In Sochi, American players also will have to adapt to a different style of living, from food to sleeping quarters. David Backes, the St. Louis Blues center who played for Team USA in Vancouver, as well as in world-championship tournaments in Russia and Switzerland, said the combination of competitive and cultural differences overseas can leave players feeling out of sorts.

"I think that's the difference between success on North American soil and not a lot of success on European soil," [St. Louis Blues captain David] Backes said. "All those things combine for a little bit of adversity before you even drop the puck."

Let's just say that while the Russians are under Vladimir Putin-level pressure to hold "perfect" games, there's a reason that many European players embarking upon North American pro careers bring over someone who can cook for them as a rule--or as I've found, they find restaurants that make meals they can handle and stick with an "all out food" diet (some of the Wings' Slovak prospects have admitted that they think American food is less than appealing, and they're not alone in that regard)--and part of the "Olympic experience" even in this day and age will involve finding food at the Olympic Village that doesn't result in upset stomachs and sticking to it.

Costa also points out that one of the biggest issues for the teams will involve cohesion as no team but Canada's even tried to play "street hockey" during their summer orientation camps, and a largely NHL-sourced slate of players simply won't have "bonding time" because they'll be heading straight to Sochi from their respective workplaces instead of flying on some sort of "team plane" to the Caucasus Mountains:

"They're not even going on the same plane together," said Penguins coach Dan Bylsma, who will coach Team USA. "They're going to step off the plane, get together, have a practice or two and play a game. It's a daunting task to come together as a team and play with any kind of chemistry as a group."

With little time to mold a team, the Americans' focus is on assembling one that is ready-made both for the bigger ice and for each other.

For one thing, that means putting a higher priority on speed and skating ability than in the past. "Even hockey smarts or hockey sense is a factor, given the fact that, spatially, it's different," Bylsma said.

Costa continues...