Top NHL prospects Matty Beniers, Brendan Brisson, and Jake Sanderson were among the players named to the U.S. men’s 2022 Olympic hockey team on Thursday.
The college-heavy roster sees 15 NCAA players, five from the Kontinental Hockey League, two from the Swedish Hockey League, two from the American Hockey League, and one from Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga.
Forward Brian O’Neill is the only player who was a part of the roster for the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
FORWARDS
Nick Abruzzese (Harvard / NCAA)
Kenny Agostino (Torpedo / KHL)
Matty Beniers (Michigan / NCAA)
Brendan Brisson (Michigan / NCAA)
Noah Cates (Minnesota Duluth / NCAA)
Sean Farrell (Harvard / NCAA)
Sam Hentges (St. Cloud State / NCAA)
Matthew Knies (Minnesota / NCAA)
Marc McLaughlin (Boston College / NCAA)
Ben Meyers (Minnesota / NCAA)
Andy Miele (Torpedo / KHL)
Brian O’Neill (Jokerit / KHL)
Nick Shore (Novosibirsk / KHL)
Nathan Smith (Minnesota State / NCAA)
DEFENSEMEN
Brian Cooper (IK Oskarshamn / SHL)
Brock Faber (Minnesota / NCAA)
Drew Helleson (Boston College / NCAA)
Steven Kampfer (Ak Bars Kazan / KHL)
Aaron Ness (Providence / AHL)
Nick Perbix (St. Cloud State / NCAA)
Jake Sanderson (North Dakota / NCAA)
David Warsofsky (Ingolstadt / DEL)
GOALTENDERS
Drew Commesso (Boston University / NCAA)
Strauss Mann (Skelleftea / SHL)
Pat Nagle (Lehigh Valley / AHL)
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Former Boston University and Rangers head coach David Quinn will run the bench along with assistants Mike Hastings, Brett Larson, Scott Young, and David Lassonde. Alex Dawes will serve as video coach.
“We’re excited about the roster we’ve put together,” said general manager John Vanbiesbrouck. “The Olympics are the biggest stage in sports and it was fun to hear the enthusiasm our players have to represent their country. We’re fortunate to have a deep talent pool -- thanks in part to all the great work of our volunteers in communities across the nation -- and with the mix of players who are part of our team, we’re looking forward to competing for a gold medal in Beijing.”
According to NBC Olympics’ Nick Zaccardi, this is the youngest U.S. men’s Olympic hockey roster since 1994. It also features the first teenagers (five) on the men’s side since 1992 when Scott Lachance and Keith Tkachuk suited up for the Albertville Olympics. Beniers is the youngest men’s Olympic hockey player since 1984 (Ed Olczyk).
This 2022 Olympic men’s roster is similar to the one USA Hockey sent in 2018. Due to the lack of NHL participation, the team was made up of players plying their trade in Europe, a handful of collegians, and Brian Gionta, who was not affiliated with any team at the time.
The American men went 1-1-1 in the group stage and won their qualification game against Slovakia before being knocked out of the tournament by the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.
The NHL had originally agreed with the NHLPA to send players to the Olympics for the first time since 2014, but rising COVID-19 cases around the league opened the door for an opt-out clause to be used. As conditions reached a point where, at the time, over 50 games had been postponed, there was too much disruption to the regular-season schedule.
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Olympic men’s tournament groups
Group A: Canada, U.S., Germany, China
Group B: ROC, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Denmark
Group C: Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Latvia
U.S. men’s Olympic schedule
Thurs. Feb. 10: China – 8:10 a.m. ET
Fri. Feb. 11: Canada – 11:10 p.m. ET
Sun. Feb. 13: Germany – 8:10 a.m. ET
• Men’s and women’s schedules can be found here
• 2022 women’s Olympic roster
• Day-by-day guide to the 2022 Winter Olympics
• How to watch the 2022 Winter Olympics
NBCUniversal will present a Winter Olympics-record 2,800+ hours of coverage across NBC, Peacock, USA Network, CNBC, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app when the XXIV Olympic Winter Games from Beijing, China, begin this February.
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.