Thursday, April 25, 2013

NCAAers Fill U.S. National Team

14 of 15 initial selections to compete in the World Championship played college hockey.

NCAAers Fill U.S. National Team
Danny Kristo will represent the U.S. in the World Championship following his first-team All-America season at North Dakota (Photo by Larry Radloff).

USA Hockey named the first 15 players to its 2013 National Team roster Thursday, and all but one member of that group played college hockey.

USA Hockey Announcement with Roster

The team will compete for the IIHF World Championship in Helsinki, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden, May 3-19. Former Boston University star and current Colorado Avalanche head coach Joe Sacco will coach Team USA.

Nick Bjugstad (Minnesota) and Danny Kristo (North Dakota) were both named to the team after spending most of this season in the WCHA.

The 14 former college players represent 10 schools, with Denver leading the way with three representatives (Chris Butler, Matt Carle and Paul Stastny). Minnesota Duluth (Justin Faulk, Tim Stapleton) and Wisconsin (Jamie McBain, Craig Smith) also have multiple representatives on the roster.

Additional players will be named to the U.S. roster as the event nears and the NHL season ends. Selections for the team are determined by USA Hockey executive Jim Johansson (Wisconsin alum) as well as a group of NHL executives, including former college players Paul Homgren (Minnesota), Dean Lombardi (New Haven), David Poile (Northeastern), Ray Shero (St. Lawrence), Brian Burke (Providence) and Don Waddell (Northern Michigan).

NBC Sports Network will televise each U.S. game in the World Championship.