Enemy (red) lines drawn for Olympics

Kings and Ducks are among NHL players, coaches pitted against one another for gold.

- KEVIN BAXTER

KINGS GOALIE Darcy Kuemper will represent Canada in Milan, but his coach will be on Team USA.

JESSIE ALCHEH Associated Press

Think of Mike Buckley as a kind of double agent.

Not the sinister kind, who gives away state secrets for money or revenge; Buckley is privy to much lower-level But that intelligence doesn't mean it's not just as valuable to the people involved.

Buckley is the Kings' goaltender coach, and his chief pupil is Darcy Kuemper, who will be playing for Team Canada in the Milan Cortina Olympic hockey tournament. Buckley will be in Milan coaching for Team USA. And if the competition goes to form, Canada and the U.S. will meet in the final.

You can see where this is going.

So would Buckley give up the goods on his NHL goalie if it meant helping his national team win a gold medal? "I probably have a little bit more insight being with him on a day-to-day basis.

But at the end of the day, the players still have to execute," said Buckley, like Kuemper, a first-time Olympian. "So if I tell someone to shoot somewhere at a certain time or a certain spot, they're going to have to be able to execute that."

The answer then is maybe.