The new U.S. coach held practices with two groups of players — 39 in all — Tuesday at the start of the three-day getaway.

When this week is over, he won't see the players that will make up his team until they land in Italy next February with just over a day to get ready for their first game of the Turin Olympics.

Laviolette will try to get across his system to some extent, but it will merely be a cramming session this week. Players will have two days of skating and a final day scrimmage.

"There's just not going to be a whole lot of time to get things done," Laviolette said. "Although they're going their own ways and may forget a lot of this stuff, at least we touched on various parts of the game."

And Laviolette might also forget what he told them. Next week, he starts his first training camp as the head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes.

He and his U.S. staff will send information to the players chosen for the Olympic team during the season, but his main priority is the NHL club that hired him during the 2003-04 season.

"That will consume me," Laviolette said. "I can't work with these guys again until Feb. 13."

While in Colorado, players will have to fill out forms and get other paperwork ready should they be chosen for the team. They'll also have time for golfing and fishing outings and other activities to bond as teammates.

Only some of these players will make the team, and others who weren't invited will have the opportunity to play their way onto the squad during the first few months of the NHL regular season.

Laviolette at least is familiar with many of the American players he's working with. He coached a few while with the New York Islanders, others during international competition, and forward Erik Cole is with the Hurricanes.

His style is up tempo, so that kind of pace and a busy schedule would tend to suggest Laviolette would want a young, quick team. That is not necessarily the case.

"I would think that we're going to take the best players available," he said.

Judging from the players that were invited by general manager Don Waddell and his staff, the United States seems to be leaning toward getting younger and getting away from many of the veterans that made up the previous two Olympic teams that featured NHLers.

Mike Modano was joined on the ice Tuesday by fellow elder statesmen such as Dallas Stars teammate Bill Guerin, and Doug Weight and Keith Tkachuk. A lot of the talk, however, was about who wasn't invited to camp.

Missing were notable American stars such as defensemen Brian Leetch and Chris Chelios, along with forwards Brett Hull, John LeClair and Jeremy Roenick.

They will all likely be part of a list of 60-70 potential Olympians that Team USA will soon submit to the International Ice Hockey Federation, but clearly they are no longer the face of the team.

"They're trying to be fair and give everyone a look," Weight said. "That doesn't mean you're not going to see Brian Leetch and Chris Chelios and Brett Hull get a good look. They are great players, they deserve respect and I think they have it.

"But they're also going to let these young guys come in and give them a shot to give us some energy and let them know they are a big part of our future."

Now those newcomers are being groomed to take the reins of a program that has won only one gold medal (1980) and a silver (2002) in the last seven Olympics.

That transformation could start as soon as January when the final roster is announced.

"I don't feel that it's a phasing out, they just feel like they feel these younger players are ready to take the next step," Guerin said. "You can't tell me that a lot of our older players are out of gas, I don't buy it. But you can't tell me that our younger guys aren't ready to jump in there, either, because they are."

Of this group, 12 weren't even born when the United States stunned the Soviet Union en route to the "Miracle of Ice" gold medal 26 years ago in Lake Placid.

The camp provides an atmosphere for players — young and older — to play golf together, fish, and meet up for a late-night beer. That is of course after they first meet. Many only know each other from facing off as opponents.

"This is just a good break," Modano said. "A lot of us were real familiar with each other for about 15 years, we all played with each other, we grew up with each other. Now there is another batch of great, young players that are coming up that are going to be that type of guys, too.

"They're all 19, 20, 21, the same age we were when we were coming in for the Canada Cup in '91. Either this one or the next Olympics will be their time to take over."