GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grand Rapids Griffins defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen will play for Norway at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.

Tollefsen, who was named to Norway’s Olympic roster in December, was assigned to Grand Rapids by the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 8 after being acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers in a Feb. 6 trade for former Griffin Ville Leino. After personal matters forced him to delay his Griffins debut and miss Norway’s 8-0 loss to Canada in its opening game on Tuesday, the NHL veteran is expected to play his first Olympic contest on Thursday against the United States at 3 p.m. EST.

Tollefsen is the second Griffins defenseman to depart for the Olympics, joining Belarus’ Sergei Kolosov. They are just the third and fourth players in franchise history to participate in the Olympics as active Griffins, joining Niklas Kronwall (2006 Sweden) and Julien Vauclair (2002 Switzerland). In the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, Kronwall became the first Griffins alumnus to earn an Olympic medal, winning gold thanks to Sweden’s victory over Finland in the championship game.

Three of the other 10 men’s hockey teams are counting on former Griffins in their medal quests. Kronwall (2003-06) and Stefan Liv (2006-07), who also won gold with Sweden in 2006, will look to repeat, while Slovakia’s Pavol Demitra (1996-97) and Tomas Kopecky (2002-06) and Finland’s Valtteri Filppula (2005-07) will try to dethrone the defending champs.

The preliminary round continues through Feb. 21, with Kolosov set to play his first game for Belarus today at 3 p.m. EST versus Finland. The qualification round (Feb. 23-24), semifinals (Feb. 26), Bronze Medal Game (Feb. 27) and Gold Medal Game (Feb. 28) will continue through the end of the month.

Griffins in the Olympics (1984-2006)

Player Country Year/Site Finish Niklas Kronwall Sweden 2006/Turin Gold Julien Vauclair Switzerland 2002/Salt Lake City 11th

Participated After Playing for the Griffins

Player	Country	Year/Site	Finish
Aigars Cipruss	Latvia	2006/Turin	12th
Aigars Cipruss	Latvia	2002/Salt Lake City	9th
Pavol Demitra	Slovakia	2006/Turin	5th
Pavol Demitra	Slovakia	2002/Salt Lake City	13th
Erich Goldmann	Germany	2002/Salt Lake City	8th
Jani Hurme	Finland	2002/Salt Lake City	6th
Rastislav Pavlikovsky	Slovakia	2002/Salt Lake City	13th
Robert Petrovicky	Slovakia	2002/Salt Lake City	13th
Konstantin Shafranov	Kazakhstan	2006/Turin	9th
Andrei Sryubko	Ukraine	2002/Salt Lake City	10th
Julien Vauclair	Switzerland	2006/Turin	6th

Participated Before Playing for the Griffins

Player	Country	Year/Site	Finish
Slava Butsayev	Unified Team	1992/Albertville	Gold
Chris Chelios	USA	2006/Turin	8th
Chris Chelios	USA	2002/Salt Lake City	Silver
Chris Chelios	USA	1998/Nagano	6th
Chris Chelios	USA	1984/Sarajevo	7th
Erich Goldmann	Germany	1998/Nagano	9th
Todd Hlushko	Canada	1994/Lillehammer	Silver
Curtis Joseph	Canada	2002/Salt Lake City	Gold
Stefan Liv	Sweden	2006/Turin	Gold
Kevin Miller	USA	1988/Calgary	7th
Michael Nylander	Sweden	2002/Salt Lake City	5th
Michael Nylander	Sweden	1998/Nagano	5th
Robert Petrovicky	Slovakia	1998/Nagano	10th
Robert Petrovicky	Slovakia	1994/Lillehammer	6th
Travis Richards	USA	1994/Lillehammer	8th
David Roberts	USA	1994/Lillehammer	8th
Konstantin Shafranov	Kazakhstan	1998/Nagano	8th