Thursday, May 5, 2016
Alums Set for World Championship
34 players from 19 schools set to compete in IIHF event in Russia.
UPDATED: May 12, 2016
With the puck set to drop Friday at the 2016 IIHF World Championship in Russia, more than 30 former NCAA players will be pursuing gold.
The United States leads all teams with 19 former NCAA players on the roster, including seven who played college hockey in 2015-16.
The Americans are far from alone in NCAA representation, however. The 34 alums in the tournament represent nine countries, including Canada (four players), Belarus, France, Hungary and Sweden (two each).
Nineteen schools have former players in the event, led by Boston College (five), Michigan (four) and Minnesota (three). Michigan’s “CCM Line” of JT Compher, Kyle Connor and Tyler Motte has been reunited on Team USA.
The U.S. team also features Thatcher Demko, the Boston College goaltender and Hobey Baker finalist who took a sociology final exam Thursday. Hudson Fasching, Steve Santini and Miles Wood are the other NCAA players from this season on the U.S. team.
U.S. games will be televised on NBC Sports Network.
Former Boston University player and assistant coach John Hynes of the New Jersey Devils is the head coach of the U.S. team, and his coaching staff includes Boston University head coach David Quinn.
Current/Former NCAA Players in the World Championship
| Belarus | |||
| Kirill Gotovets | D | Rockford (AHL) | Cornell |
| Oleg Yevenko | D | Lake Erie (AHL) | Massachusetts |
| Canada | |||
| Ben Hutton | D | Vancouver (NHL) | Maine |
| Michael Matheson | D | Florida (NHL) | Boston College |
| Cam Talbot | G | Edmonton (NHL) | Alabama-Huntsville |
| Chris Tanev | D | Vancouver (NHL) | RIT |
| Denmark | |||
| Oliver Lauridsen | D | Frolunda Gothenberg | St. Cloud State |
| France | |||
| Laurent Meunier | F | HC La Chaux-de-Fonds | UMass Lowell |
| Yorick Treille | F | Rouen Dragons | UMass Lowell |
| Hungary | |||
| Andrew Sarauer | F | Fehervar AV19 | Northern Michigan |
| Kevin Wehrs | D | Fehervar AV19 | Minnesota |
| Kazakhstan | |||
| Brandon Bochenski | F | Barys Astana | North Dakota |
| Latvia | |||
| Ralfs Freibergs | D | Toledo (ECHL) | Bowling Green |
| Sweden | |||
| Erik Gustafsson | D | Kloten Flyers | Northern Michigan |
| Gustav Nyquist | F | Detroit (NHL) | Maine |
| United States | |||
| JT Compher | F | U. of Michigan | Michigan |
| Mike Condon | G | Montreal (NHL) | Princeton |
| Kyle Connor | F | U. of Michigan | Michigan |
| Thatcher Demko | G | Boston College | Boston College |
| Hudson Fasching | F | U. of Minnesota | Minnesota |
| Noah Hanifin | D | Carolina (NHL) | Boston College |
| Matt Hendricks | F | Edmonton (NHL) | St. Cloud State |
| Vinnie Hinostroza | F | Chicago (NHL) | Notre Dame |
| Keith Kinkaid | G | New Jersey (NHL) | Union |
| Dylan Larkin | F | Detroit (NHL) | Michigan |
| Jake McCabe | D | Buffalo (NHL) | Wisconsin |
| Tyler Motte | F | U. of Michigan | Michigan |
| Brock Nelson | F | NY Islanders (NHL) | North Dakota |
| Steve Santini | D | Boston College | Boston College |
| Brady Skjei | D | NY Rangers (NHL) | Minnesota |
| Frank Vatrano | F | Boston (NHL) | Massachusetts |
| David Warsofsky | D | New Jersey (NHL) | Boston University |
| Chris Wideman | D | Ottawa (NHL) | Miami |
| Miles Wood | F | Boston College | Boston College |