JURCO NAMED TO SLOVAKIAN OLYMPIC TEAM
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grand Rapids Griffins forward Tomas Jurco on Tuesday was named to the Slovakian Olympic Team that will compete at the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, next month.
Jurco is set to become just the fifth player in franchise history to participate in the Olympics while an active Griffin, joining Sergei Kolosov (2010 Belarus), Niklas Kronwall (2006 Sweden), Ole-Kristian Tollefsen (2010 Norway) and Julien Vauclair (2002 Switzerland). Teamed on the Slovakian squad with former Griffins Tomas Kopecky and Tomas Tatar, the 2013 Calder Cup and 2011 Memorial Cup champion will be among a contingent of 12 Griffins alumni competing for seven different nations during the Games.
"It’s really exciting for me, obviously," said Jurco, who previously represented his country in a pair of World Junior Championships (2011 and 2012) as well as the World U18 Championship (2009). "It’s been a while since I wore a Slovakian jersey. This is something that I’m really excited about and really looking forward to.
“It was this morning when I found out. They had a conference back home at 1 p.m., which is 7 a.m. here in Grand Rapids. I was still sleeping, but my phone woke me up because it was always vibrating. People were sending me texts and calling me, so I knew something was going on and that I probably got the spot on the Slovakian team. So, I woke up at 7 a.m., which is unusual for me because I usually like to sleep, but I was really happy. I don’t think that I’ll fall asleep tonight.”
Sweden edges out Slovakia with four former Griffins on its roster -- Jonathan Ericsson, Jonas Gustavsson, Kronwall and Gustav Nyquist -- while five other countries have a single Grand Rapids alum within their ranks: Finland (Valtteri Filppula), Norway (Tollefsen), Slovenia (Jan Mursak), Switzerland (Vauclair) and the United States (Jimmy Howard).
In the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, Kronwall became the first Griffins alumnus to earn an Olympic medal, winning gold thanks to Sweden’s victory over Finland in the championship game. Filppula became the second to medal in 2010 in Vancouver, earning a bronze with Finland.
The preliminary round of the 2014 Olympic men's hockey tournament runs Feb. 12-16, followed by the qualification round (Feb. 18-19), semifinals (Feb. 21 at 7 a.m. and noon ET), Bronze Medal Game (Feb. 22 at 10 a.m. ET) and Gold Medal Game (Feb. 23 at 7 a.m. ET).
Griffins in the Olympics (1984-2010)
| Player | Country | Year/Site | Finish |
| Aigars Cipruss | Latvia | 2006/Turin | 12th |
| Aigars Cipruss | Latvia | 2002/Salt Lake City | 9th |
| Pavol Demitra | Slovakia | 2010/Vancouver | 4th |
| Pavol Demitra | Slovakia | 2006/Turin | 5th |
| Pavol Demitra | Slovakia | 2002/Salt Lake City | 13th |
| Valtteri Filppula | Finland | 2010/Vancouver | Bronze |
| Erich Goldmann | Germany | 2002/Salt Lake City | 8th |
| Jani Hurme | Finland | 2002/Salt Lake City | 6th |
| Tomas Kopecky | Slovakia | 2010/Vancouver | 4th |
| Niklas Kronwall | Sweden | 2010/Vancouver | 5th |
| Stefan Liv | Sweden | 2010/Vancouver | 5th |
| Rastislav Pavlikovsky | Slovakia | 2002/Salt Lake City | 13th |
| Robert Petrovicky | Slovakia | 2002/Salt Lake City | 13th |
| Konstantin Shafranov | Kazakhstan | 2006/Turin | 9th |
| Andrei Sryubko | Ukraine | 2002/Salt Lake City | 10th |
| Julien Vauclair | Switzerland | 2006/Turin | 6th |
| Player | Country | Year/Site | Finish |
| Slava Butsayev | Unified Team | 1992/Albertville | Gold |
| Chris Chelios | USA | 2006/Turin | 8th |
| Chris Chelios | USA | 2002/Salt Lake City | Silver |
| Chris Chelios | USA | 1998/Nagano | 6th |
| Chris Chelios | USA | 1984/Sarajevo | 7th |
| Erich Goldmann | Germany | 1998/Nagano | 9th |
| Jonas Gustavsson | Sweden | 2010/Vancouver | 5th |
| Todd Hlushko | Canada | 1994/Lillehammer | Silver |
| Curtis Joseph | Canada | 2002/Salt Lake City | Gold |
| Mike Knuble | USA | 2006/Turin | 8th |
| Stefan Liv | Sweden | 2006/Turin | Gold |
| Kevin Miller | USA | 1988/Calgary | 7th |
| Michael Nylander | Sweden | 2002/Salt Lake City | 5th |
| Michael Nylander | Sweden | 1998/Nagano | 5th |
| Robert Petrovicky | Slovakia | 1998/Nagano | 10th |
| Robert Petrovicky | Slovakia | 1994/Lillehammer | 6th |
| Travis Richards | USA | 1994/Lillehammer | 8th |
| David Roberts | USA | 1994/Lillehammer | 8th |
| Mikael Samuelsson | Sweden | 2006/Turin | Gold |
| Konstantin Shafranov | Kazakhstan | 1998/Nagano | 8th |