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USA to defend world championships gold medal with vastly different team

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The United States will enter this year’s men’s hockey world championships in an unusual position: defending champion.

Team USA won a gold medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation tournament last spring for the first time since 1933.

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This year’s team has only two returnees and will be less star-studded than the 2025 one The big exception is Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, a two-time Stanley Cup winner and U.S. Olympian.

Some of the players from last year aren’t available because they were or are in the playoffs, such as Tage Thompson, Clayton Keller, Jackson Lacombe, Cutter Gauthier and Jeremy Swayman. Plus, there’s no Olympics as an incentive to suit up.

Here is the Team USA roster and some takeaways:

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Team USA world championships preliminary roster

Goaltenders

Defensemen

Forwards

  • Ryker Lee, Michigan State

  • Max Plante, Minnesota-Duluth

  • Matthew Tkachuk, Panthers

Team USA roster takeaways

  • Howard and Lohrei are the only returnees from last year.

  • Leonard and Hagens made up two-thirds of the top line for the gold medal-winning USA team at the 2025 world junior championships. The third linemate, Gabriel Perreault isn’t at this tournament.

  • Howard and Plante are the last two winners of the Hobey Baker Award.

When and where are the world championshps?

The tournament will be held from May 15 to 31 in Fribourg and Zurich, Switzerland.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USA world championships team has different look as it defends gold

Read the full article here

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