Big Brother Mentality Prepared Tony Granato for Role as U.S. Olympic Coach

Siblings and teammates alike always looked up to Tony Granato, and he'll bring those leadership qualities behind the bench for the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team.

Growing up as the oldest of six children, Tony Granato always seemed to be in charge.

If that meant telling brothers Don and Robby to help their younger siblings put on their shoes or find their jackets, that’s what he did.

A decade or so later, those same qualities stood out on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team—even though defenseman Eric Weinrich and 15 other players were older than Granato.

“I really looked up to Tony as a real leader and someone you could aspire to,” Weinrich said. “He was really a mature guy for the group that we had. I always kind of thought of him as an older player than he really was. He always seemed like one of those guys that would be a good captain.”

Decades later, the 53-year-old big brother finds himself in that role again on the biggest stage in international hockey.

Granato will coach an unheralded men’s hockey team without NHL players at the Olympics in South Korea next month. Hand-picked by general manager, friend and 1988 Olympic teammate Jim Johannson, who died unexpectedly on the eve of the games, Granato has spent more than 30 years building to this moment.

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“I’ve been there as a fan, I’ve been there as a player, I’ve been there as an assistant coach,” Granato said . “There’s no greater sporting event. There’s no greater place for an athlete to be.”

Brother Don said Tony’s “spirit is what the Olympic spirit is,” something that began as a teenager in the wake of the 1980 “Miracle On Ice” team winning the gold medal in Lake Placid, New York. The four hockey-playing Granato children got white and blue jerseys of 1980 heroes Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig and wore them during spirited games in their suburban Chicago basement that always pitted Tony and Cammi against Don and Robby.

The 1980 victory helped the Granato kids realize they could aspire to make the NHL. After being drafted in the sixth round in 1982 by the New York Rangers, Tony played at the University of Wisconsin and representing the U.S. at two world junior tournaments, three world championships and the 1988 Calgary Games.

With full knowledge that he and his teammates were supposed to replicate the 1980 success, Granato was tied for second with eight points and still looks back on that experience with pride even though the U.S. went 2-3 and didn’t reach the medal round.

“I thought we had a tremendous team. We just didn’t get the results,” Granato said. “We had two phenomenal games: one against Russia and one against the Czechs that we lost heartbreaking games that we could’ve easily won and put ourselves in medal contention. It didn’t go our way, but it was a tremendous honor to be part of that team. I’ve got nothing but great memories about it.”

Eleven years into his NHL career, Granato’s big-brother mentality was on full display in the form of telephone support for sister Cammi as she prepared for Nagano in 1998, the first Olympics with women’s hockey.

“It would be a five-minute conversation, but he was just checking in to make sure I was good, how are the games, how am I feeling — kind of a pep talk,” said Cammi Granato, who in 2010 became one of the first two women to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. “Of course I listened to everything he had to tell me.”

Granato put up 535 points in 852 games with the Rangers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks during a proud pro career, but he wasn’t selected to play for the U.S. in 1998, the first Olympics featuring NHL players. He traveled to Japan anyway to watch Cammi. When he had to return to North America to resume the season, he was the first person she called to celebrate with after winning the gold medal.

Four years later, when Canada beat the U.S. in the women’s final in Salt Lake City, Cammi saw Tony and his children immediately when she got off the bus following the loss.

“His kids, my nieces and nephews, when I got off the bus were right there and I was pretty devastated,” Cammi said. “Tony was the next one in line to just grab me and I just remember breaking down with him. He’s always been there for me.”

Since then, Granato has coached with the Colorado Avalanche, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings and is in his second season at Wisconsin, his alma mater. Influenced along the way by Stanley Cup winning-coaches Joel Quenneville, Dan Bylsma and Mike Babcock, he returned to the Olympics as an assistant on Bylsma’s U.S. staff in Sochi in 2014.

Over one summer camp and two weeks in Russia, Granato made a significant impact on players. James van Riemsdyk called him “cerebral” and T.J. Oshie instantly saw how much he cared about the players and USA Hockey.

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“He was a really good guy and cared about players and cared about winning,” added Justin Faulk. “That goes a long way.”

Even though being the bad guy sometimes comes with the territory of being coach, Granato is widely considered by former players to be an excellent communicator. Don got to see that up close as one of his assistants last year at Wisconsin.

“He is exceptional at trying to put himself in the player’s shoes,” Don said. “He really will communicate differently to different people.”

Granato will be tested on that in South Korea with a 25-man roster that includes 17 players from European professional leagues, four from the college ranks, three from the American Hockey League and semi-retired 38-year-old captain Brian Gionta, many of whom already know him from the Deutschland Cup in November. Gionta described Granato’s coaching style as motivational and full of passion for the game.

Enthusiasm has never been lacking for Granato, who insists he’s not trying to match Cammi’s gold medal for family bragging rights.

“Our expectations of ourselves are to compete for a medal,” Granato said. “There’s no NHL players going to be able to play in it. But I think it’s even more exciting because the opportunity that these athletes are going to get will be the biggest stage that they’ve ever been on in their lives.”

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Follow Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno

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