Sports stats



WHL Spokane Chiefs

Zimmerman comes home with bronze

January 10, 2007 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The red, white and blue will be a little more familiar to Sean Zimmerman this week, but don't blame him if he wants to talk up playing for his country or show off his new hardware. The 19-year-old defenseman returned to Spokane on Saturday night after winning a bronze medal with the United States National Junior Team and will play for the Chiefs in their three games Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Zimmerman missed six games in Spokane while attending to his duties for the United States and the experience was well worth it. He ranks it as his best hockey experience of his life, which is something considering he has skated for an organized team through a majority of it. The positives far outweighed the negatives; food ("I lost 15 pounds when I was over there), travel ("We spent nearly 24 hours traveling back"), and jet lag ("My legs didn't feel good yesterday at practice," he laughed.)

The way the U.S. started in the round robin portion of the tournament "team play" could have certainly been added to that list, but after a pair of clunkers against Germany and Canada things turned around.

"Losing the first two games we knew we had to win," Zimmerman said. "Our backs were against the wall and I think that made us better and more urgent than we were against Germany and Canada."

The U.S. knew they had to win against Slovakia and Sweden in back-to-back games to advance, and they did just that. A 6-1 win over Slovakia set up a 3-2 overtime decision over the host country, Sweden.

Quick work was made of Finland in the quarterfinals, setting up a rematch against Canada in the semis. The Americans dropped a classic 2-1 decision in a shootout allowing Canada to move on and eventually win the gold.

"The semi-final was a tough game," the four-year veteran of the Chiefs said. "You don't want to lose a game like that in a shootout. The game was too important."

Zimmerman, who described himself as the only true defensive-defenseman on the roster, knew it would be a longshot to have his number called after overtime and had the unique aspect of watching the seven round shootout from the bench.

"There was so much skill and talent," he said. "I was too nervous. At that point it was too much too handle. There was too much excitement. I probably wouldn't have gotten a shot off even if I was called."

After the emotional loss to Canada, the U.S. had to get back on their proverbial horse and play for a medal, another match-up against Sweden.

"It was a tough loss but our team handled it pretty well. We didn't want to leave empty handed."

Zimmerman's roommate, Erik Johnson, the first overall selection by St. Louis last summer, figured in on both goals of a 2-1 win and helped the United States bring home a medal for the first time since winning the gold in 2004.

There will be no rest for the weary this week as Kamloops, the seventh ranked team in the CHL in their most recent poll, will visit on Wednesday and Chilliwack will playin the Arena for the first time ever on Friday. Saturday night, the Chiefs will host the Tri-City Americans.

Tickets for all home games are available by calling the Chiefs office at (509) 535-PUCK or TicketsWest at (800) 325-SEAT.

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Western Hockey League message board...

Western Hockey League Stories from January 10, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central