The IIHF World Championship gets underway in just a few weeks and USA Hockey has announced the first group of players that will be suiting up for them. GM Chris Drury released 17 names that will be taking part, including captain Patrick Kane. The group is an impressive list of NHL stars that could very well bring home the country’s first gold medal at the tournament in nearly 60 years. The roster so far is as follows:
G Thatcher Demko
G Cayden Primeau
G Cory Schneider
D Quinn Hughes
D Alec Martinez
D Brady Skjei
D Ryan Suter
F Alex DeBrincat
F Jack Eichel
F Luke Glendening
F Patrick Kane
F Clayton Keller
F Chris Kreider
F Dylan Larkin
F James van Riemsdyk
F Frank Vatrano
F Colin White
Not really a roster that screams “We’ve got the GOLD, the rest of you are playing for 2nd place…” Their best chance is more guys tapping out on the Team Canada side from injuries/fatigue. Since Thatcher Demko had a spotty season behind suspect D, we would hope that Cayden Primeau would be top choice to carry the load. Cory being there for light relief, I guess (Somebody’s got to be the ‘veteran presence’). As for the forward group, if any of you stiffs get outshot by Frankie Vatrano, you should be bag-skated from July1 to Mid-September! Good luck keeping up with him!
What, do they have a world championship every year now? Talk about over saturation.