Morrow, Lehtinen return as Olympic medalists
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
Stars captain Brenden Morrow, fresh off a gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics, returned to the team for Tuesday morning's skate at American Airlines Center and talked about his achievement.
"It’s huge. Any time you represent your country you take a lot of pride in it,” Morrow said after the team's skate. "I had done it at every level, but the Olympics. To get the gold was huge and to do it at home in front of friends and family made it that much more special. It’s a dream come true"
Morrow started the tournament in a limited role and seeing limited minutes, but as the tournament moved along the role expanded and so did the minutes. At the end of the tournament he, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry formed one of Canada's most effective lines.
Morrow ended up with two goals, one assist and a plus-three rating in seven games for Canada. Those numbers don't reflect the energy and physical play he brought to the ice, and the key role he played on the team's penalty kill.
"I got some confidence from it," said Morrow. "I played a few different roles on that team and earned more as the tournament went on. I am feeling pretty good about how things went and pretty confident."
Jere Lehtinen, who won a bronze medal with Finland, was back with the Stars Tuesday morning as well after taking part in his fifth Olympics.
“It was a great experience. You’d like to get gold, but winning the final game and getting bronze is great,” Lehtinen said. “Winning the last game, it feels better. Actually it felt better than four years ago when we lost the final game and got silver. A couple days later it felt better, but at that moment when the game is over it was a great feeling [to win the bronze].”
Finland doesn't often get mentioned as a medal favorite, but always seems to find a way to get one. The medal Lehtinen won was his fourth, tying a record for most Olympic hockey medals. He has one silver and three bronze medals.
"Maybe when I'm done playing hockey, I'll think of that accomplishment," Lehtinen said. "All of the Olympics have been great but I knew when I went there, it was the last one, and I enjoyed this one the most."
Lehtinen, Morrow and the four Los Angeles Kings who won Olympic medals - Drew Doughty (Canada), Jack Johnson (USA), Dustin Brown (USA), Jonathan Quick (USA) - were honored prior to the game.
Injury notes: Fistric, Sutherby still out
Defenseman Mark Fistric (knee) and forward Brian Sutherby (shoulder) both skated with the team Tuesday morning, but neither is ready to play. Fistric is the closer of the two.
"He'll probably be more ready to play Thursday," said Stars coach Marc Crawford. "He'll practice full out tomorrow and we'll have a better idea Thursday if he'll be ready to play."
Sutherby, Crawford said, could be out another week.
