Paul Oberjuerge: NHLers Out on Their Feet?

Should the NHL even bother with the Olympics? Got to wonder when the top teams are assembled at the last minute. Including the U.S. team.

Things have been made worse here by the blizzard in the Eastern U.S., delaying or postponing many plane flights over the Atlantic.

U.S. Hockey produced every one of its player in the Olympic Village, Monday afternoon, and it wasn't enough for a rubber of bridge -- Calgary defenseman Jordan Leopold and Tampa Bay goalie John Grahame.

The two faced about 40 disappointed journalists, who had been led to believe at least half the U.S. team would be here. Not having checked on East Coast weather.

Leopold and Grahame seemed of two minds, when it came to the late and scattered arrival of the team.

Said Leopold: "We're thrown together really quick, we've got jet-lag to deal with, fresh faces ... you face it, the challenges are there."

Said Grahame: "It's not the ideal way to prepare for the Games. But the puck drops, you're ready to go. Everybody here has been playing the game a long time. It's not like we're gonna forget."

Not much is expected from the U.S. team, which played for the gold medal (and lost to Canada) at Salt Lake. Maybe even less should be expected from the Wednesday night game (9 p.m., Italy time) with Latvia -- which has a bunch of players already based in Europe.

Leopold and Grahame, it turns out, had never met. "We'll probably be best friends by tomorrow," Leopold said. "We're looking for everybody else, and we're it."

The U.S. hasn't practices as a team since September. And even that group was missing some of the players who will be here. Don't look for precision here, is what we're suggesting.

Also, don't be surprised if the Americans are nodding off between periods in Game 1. And not from boredom.