Nineteen NCAA players will lead the United States in its defense of its World Junior Championship gold medal, as USA Hockey announced the final roster for the 2018 National Junior Team on Saturday.

Head coach Bob Motzko’s team includes five Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, a record for the school, including U.S. team captain Joey Anderson. Anderson is one of seven players on the team who won gold at the event last season.

NCAA Players on Other WJC Teams

Motzko, the St. Cloud State head coach, returns along with last year’s entire coaching staff to pursue a second consecutive title. His assistants include Grant Potulny (Northern Michigan), Greg Brown (Boston College), Steve Miller (Ohio State) and Kris Mayotte (Providence).

Ten NCAA schools have current players on the roster. In addition to UMD’s five representatives, Boston University (three), Michigan (three) and Minnesota (two) each have multiple players.

The top scorers on the roster in this year’s NCAA season are Boston University’s Patrick Harper (21 points), Minnesota’s Casey Mittelstadt (17), Wisconsin’s Trent Frederic (16), St. Cloud State’s Ryan Poehling (16) and Minnesota Duluth’s Scott Perunovich (16).

Joey Anderson is joined by his younger brother and UMD teammate, Mikey, on the team. Former Boston University forward Kieffer Bellows, Harvard defenseman Adam Fox and Minnesota defenseman Ryan Lindgren will serve as alternate captains.

"We're excited about our veteran leadership group here in Buffalo," said Motzko. "Joey, Kieffer, Ryan and Adam have the respect of everybody in the room and we have complete confidence that they can lead this group of players to a gold medal here on home ice."

The U.S. won both of its pre-tournament games, 14-0 vs. Belarus on Wednesday and 3-1 vs. Sweden on Friday.

The U.S. will begin play in the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship on Tuesday, Dec. 28, against Denmark. That game – which starts at 8 p.m. ET – and all U.S. games in the tournament will be televised on NHL Network. The tournament runs through Jan. 5 in Buffalo, N.Y.