Gogulla going to Vancouver

Portland Pirates rookie forward Philip Gogulla has been named to Team Germany for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The 6'2 Gogulla has five goals, 16 points, and a +5 through the first 31 games of his North American career after posting 127 points in five seasons with Cologne of the DEL.

Veteran Buffalo Sabres forward Jochen Hecht was a noticeable omission by DEB head coach, Uwe Krupp.

Germany's Olympic roster includes six NHLers -- goaltender Thomas Greiss (San Jose), defensemen Christian Ehrhoff (Vancouver), Dennis Seidenberg (Florida) and Alexander Sulzer (Nashville), and forwards Marcel Goc (Nashville) and Marco Sturm (Boston). Winger Philip Gogulla, a Buffalo prospect who has yet to make his NHL debut, was chosen from Portland of the American Hockey League. In his first season of North American hockey, the 22-year-old Gogulla has 5 goals and 16 points in 31 games.

The remaining 16 skater all play in Germany's top professional league, the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

Veteran center Jochen Hecht of Buffalo was surprisingly left off Krupp's roster, as was Atlanta defenseman Christoph Schubert. Both were included on a reserve list. Hecht has a long international resume and participated in the 1998 and 2002 Games. He was also selected to play in 2006 in Torino, Italy but suffered an injury in his last NHL game before the Olympic break and was unable to play. In eight Olympic games, Hecht has 2 goals and an assist.

This season with Buffalo, Hecht has only 6 goals and 15 points in 39 games and is eighth on the team in scoring.