Comrie enjoying watching Hellebuyck at Olympics

WINNIPEG – Say what you want about the compressed schedule and the wear and tear on the players this season because of the Olympics. But Eric Comrie has enjoyed every last second of NHLers being back.

“It’s been awesome. Big fan of it. Best on best hockey is so much fun to watch. I think it's just, I don't know, I'm a total fan again, it's just awesome to watch,” said Comrie after the Jets finished their third practice of the week.

“Awesome to watch my friends play, and just the different countries, and how hard people play for their country and how much it means to them. It's been an awesome experience.”

One of those friends that Comrie has been watching is fellow Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck who came within 1:31 of shutting out Sweden on Wednesday in the quarterfinals wtih the Americans winning in overtime 2-1. Hellebuyck leads the tournament with a .957 save percentage and 0.98 goals against average.

"He's a great goalie. I think he's the best goalie in the world, if not the best player in the world and he's playing his game,” said Comrie.

“He looked fantastic and Sweden again yesterday. And every single game he's played just looks so sharp. I mean he just makes it look so easy. It's just fun to watch him play.”

The Olympics now head into the final four on Friday. Hellebuyck and the Americans face Slovakia and Josh Morrissey and Canada get Finland.

“Well, I mean, I gotta cheer for Canada. And I gotta cheer for my guys in the US too, because I got KC and Helle on the team,” said Comrie.

“I gotta cheer for Canada because I'm from Canada. So, I mean, my wives from the US, and I got one kid from the US, one kid from Canada. So, we’ve got kind of split in the house, so we'll see how it goes.”

This is the second extended break of the season for Comrie and the Jets and for a position that relies on timing, the 30-year-old admitted it’s tough to stay sharp.

“I mean, it's tough to get back into it. We have a bunch of practices and Flats (Jets goaltending coach Wade Flaherty), and I are doing a bunch of work to get back into it,” said Comrie.

“So, it's once the games come around, you'd be ready to go, I think the first couple days (its) just ironing it out. But I think once the games come along, there's enough practice to get going.”

Comrie said that he and Flaherty only chatted once during the break, but it wasn’t about goaltending.

“We talked about one thing, he brought me some salmon back, and that's the only thing we talked about. So yeah, I got some salmon. Actually, I cooked it last night, he claimed it to be the best salmon in the world, the Nookta Sound salmon,” laughed Comrie.

“He was bragging about it, bragging about it. I still will go on the fence that Copper River salmon is better than Nookta Sound salmon, but it's still really good. It's still really good. Close second.”

When the Jets do get back into action next Wednesday in Vancouver, they have a big mountain to climb with 11 points separating them and the final wild card spot in the Western Conference. Head coach Scott Arniel said it’s about taking care of your own business. Winnipeg will face San Jose and Anaheim on their three-game road trip and it’s those two who the Jets are trying to catch.

“You’re going to run into some of those teams, like we are going to see in the first couple of weeks when we get back. We’re going to run into some of those teams that are above us. Beat those teams, just keep beating those teams and pick away,” said Arniel.

“Can’t worry about where we’re going to be March 15, we’ve got to worry about what’s coming here, or March 30, we’ve got to worry about what’s coming on the (25th).”

As for the Jets four Olympians, only Nino Niederreiter’s team Switzerland has been eliminated. Morrissey, Kyle Connor and Hellebuyck will all play for medals either Saturday or Sunday depending on the results of the semifinals. It will be interesting to see who will be available from the foursome for the game against the Canucks.

“Obviously, Monday’s a travel day and then Tuesday we’re leaving for Vancouver, so it’ll be interesting to see how it kind of plays itself out. But Nino, I’ll give him a call later today. I wanted to kind of let him kind of just decompress. I’ll maybe call him tomorrow and see what his play is as well,” said Arniel.

“I’ve got to see how the U.S., Canada games go and if they’re playing Sunday and we’ll take it from there. Last year (after 4 Nations Face-Off), KC wanted to play, Helle and JMo didn’t, so it’ll be something that we’ve just got to monitor as we go forward here.”