Jersey Devils will be the most-represented team at the orientation camp, with four current team members and one prospect invited to attend ... The camp schedule and media credential information will be available next week ... USA Hockey announced earlier this week that Waddell, Paul Holmgren (assistant general manager) and Jim Johannson (director of hockey operations) will make up the management staff for the 2006 Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team.

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Hopefully Esche will make the final team that will go on to the Olympics next Febuary.