USA goaltender John Grahame is in rarified air when it comes to NHL representation.

'Mile high' hopes
for Grahame, U.S.
By Doug Ward | NHL.com correspondent
Feb. 11, 2006

John Grahame isn't like any of his teammates on the United States Olympic team, and it's not because he's a goalie. The 30-year-old Grahame comes to USA Hockey from a place completely different from everyone else on the team, and that place is just 68 miles up I-25 from the organization's headquarters in Colorado Springs.

Grahame was born and raised in Denver, home of the two-time defending NCAA Champion University of Denver Pioneers, and two-time Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. Ironically, Denver is the birthplace of virtually no other NHL or Olympic caliber hockey talent. That makes Grahame a bit of a pied piper for the region, a role he's proud to play. Both Denver and hockey have been very, very good to Grahame, and he retains an emotional tie to his hometown.

"I'm very proud to be from Denver," a sweat-soaked Grahame is saying while peeling off his goaltender's gear following one of his better outings of the year, a 4-1 win over the Kings in Los Angeles in January.

Grahame's emergence as Tampa Bay's No. 1 goaltender and an Olympian certainly can't hurt the growth of hockey in his home state. "There's so much great hockey being played there now," Grahame says of Colorado. "I think you'll definitely see a lot more players come out of Denver in the future."

Grahame had a head start on the other kids in his Denver neighborhood in that grew up in one of the Mile High City's more prominent hockey households. His father, Ron, an NHL goaltender from 1977-81, is an associate athletic director at the University of Denver, while his mother, Charlotte, works in the front office of the Avalanche as Senior Director of Hockey Administration. "My dad was an NHL goalie and I learned a lot from him," Grahame says proudly of his father, a University of Denver graduate, and former Bruin, King, and Nordique. As for his mother, well, John and Charlotte Grahame have a bond unequal to any other.

"My mom and I," Grahame says, "are the only mother and son to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup. That's pretty special."

John's name was sent to the engravers after he backed up Nikolai Khabibulin when Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup two years ago; Charlotte earned the honor following the Avalanche's 2001 Cup triumph.

The Grahames' Denver hockey roots run much deeper than two names etched on a silver cup. With his father serving as an assistant coach at his alma mater from 1982-89, John grew up around the hockey program at the school locals refer to as "D.U.", attending both practices and games regularly. Ultimately, however, college kept Grahame away from the Mile High City. He left home to play juniors at Sioux City of the USHL in 1993-94, then moved on to Lake Superior State in 1994-95. In three years with the Lakers, Grahame won 56 games. He began his NHL career in Boston, the team his father spent the 1977-78 season with, after the Bruins drafted him ninth round (229th overall) of the 1994 Entry Draft.

After spending parts of four seasons as a backup to Byron Dafoe in Boston, Grahame was dealt to Tampa Bay in exchange for a fourth round draft choice midway through the 2002-03 season. It was a good deal for Tampa Bay. Two years later, Grahame played in 29 games behind Khabibulin during the Lightning's Stanley Cup winning campaign.

When the Bruins traded John's dad, Ron, they had better luck. In what turned out to be one of the more lopsided deals in NHL history, the Kings sent a No. 1 draft pick to Boston in exchange for Ron Grahame in 1978. The player the Bruins selected with the pick? None other than Raymond Bourque, whose name is engraved near Charlotte Grahame's on the Stanley Cup.

As the rare Denverite to represent the United States in an Olympic hockey tournament, John Grahame has mile high hopes. Even if there is concern the United States' goaltending might be a little rocky. The Americans figure to rely primarily on Rick DiPietro of the Islanders in goal, with Robert Esche of the Flyers likely to be the top understudy. But Grahame concedes nothing. "It's a great opportunity," he says. "I hope to take advantage of it."

Grahame has played better of late for the defending Stanley Cup champs.

Grahame has also been working hard to take advantage of his situation in Tampa Bay, where the departure of Khabibulin, who signed with Chicago as a free agent last summer, has left him as the No. 1 goaltender. While carrying the bulk of the load in goal for the defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning during the season's first half, Grahame's play could best characterized as spotty. "I have to be more consistent, night in and night out," he admits.

If Grahame is to earn Olympic playing time, it will be on the strength of a quick glove, and nice mix of mobility and size (6-foot-2, 220). But regardless of how much, or how little, Grahame ends up playing during the Torino Games, he says the tournament will be a career highlight.

Like all of his teammates, Grahame says pulling on a sweater with U-S-A embroidered across the front brings back fond memories of the United States' last gold medal-winning Olympic team. "I still get chills every time I see the Miracle on Ice," Grahame says, "It never gets old. It's a very special moment." Grahame is determined make sure these Olympics are special, too.

"It's a great accomplishment," Grahame says of representing his country. "It's also great achievement and a great honor. It's probably one of the greatest things that will happen to me in my life and my career."

For Grahame, the best way to keep the special times going would be to see an influx of Colorado talent make to the NHL and to future Olympiads.

Eventually, Grahame believes more and more Coloradoans begin to follow in his footsteps. When that happens, the goaltender from Lake Superior State will be a true Denver pioneer.