The fifth opponent that Hungary will face is another country that has won many Olympic, World Championship and World Cup medals, the United States. Last year the United States took home the bronze medal.
USA will be coached this season by New Jersey Devils head coach John Hynes, last year’s head coach Todd Richards is on the staff as an assistant coach. As expected there is a large turnover on the roster, so far 20 players have been named and there are three players returning from the 2015 bronze medal team. Just like Canada the U.S. always as their hands tied with the players that are available because the second round of the NHL playoffs are in full swing during the start of the World Championships, because of this there have been more and more NCAA players representing their country the last few years. Four years ago the U.S. had only one college player in J.T. Brown named to the team, the following two seasons there were four each year, and last season there were five. The 2016 team will have six players who spent or played a season of NCAA hockey this season with potential 2016 number one NHL draft pick Austin Mathews rounding out the youth movement.
Minnesota born defenceman Kevin Wehrs talked about what it will be like to face the U.S. “It will be a really interesting experience playing against the United States, I’m sure there will be some guys I know on the time. I am really excited to face them. This will be a really hungry American team that will be playing hard since they are so young, I think they will be disciplined but also really talented as well. It is always fun to be playing against young talent like Austin Matthews.”
Icehockey.hu had a chance to catch up with Jim Johansson, the general manager of USA, and asked him about what can every one expect from the red white and blue as a team, how the team looks to be contracted as well as his thoughts about Austin Matthews.
What is the goal for the U.S. national team at the upcoming World Championships?
In the end the goal is to take the gold medal but you need to put yourself into a position to peak late in the tournament, make it to the quarterfinals but we need to be playing our best hockey during the knockout stage. You need to make it the later rounds and to get better as the tournament progresses, our end goal is to make it to the gold medal game. You can't look too far ahead because you have a number of steps to get past on the way there.
How does USA look at the World Championships differently compared to a Sweden or Russia because of the NHL playoffs?
The distinction of the national team in Russia and Sweden and also Finland is different, in those countries the World Championships is the focus during that time period. Just like how hockey fans in Hungary are geared into how Hungary will perform in the World Championships. In the United States the hockey fans are getting excited for the NHL playoffs and how their individual team will perform, to a larger degree with a secondary interest towards the World Championships. It is different in that way but for the players that do play it is a great experience and this is great for USA hockey.
How is the roster being put together, what has been emphasized the most when the players were picked?
That is a hard question to answer, first we have to look at the players that are available, first we have to look at every NHL player that has been eliminated from the playoffs and if they want to play or not, the health of players and their contract status will have a lot to do with their decision to play. In recent years we have had a much younger team and I think this will continue. Secondly we try to feed off the energy of the younger players which we try to fuse with the experience of the NHL veterans.
Why does the coaching staff choose between a college player versus a veteran who has been playing in Europe?
This is a big challenge for us, we try to put players in positions where they can succeed, this years we will have three players from the University of Michigan who played together on a line all season. Our goal with them is to play the type of hockey the had played all season and to bring that over to the U.S. national team and create offense, there will be some ups and downs but we are OK with that. They will be going up against bigger and better competition than they had all season but we think they are up for the challenge.
How much will that help Austin Matthews that he had spent this past season playing in Switzerland instead of junior hockey? He had a chance to get used to the larger ice surface as well as play against grown men.
I think to a degree it helps him because of the limited time we will have to work together as a team before the tournament. The biggest thing for Austin this past season was that he was able to add elements to his game that he might not have been able to do playing juniors. Jack Eichel last year visibly got better during the tournament once he was playing against men every game after spending a season in the NCAA. It is a compliment to him as a player, I think we will see similar development with Austin as we saw with Jack last season. He will be in more and more situations where he will be able to prove himself.
How does the upcoming World Cup of Hockey influence the roster for the World Championships?
The two tournaments are in reality two separate programs, some players could have played in the World Championships to showcase themselves more to prove why they should be on the World Cup roster. Some have chosen this path, others have not. It might not have any bearing on the World Cup roster but I think that if someone chooses to play at the World Championships it can get them a step closer to the World Cup roster.
How is the U.S. preparing for their game against Hungary and what do the American players know about Hungarian hockey?
Not only in the case of Hungary but against other smaller hockey countries, but there will be incredible pride for those players who will be representing Hungary and they want to show the hockey world what they can do, to me that doesn't matter if they are playing the U.S. or Russia or anyone else but they will be well prepared and motivated. I think that you can’t take anyone lightly in this tournament and every federation has tremendous pride in their teams, especially the teams that have been moving up and down between the A-Pool and the Division 1/A level. I think the players have understanding that these lower ranked countries are trying to stay in the A-Pool. These are the dangerous opponents because they can show that they have nothing to lose.
USA ROSTER
Goalies (3): Mike Condon (Canadiens, NHL), Thatcher Demko (Boston College, NCAA), Keith Kinkaid (Devils, NHL)
Defenseman (6): Noah Hanifin (Hurricanes, NHL), Jake McCabe (Sabres, NHL), Connor Murphy (Coyotes, NHL), Brady Skjei (Rangers, NHL), David Warsofsky (Devils, NHL), Chris Wideman (Senators, NHL)
Forwards (13): J.T. Compher, Kyle Connor (Michigan, NCAA), Hudson Fasching (Sabers, NHL), Nick Foglino (Blue Jackets, NHL), Luke Glendening, Dylan Larkin (Red Wings, NHL), Matt Hendricks, Pat Maroon (Oilers, NHL), Austin Matthews (ZSC Lions, NLA), Vincent Hinostroza, Tyler Motte (Rockford, AHL), Miles Wood (Devils, NHL), Jordan Schroeder (Wild, NHL)
HUNGARIAN ROSTER
Goalies (3): HETÉNYI Zoltán, RAJNA Miklós (Fehérvár AV19), VAY Ádám (Debreceni HK)
Defencemen (8): SZIRÁNYI Bence, WEHRS Kevin (Fehérvár), GARÁT Zsombor, MESTYÁN István, STIPSICZ Bence (MAC), DUDÁS Jesse, SAGERT Kalvin, (DVTK), VAS Márton (Fassa)
Forwards (16): BANHAM Frank, BARTALIS István, BENK András, KOVÁCS Csaba, KÓGER Dániel, NAGY Gergő, SARAUER Andrew (Fehérvár) ERDÉLY Csanád (Sioux Falls), GALLÓ Vilmos (Linköping), MAGOSI Bálint (Briancon), NAGY Krisztián (MAC), SEBŐK Balázs (KalPa), SOFRON István (Klagenfurt), VAS János (Slavia Praha)
World Championships, Russia, Group B (St. Petersburg)
May 7th, 12.15 (11.15): Slovakia–HUNGARY
May 8th, 12.15 (11.15): HUNGARY–Canada
May 10th, 20.15 (19.15): HUNGARY–France
May 11th, 20.15 (19.15): Finland–HUNGARY
May 13th, 16.15 (15.15): USA–HUNGARY
May 14th, 16.15 (15.15): HUNGARY–Belarus
May 16th, 20.15 (19.15): Germany–HUNGARY
Photo: László Mudra, IIHF