The man who nearly stole a gold medal for Team USA at the 2010 Winter Olympics might have to live with seeing a Team Canada jersey in his own home for a number of years.
"We'll have a Canadian-born son in March," Ryan Miller told ESPN.com this week, chuckling no doubt at the irony of it all, not the least of which is that his son will be born in Vancouver, the scene of that heartbreaking overtime loss to Canada in February 2010.
"My dad was born in Canada, the Canadian side of the family is pretty pumped," the Michigan native added.
Well, let's not go too far with the whole Team Canada thing. As Miller points out, there are two American parents at the root of it all.
Miller's New York-born wife, actress Noureen DeWulf, is five months' pregnant. The veteran star goalie is beyond excited to start a family.
"It's been a little tough in the beginning here because she's finishing off some work, our schedules have been a little jumbled," Miller said. "But it's going to get easier in that regard. Noureen is going to be joining me pretty much for the rest of the season sometime in December."
There have been a lot of new things in Miller's life this year, not the least of which is a fresh start for his career after signing with the Vancouver Canucks in July.
All Miller has done is start the season with an NHL-leading 10 wins, giving up more than two goals just twice -- and not since Oct. 21.
Hello, hockey world, I'm Ryan Miller and I'm still pretty good despite what some people said after last season.
"It doesn't surprise me," Canucks general manager Jim Benning told ESPN.com this week. "I know what type of kid he is. He's real competitive. He really wants to win."
Miller was drafted, developed and became a young star while Benning worked in the Buffalo Sabres' front office years ago. So while some had questions about Miller after last season's disappointing end in St. Louis, the Canucks' new GM did not share those doubts.
He was 100 percent confident that Miller could still be among the league's elite goalies, and signed him to a three-year, $18 million deal (beating out three other NHL teams who had serious interest in Miller).
"He's a focused and competitive guy," Benning said. "When he's on his game, he brings a calming influence to the team. The team knows that when they have him back there he can make the big stop. That's what he's brought to us, experience. When we played Dallas earlier this year and things didn't go his way, he has the experience to know and be ready for the next game. We got into St. Louis next and he was first star. Maybe a younger goalie, something like that happens to him, maybe it takes a week or two to recover. But with his experience, he was able to focus and get ready for the next game."
Still, could anyone really have anticipated a 10-1-0 start?
"He has adapted to his new surroundings a lot quicker than I expected," former NHL goalie Jamie McLennan said. "There's always trial and error, where you're getting to know the tendencies of your new defensemen in front of you, how they play, how they like the puck set up behind the net, or how it's going to work with exchanges.
"His transition with his new D has been somewhat seamless."
McLennan, who keeps a close eye on goalies around the league in his work for TSN, says Miller has been better in his movement this season.
"He's a positional goaltender that plays at the top of this crease, and when he's on his game, he reads the developing plays well and anticipates," McLennan said. "He's been much more efficient in his movement, crease management this season, very efficient with his rebound control, and has delivered big saves when needed; something that wasn't always there in St. Louis. His comfort level in the net is very high in Vancouver, he has that swagger back in his body language."
Fair or not, Miller bore a healthy portion of the blame for the St. Louis Blues' late-season collapse and first-round playoff loss to Chicago, giving up 19 goals in six games.
It fueled talk that perhaps Miller's best was behind him.
"Sometimes when things aren't going good for him, he's too hard on himself because he wants to win so badly," Benning said of Miller. "I know he probably felt bad about that St. Louis situation. A team is made up of 22 players, goaltending is a real important part of a team, but you win as a team and you lose as a team. For him to be made the scapegoat I think is probably unfair."
"Things didn't end well in St. Louis, there's many different reasons for it, if people want to throw it on me, that's fine."Ryan Miller
Miller downplayed any talk of the St. Louis experience being a motivating factor for him this season.
"Things didn't end well in St. Louis, there's many different reasons for it, if people want to throw it on me, that's fine," the former Vezina Trophy winner said. "But you win as a team and lose as a team. And we definitely found a way to lose towards the end of the season. We had a lot of things that were out of control and others that were. As a group we didn't get it done. The guys in St. Louis I'm sure will learn from that.
"I'm gone now, there's ups and downs in hockey, the bigger thing you have to do is be a survivor, take a realistic look at your shortcomings and try to keep improving yourself without listening to people saying, 'Well you didn't do it now so you're terrible and you're never going to do it ever.' I mean, if anybody who has ever accomplished anything listens to people like that and just quit because of that opinion, then nobody would ever get anything done. You take it for what it is, and you move on."
And move on he has, to a Canucks team that is surprising the NHL with a 10-4-0 record entering the weekend. Who saw that coming?
"I think we're still growing as a group," Miller said. "Definitely it's been a good start. But, everybody knows it doesn't matter how you start, it matters how you are when you finish. We're trying to find an identity and figure out what we're going to be as a group every night. Once we have that, we'll really know what we have. Right now it's a good start. If we want to be where we want to be, we have to keep building."
In Vancouver, Miller has joined a team that has made a lot of changes and yet still has many of the same core players that helped the Canucks to many strong seasons over the past decade. He's just trying to fit in.
"I think there's a good group in the room and it's been here for a while," Miller said. "There's a lot of maturity and a calm demeanor. The Sedins are amazing people, the way they approach the game is very unique; they have that unique bond being twins but they also have a way about themselves where we really take on their tone. I think half of my job is just fitting in personality-wise. And on the ice I need to fit in as well, just being very calm if situations aren't going well. I'm not going to get too emotionally high or too emotionally low. Just going to try to have a positive impact on the game."
Like Thursday night in San Jose, when Miller was sensational in stopping 34 of 36 shots as the Canucks beat the Sharks 3-2.
"It's been a good start but the important thing is building a foundation as a team," Miller said. "There are going to be highs and lows and I'm really trying to stay in that mindset."