US World Championship team announced

[Chadd 916]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=120617

Forwards:

Modano

York

Weight

Parrish

Legwand

Knuble

Cole

Cullen

Gionta

Halpern

Park

Defense:

Miller

Leopold

Liles

Martin

Gill

Roach

Goal:

Dipietro

Conklin

Thomas

[Sven 1]

Modano, yey !

I wonder why the other "stars" arent there.. maybe trouble between them and Waddell

[joshy207 15]

I wonder why the other "stars" arent there

They're WAY TOO OLD!!!!!! It's about time the US team started playing more of its younger players....

[GekigangarIII 0]

I wonder why the other "stars" arent there

They're WAY TOO OLD!!!!!! It's about time the US team started playing more of its younger players....

LOL... the team is still as old as dirt.

[2048 0]

Not really, Geki. The oldest player other than Weight/Modo (34 each) is Knuble at 32. The rest are around 24-28. Not what I'd consider old at all. Unless of course you consider yourself to be old. In that case, yes, that team is old as dirt.

[Chadd 916]

The disturbing thing to me is the drop off in talent levels from the best players that are 33+ to the best players that are younger. Obviously they are still talented guys, but not at the upper end. US born talent is slipping and that should be a concern.

[2048 0]

I'm not sure about that, either, Chadd. There were a lot of very good players on the WJC team this year and last year. The group that's about 24-28 right now isn't great, but there's definitely a great crop of guys about 16-22 coming up. Weird that Drury isn't in there, though.

[GekigangarIII 0]

Not really, Geki. The oldest player other than Weight/Modo (34 each) is Knuble at 32. The rest are around 24-28. Not what I'd consider old at all. Unless of course you consider yourself to be old. In that case, yes, that team is old as dirt.

You know you're right. I guess I thought they were all a bit older than that.

I consider myself old*er* than dirt! I won't even get into how slow I am.. ;)

I think the trouble with the talent drop off at 33+ is not that the young guys aren't that good, it's that the really talented US players seem to be in the 14-19 year old range.. which is good for far future hockey, but not for the next 5 years or so...

[joshy207 15]

There are still 3 roster spots open, which will be filled at a later date. Guys like Drury and Gomez could be added then...

[nyhockey6 1]

I'm actually pretty happy about the team they picked like joshy207 said it's about time they started getting younger players into the Olympic/World Cup/World Championship teams. My only hope is that with 1 of the 2 remaining roster spots, they pickup another proven NHLer like a Gomez or Drury who can score because as much as I think he's a good player David Legwand hasn't lived up to expectations yet and with the other one they pick up another physical defensemen to balance things out a little bit because Liles, Martin, Leopold and this Roach guy are puck moving defensemen. Anyone know much about this Andy Roach guy on Defense? He seems to be a Brian Rafalski clone, same size and playing style according to his numbers on hockeydb.

[43%burnt 0]

even though the talent isn't as great as prior teams, i like that they are finally turning to some of the younger guys in the league. at the very least to give them experience for future events. i really hope that one of the last roster spots goes to someone like drury. their defense is still suspect though. i like legwand being on there. i thought he played really well when the thrashers went to the playoffs against the wings. he's got great speed and is a good penalty killer (just ask hatcher).

[nyhockey6 1]

Legwand is on the Preds not Atlanta :D

[43%burnt 0]

bah, you know what i ment. i shouldn't post when i'm half asleep.

[Dan_The_Man_16 0]

Well no offense but I doubt they will do that well this year. Not enough experience, and most of the players I wouldn't rate at a world level. Like Genki said, wait 5 years though and this US team will have experience, and the young studs will be tearing it up.

[nyhockey6 1]

Well no offense but I doubt they will do that well this year. Not enough experience, and most of the players I wouldn't rate at a world level. Like Genki said, wait 5 years though and this US team will have experience, and the young studs will be tearing it up.

But Dan in the same respect, how are they supposed to get experience unless they play in a tournament like this. The team is well constructed I think, got scorers, penalty killers, puck moving defensemen which is a good thing to have on a big sheet just ask someone like Scotty Niedermayer. And also no one honestly ever gives the US a shot in most tournaments so they'll just go out and play, and then see where they are when it's all over. If they do well then more power to them, if they don't then back to the drawing board to put together a better team for the next one.

[Chadd 916]

I haven't seen the other rosters yet, so it's hard to estimate their chances.

[sherwood21 0]

I am interested in the Hall Gill pick, he was a bit of a pylon in the playoffs against MTL last year, and they are a speedy team. International Hockey = SPEED, so I hope that he can adjust and play well.

[Flyerguy91 0]

no esche???

[dddatsyuk--48 0]

Park....yay!! :D

[joshy207 15]

Also, don't forget that still over half of the locked-out NHLers didn't play anywhere this year, so a lot of guys that might have been there either weren't considered or declined an invitation because they weren't in game shape. This happened with some Canadian players, only difference is that we all heard about Canadian guys turning down Team Canada because the Canadian press actually covers hockey...

[Hooah4 12]

Gomez must still be wrapped up in the ECHL. NO Drury?!? Knuble's a good choice though as he seems to have had a great year overseas.

[Jim Bob 0]

Gomez must still be wrapped up in the ECHL. NO Drury?!? Knuble's a good choice though as he seems to have had a great year overseas.

Drury likely hurt his chances by not playing at all this season.

Waddell wanted to keep the number of players that aren't in game shape to a minimum.

That's why Gionta signed with Albany about a month ago. He just wanted to get in a dozen or so games to get into game shape for the WCs. In fact, he wanted to play at the WCs so badly that he turned down at least one offer to play on an AHL team that was playoff bound.

Personally, I think the US should have opted to field an entire team of players that have been playing this season.

If that would have meant dressing guys like Patrick O'Sullivan and Zach Parise, then so be it.

[chippa13 1844]

Interesting not to see Langenbrunner or Rolston.

[Sven 1]

When will the WC begin ?

End of April right ?

[Jim Bob 0]

http://www.usahockey.com/servlets/FileServ...onal%20team.doc

The US so far has only named 5 players to the team that haven't been playing this season. Dipietro, Leopold, Miller, Modano, and Parrish are the only guys that haven't been playing somewhere during the lockout.

I think this should really help them out in the tournament.