T.J. Mulock's rink rat résumé is as Canadian as maple syrup-covered back bacon, with junior hockey stops in Vancouver, Regina and Kamloops.

But when the 24-year-old from Langley, B.C., takes to the ice at the 2010 Olympics, he will do so as a member of the German national team, making him the one local boy who won't be skating into the hearts of every Canadian hockey fan.

"As a kid, you obviously don't grow up thinking of playing for Germany," Mulock said shortly before being named to Germany's final 23-man roster released late last week. "But in reality, it is exactly what you want as a little boy. You're growing up to be able to play with those type of players and that big of an audience -- and in your home country is just kind of the cherry on top of playing in the Olympics at all."

Canada's famously deep pool of hockey talent means it is not altogether unusual for Canadians to wind up on the rosters of other nations.

Albertans Chris Schmidt and Jason Holland, and John Tripp of Kingston, Ont., are three more Canadian-born players slated to play for Germany -- all former NHLers-- though Mulock is unique as a foreigner playing in his hometown.

"I expect to see a lot of Mulock signs and Germany/Mulock jerseys, whatever they can get their hands on," he said. "There will be a bunch of friends and a lot of family there as well."

Mulock played 160 games with three teams over three Western Junior Hockey League seasons and has not played at home since graduating from the Kamloops Blazers in 2006. A dominant bantam player, a 16-year-old Mulock scored on his second shift in major junior. But his star never shone as brightly as his first team, the Vancouver Giants, hoped it would.

"We looked at him as a prospect that you could really develop and really build a junior team around," former Giants coach Milan Dragicevic said. "He had the knack to score goals and he's always scored goals.

"He was only 16 at that time," Dragicevic added "We were waiting for him to grow and develop and become that goal scorer."

After his junior career, he followed his older brother Tyson overseas and starred in Germany's lower tier Oberliga before catching on with Eisenbaren Berlin (Berlin Polar Bears) in the German elite league last year.

This season, Mulock is tied for fourth in team scoring with 13 goals and 31 points in 36 games for the high-profile team that regularly plays before sellout crowds of nearly 15,000 at home.

Olympic legacy

His Olympic heritage begins near Leipzig, from where his maternal grandfather, Horst Chieduch, emigrated to Canada following the Second World War.

Europe's extensively redrawn map now shows Mulock's ancestral home in former East Prussia, which now lies in Poland, though he retains the right to play for his adopted country in the Olympics as his birthright.

What official papers as a German citizen cannot do is create universal acceptance from his new countrymen.

"Absolutely, I'm sure there's players that are probably on the team and there's probably a lot of players around the league that kind of think it's unfair -- probably say that I don't deserve to be there, that it's not my home country," said Mulock, who lives in an apartment in Berlin but also owns a home in Surrey, B.C.

"But as long as the players on the team and the coach, [support me], I'm obviously going to jump at any opportunity to play at that level with those calibre of players."

Mulock's father, Ned, is still a little nervous about actually getting to see his younger son play at home in the Olympics.

There is always the chance for an injury and rosters can be changed right up until the tournament begins.

"The next Olympic year would be in Russia," Ned Mulock said. "And it's a lot easier to see him play here than maybe four years from now trying to get a ticket to Russia."
Still, the idea of seeing his son take on the best players in the world is enough to make the proud dad smile.

"Any time you get a chance to look across a faceoff circle and look at Peter Forsberg or the Sedins or all the athletes that he's looked at in the NHL -- I'm sure it's going to be quite a thrill to suit up against these guys," Ned Mulock said. "I know he talked about it in the world championships last spring."

That thrill is not likely to go beyond the preliminary round since Germany is in the same pool with Finland, Belarus and defending champion Sweden.

While Mulock's teammates will include six NHLers, Germany's only medal in men's ice hockey is a bronze won in 1932. Since NHL players began playing at the Olympics, the German men's hockey team has finished ninth, eighth and 10th.

"I'm not sure what the bookmakers are saying," said Ned, a math teacher at Langley Secondary School. "I'm not a betting man, but I wouldn't be putting any money down."
His son agrees, but is not conceding anything yet. For him, beyond the experience, there is still a chance for additional exposure in front of scouts. Mulock hopes to show them he has grown as a player since they last saw him almost four years ago.

"I felt I kind of got overlooked in the junior process and that was kind of one of the reasons why I came over here, because I just thought I had a better opportunity," said Mulock, who admits he is not expecting anything major to come of his Olympic appearance. "It's definitely in the back of my mind hoping that if I perform well someone will give me a second chance and a look and maybe a tryout somewhere down the road."