Zach Parise Named Captain of Team USA

Minnesota Wild and former New Jersey Devil left wing Zach Parise, the gifted kind of dedicated hard working athlete that I admired watching during his tenure with New Jersey, was named team Captain of the United States of America for the upcoming Olympic games at Sochi on Friday.

Parise, the son of former NHL super star J.P. Parise, is currently an alternate captain for the Wild, but was Captain of the New Jersey Devils previously before he went to Minnesota as a free agent.

To date, Parise's best U.S. Olympic moment was scoring the game tying goal with just seconds left in 2010 Gold Medal game v. Canada.

Left Wing of the Los Angeles Kings Dustin Brown and Defenseman for the Minnesota Wild Ryan Suter were named team USA alternate captains. All three of these players were key members of the 2010 Silver Medal Winning team in Vancouver four short years ago.

Brown's leadership abilities are well documented; He was captain of the 2012 Stanley Cup Champion L.A. Kings. Ryan Suter on the other hand has always led by example. He has the potential to log over 30 minutes a game and is figured to be U.S.A's most important defenseman at Sochi.

U.S.A ALL THE WAY