Guerin supports Modano

FRISCO, Texas – Mike Modano, maligned for blasting USA Hockey after a disappointing finish at the Turin Games, has at least one supporter in Olympic and Dallas Stars teammate Bill Guerin.

Modano was widely criticized for speaking out after the U.S. team lost to Finland and finished 1-4-1 in the Olympics. He said USA Hockey failed to take care of travel and accreditation needs of players’ families, suggesting that the administration could use some “new blood.”

“He stuck his neck out there and said something uncomfortable for him to say and definitely uncomfortable for people to hear,” Guerin said Tuesday. “In the end, Mike spoke the truth. We had to deal with a lot of other issues along with worrying about the game.”

Modano apologized last week for the tone and timing of his comments, but the Stars captain didn’t take back any of what he said when he returned to his team Tuesday.

“Everybody talked about wanting to do it,” he said. “To sit there and hear what they are going through for two weeks, it shouldn’t have been that type of experience. There’s where I had enough and decided to say something about it.

“Now that I’m out there (with comments), everybody is letting me do the talking. If you ask them, maybe they might agree. I don’t think any of them would disagree. If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t have said anything.”