Getting To Know Your 2010 U.S. Men's Olympic Hockey Team: Brooks Orpik

The defensive-minded posts are writing themselves, so it would seem. Some American hockey, California-native style, just over the link.

Brooks Orpik plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He will turn 30 this September, and is in his seventh NHL season. The Pens nabbed him in the 2000 NHL Draft, with the 18th pick in the first round. In that time he (Editor's Note: By the way, he is likely the favorite olympic player of The Lone Reader. Remember that guy? Yeah. Pens fan. What other NHL team would a Kansas City native -- married to a gal from Ohio -- that lives in Canada fresh off of a move from Maine root for besides Pittsburgh?) has totalled 72 points, a -14 plus/minus, an impressive 511 PIMs, and nearly 8000 minutes of ice time. Orpik spent his college days as a Boston College Eagle, and the left-handed-shooting defenseman is an alternate captain along with Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, which, as company goes, is pretty decent. We'll see how well this Penguin patrols the blue line and blocks shots once the international competition is in his grill. From the looks of this clip, he ain't half bad: