Globe South Sports

Olympic face-off

Local NHL stars hope

to make US hockey team

Then with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ryan Whitney (right) squared off against the Bruins’ Milan Lucic in January. (Justine Hunt/Globe Staff/File)

By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / July 23, 2009

Brooks Orpik and Ryan Whitney played hockey for Thayer Academy together when two former Tigers (Jeremy Roenick and Tony Amonte) played for Team USA in the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the first games in which NHL players were allowed to represent their country.

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Playing with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Anaheim Ducks, respectively, Orpik, 28, and Whitney, 26, now have their own opportunity to represent their country in the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Receiving invitations to USA Hockey’s orientation camp Aug. 17 through 19 in Woodbridge, Ill., not only means they could follow in the footsteps of Roenick, a Marshfield native, and Hingham’s Amonte. They also follow Scituate’s Dave Silk, a Thayer grad who helped Team USA defeat the Soviet Union in the famous “Miracle on Ice’’ in 1980.

“I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it, to be honest, I had the Stanley Cup over here,” Orpik, a member of the 2009 NHL champion Penguins said a day after hosting the cup at a barbecue at his home in Cohasset last Sunday. “It’s kind of been a whirlwind since the end of the season. I’m sure I’ll get a lot more excited once I get to orientation camp.”

As coincidental as all of Thayer’s Olympic feats might sound, it makes sense given the fact the Orpik and Whitney’s coach at Thayer, Jack Foley, always had the amateur game in mind when coaching the Tigers.

“We really wanted to produce kids for college and the Olympics,’’ said the 64-year-old Scituate resident, who left Thayer in 2002 and currently scouts for the Dallas Stars. “We thought that was the pinnacle. We played a European style before anyone else did.’’

“They were pretty familiar with that when they went on to big [Olympic] rink and played foreign competition. They knew what they were doing so it made it a little easier.’’

Over the years, Foley and his predecessor at Thayer, Arthur Valicenti, have been involved in Team USA youth and coaching programs.

“Because of their connections in youth hockey, a lot of kids wanted to play for them and go to a great school like Thayer,’’ said the Tigers’ current coach, Larry Rooney, who played with Roenick and Amonte at Thayer before graduating in 1987.

Bruins goalie Tim Thomas and right wing Phil Kessel will also be among the 34 players at next month’s orientation camp. Orpik and Whitney are among 12 defensemen trying out.

“It’s going to be a tough team to make,’’ said Whitney, adding that the Olympic team will not be determined at the camp so it’s important to have a good start to the NHL season this fall. “If I work hard I will have a good chance. But it will by no means be easy with the talent at defense.’’

Orpik and Whitney are not only both competing for slots on the Olympic team, they also represent a classic Boston collegiate rivalry - Whitney played for Boston University from 2001 to 2004 and Orpik was at Boston College from 1999 to 2001, winning an NCAA championship his final season.

Nevertheless, they are friends with similar pedigrees.

After four seasons as Orpik’s teammate on the Penguins, Whitney was traded to the Ducks just before the playoffs in February.

Orpik doesn’t believe Whitney is bitter about being traded from the eventual NHL champs; however, Whitney, a Scituate native living in Charlestown this offseason, did not make it to his Stanley Cup party.

“He was in Pittsburgh his whole career so he was generally pulling for us because he’s such good friends with so many guys on the team,” Orpik said. “He was texting us during the finals and was really supportive.’’

Whitney, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound offensive-minded defenseman, has 37 goals and 160 assists in 311 NHL games.

Orpik (6-2, 219) has scored six goals and collected 54 assists in six seasons with Pittsburgh.

Foley said it was nice to watch Orpik and Whitney play together in Pittsburgh, just like when Roenick and Amonte were together in Chicago.

“Brooks is a stay-at-home guy,’’ Foley said. “Ryan wants to rush the puck. So they are perfect partners in that regard. They sort of fill different roles.’’

Orpik and Whitney are also part of the first generation of developing hockey players who could dream about both the NHL and the Olympics.

Before 1998, NHL players couldn’t play in the Olympics, in part because the games fell during the season. The NHL now interrupts its schedule to allow players to participate.

“Just being part of USA Hockey is a dream come true, even just trying out for the team,” Whitney said.

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.