Team USA has announced who will be their captain and two alternates for the upcoming World Cup of Hockey.
Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks will wear the ‘C’ for the Americans. He serves as captain for the Sharks and has been a part of the American entry at the past two Olympics. The team also announced Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks and Ryan Suter of the Minnesota Wild will serve as alternate captains.
“The great news for us is that we have plenty of leaders in our room,” coach John Tortorella said in a release. “In the end, in addition to our captain and alternate captains, we also selected four other players and those seven guys will form an overall leadership group for our team. Our goal is simple and that’s to win the World Cup.”
The “leadership group” Tortorella mentions will include David Backes of the Boston Bruins, Ryan Kesler of the Anaheim Ducks, Ryan McDonagh of the New York Rangers, and Zach Parise of the Minnesota Wild.
The Americans play their first pre-tournament game Friday night at 7:00 ET in Columbus against Team Canada. Their first tournament game will be Saturday, Sept. 17 at 3:30 p.m. ET against Team Europe.
