The U.S. men’s hockey team, which includes defenseman Jonathon Blum from Ladera Ranch in south Orange County, will begin play in the 2018 Winter Olympics early Wednesday California time against Slovenia.
The preliminary round game at the Kwandong Hockey Centre in Gangneung, South Korea, is set to begin at 4:10 a.m. PST and will be televised live by cable’s NBC Sports Network.
With the NHL prohibiting players under contract, including those assigned to the American Hockey League, from playing in the Olympics, USA Hockey, the sport’s national governing body, selected a team consisting of 17 players who play professionally in Europe, three in the AHL and four in college.
All but one of the players has played for the U.S. in international competition, including Blum, who played for the U.S. in the 2008 and 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships.
Blum, who turned 29 Jan. 30, plays for HC Sochi of the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League. Blum played AAA midget hockey with the Artesia-based California Wave Hockey Club. He played four seasons of junior hockey with the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League.
Blum was chosen in the first round of the 2007 NHL draft by the Nashville Predators, the 23rd overall selection, and the first California-born- and-raised player to be drafted in the first round.
Blum made his professional debut in 2009 with the Milwaukee Admirals, Nashville’s AHL affiliate. He made his NHL debut on Feb. 22, 2011. He had seven goals and 17 assists in 110 NHL games with the Predators and Minnesota Wild.
The U.S. will face Slovakia Thursday at 7:10 p.m. PST and Olympic Athletes from Russia Saturday at 4:10 a.m. in its other preliminary round games. Each of the three group winners and the team with the next-best record automatically advance to the quarterfinals. The other eight teams play qualification games with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals.
The team’s locker room includes multiple tributes to general manager Jim Johannson, who died unexpectedly on Jan. 21, in his sleep at his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the age of 53. They include a locker stall with his jersey. The U.S. practice jerseys include a patch on the inside of the neck with the number 24, the number Johannson wore in his first Olympics as a player in 1988.
When the first 23 members of the team, including Blum, were revealed on Jan. 1, Johannson described it as “a group that brings versatility and experience and includes players who have a lot of passion about representing our country.”
—City News Service