Spartans invited to Olympic hockey tryout

Former Spartans Ryan Miller and David Booth were among a group 34 players invited to the U.S. Olympic hockey camp Tuesday for next year's Vancouver Games.

USA Hockey will hold its orientation camp Aug. 17-19 at Seven Bridges Ice Arena in Woodridge, Ill. The gathering is part of the preparation for the Winter Olympics in February.

Those invited to the camp represent 22 NHL teams, although no player is assured a place on the Olympic roster. Also, a player can still make the team even if he hadn't been invited to the camp.

There will be an additional 50 or so players added to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency program, making them eligible to be on the final Olympic roster when it is announced at the end of the year.

"The entire team will come out of this camp if we've done our job of identifying players properly," Team USA general manager Brian Burke said on a conference call. "My suspicion is that, knowing how competitive our athletes are, that's not going to be the case. Some of these guys who were not invited are going to try to jam it right down my throat. I welcome that.

"My prediction is that a couple of guys are going to make this real hard for us."

Miller, who played for MSU from 2000-02 and won the 2001 Hobey Baker Memorial Award, was 34-18-6 and had five shutouts for Buffalo in his fourth NHL season. He has played in 264 career games and has a 2.66 career goals-against average.

Booth, a third-year pro, had 60 points on a team-high 31 goals and 29 assists for the Florida Panthers. He has played in 193 games over the last three seasons, with 56 goals and 54 assists to his credit.

As a Spartan, Booth was a four-year letterwinner (2003-06) who had 45 goals and 60 assists in his career.

Boston's Tim Thomas, the winner of the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie this past season, is likely the favorite for Vancouver. He and Miller will be joined by 22-year-old Jonathan Quick, who was 21-18-2 with a 2.48 goals-against average in 44 games as a rookie last season with the Los Angeles Kings.

Five players who will be in attendance in August have Olympic experience, including three-time Olympian Mike Modano of the Dallas Stars. He is joined by two-time Olympians Chris Drury of the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings defenseman Brian Rafalski. Rangers forward Scott Gomez and Jamie Langenbrunner of the New Jersey Devils have both made one Olympic appearance.

"We're going to be an underdog in Vancouver, we know that," Burke said.