Anaheim\u2019s 6-5 win<\/a> over Connor McDavid and the Oilers.<\/p>\n\u201cFor me, it was just so special to love our country,\u201d LaCombe said. \u201cI love whoever is in office. It was such an honor, but I just wanted to be back here for the game, and it was a tight window, so I couldn\u2019t really make it work. That\u2019s the only reason why. I just want to be ready to go back with these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
LaCombe is a big-minute performer for the Ducks, a No. 1 defenseman who averages a team-leading 24:30 per game and has accumulated 37 points. But among the collection of NHL stars each night at Milan Santagiulia Arena, he was reduced to being a spectator.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t his time, but it could be in 2030 when the Winter Olympics return in the French Alps. While he stayed ready for U.S. coach Mike Sullivan, LaCombe used the opportunity to learn from the starry seven playing ahead of him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot,\u201d LaCombe said of the learning experience. \u201cYou see the way they prepare, and you see their skills on the ice and all those things. But I think just their work ethic was huge for me to pick up on. Obviously, they do so many good things just to be ready to play. That was huge for me to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
The games became study sessions as much as a chance to cheer on his teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s crazy to see, obviously, from a different perspective,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, the guys in the game see it one way, but just being able to watch from above, you just see so many little details to pick up on. You see how fast the game is and how good (the) teams we\u2019re playing. For me, just to be able to pick up on all that and just to learn from those guys who are all elite players is really special.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2030 Olympics will be played in Nice, France. Will LaCombe be a factor on the American blue line then? He\u2019ll be 29 and figures to still be a main cog for Anaheim after signing an eight-year extension worth $72 million \u2014 the most lucrative contract in Ducks franchise history \u2014 in October.<\/p>\n
It won\u2019t be easy. Hughes will be 30 and should remain the leader of Team USA\u2019s back end. Faber and Sanderson will still be in their primes at 27. Werenski and McAvoy will be 32. But Slavin, who\u2019s long been one of the NHL\u2019s top shutdown defenders, will be 35. Hanifin will be 33. And LaCombe is building a track record with USA Hockey. He was also part of the gold medal-winning U.S. team at last year\u2019s world championships, and could be on the roster for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey.<\/p>\n
There will be motivation for LaCombe to work his way into being more than an extra when it\u2019s time for the next Olympics.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely something you want to do,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s been a lot the last few days, so it\u2019s hard to look forward to that far. We\u2019ve just been so excited, just celebrating and taking it all in, and obviously, it has been pretty crazy, so I haven\u2019t thought too much about that. But definitely, when you think about it, you obviously want to be part of it anytime you get a chance, and it\u2019s so special to do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all love our country so much. Whenever we represent the USA, it\u2019s so special.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 Quinn Hughes. Zach Werenski. Charlie McAvoy. Jaccob Slavin. Brock Faber. Noah Hanifin. Jake Sanderson. Teams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,824,165,164,404],"class_list":{"0":"post-194943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-ducks","10":"tag-anaheim-headlines","11":"tag-anaheim-news","12":"tag-nhl"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}