Why was Erik Johnson selected and Rick DiPietro wasn’t? Why did Mike Modano make the cut and Jason Blake didn’t? What happened to Jeremy Roenick and Keith Tkachuk?

Those were among the questions Brian Burke, general manager of the U.S. Olympic men’s ice hockey team, answered Tuesday on a conference call with reporters after a 34-player roster that includes Colorado Avalanche forward Paul Stastny was unveiled for an Aug. 17-19 orientation camp in Woodridge, Ill.

As expected, the straight-talking Burke, celebrating his 54th birthday, didn’t back down in justifying Colorado Springs-based USA Hockey’s decisions behind assembling its initial lineup for the 2010 Vancouver Games.

He was humorous: “We’ve got some first violins, and we’ve got some tuba players too, so we’re happy with the group,” he said. And he was serious: “You have 250 people at the wedding, and the 251st person is sour that they were not invited,” he said. “You have some questions and some omissions, and that’s fine.”

Some consider Johnson a surprise selection. The St. Louis Blues defenseman tore two ligaments in his right knee in September, and he didn’t play last season.

Burke likes Johnson, the No. 1 pick in the 2006 draft, because of “what we know of the player and what we believe he’s going to be. I don’t think a player should be penalized and excluded just because he’s injured.”

As for DiPietro, Burke said, “I was not able to reach out to Rick and explain my thinking. It was my understanding he would not be available for this camp anyway because of his (right knee) injury.”

Burke defended choosing Modano, a three-time Olympian who was one of five players with Olympic experience named to the camp. The others are Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Jamie Langenbrunner and Brian Rafalski.

“If you look at the evolution of the Dallas hockey club,” Burke said, “Mike Modano has been asked to accept an increasingly defensive role, and he’s the all-time leading American scorer. … Mike’s production has fallen off, but his usefulness as a player has not. It’s just that his role has changed, and he has accepted that cheerfully.”

As for Blake, Burke said, “He was a factor in our decisions, but he did not make the cut.”

About Roenick and Tkachuk, Burke said, “These guys have had their day in the sun. … The older guys were all understanding. They understood completely. They appreciated the (phone) call, and they get it.”

Burke doesn’t mind not having Olympic veterans in Vancouver.

“We looked at the playoff experience of the group and the leadership experience and the guys who have been in the pressure situations,” he said. “The goal has to be to take the most competitive group of athletes and trust that your leadership will deliver.”

And Burke isn’t naïve enough to think the U.S. will enter as the favorite.

“We’re going to be an underdog in Vancouver, and we know that,” he said. “There’s not going to be a penny bet on us in Vegas, and we know that. We’re probably going to be the youngest team in the tournament, and we know that. But we’re going there to win, and we’ve tried to identify a group that will give us the best chance to do that.”

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