Eleven players with Minnesota ties invited to 44-man U.S. Olympic hockey gathering

Candidates for the U.S.

Olympic mens hockey team, 11 of whom have Minnesota ties, will gather next week in Plymouth, Mich., for team-building and orientation in preparation for the Winter Games, which are Feb.

6-22 in Milan and Cortina dAmpezzo, Italy.

There will be 44 NHL players at the gathering Aug.

26-27; the 25-man team will be revealed in January by Team USA GM Bill Guerin.

The first six members of the team Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Brady Tkachuk, Matthew Tkachuk, Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy have been chosen.

Five former Olympians St.

Paul native Ryan McDonagh, Wild defenseman Brock Faber, former Gopher Matthew Knies, Jake Sanderson and Patrick Kane will be candidates again.

The U.S.

won gold at the world championships following the NHL regular season, and 12 players from that team, mostly composed of non-playoff skaters, will be in Plymouth.

They include former Gophers defensemen Brady Skjei and Jackson LaCombe, and ex-Gophers forward Logan Cooley.

Others with Minnesota ties among the 44 include Jake Oettinger (Lakeville), Neal Pionk (UMD and Hermantown), Wild winger Matt Boldy, Jake Guentzel (Woodbury) and Brock Nelson (Warroad).

Mike Sullivan will coach the Olympic team.

USA Hockey noted that players who arent invited to the camp could still be on the final U.S.

squad.

The 44 players: Goaltenders: Joey Daccord, Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger, Jeremy Swayman Defensemen: Brock Faber, Adam Fox, Luke Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Noah Hanifin, Seth Jones, Jackson LaCombe, Charlie McAvoy, Brett Pesce, Neal Pionk, Jake Sanderson, Brady Skjei, Jaccob Slavin, Alex Vlasic, Zach Werenski Forwards: Matt Boldy, Cole Caufield, Logan Cooley, Kyle Connor, Jack Eichel, Conor Garland, Jake Guentzel, Jack Hughes, Patrick Kane, Clayton Keller, Matthew Knies, Chris Kreider, Dylan Larkin, Auston Matthews, J.T.

Miller, Frank Nazar, Brock Nelson, Shane Pinto, Jason Robertson, Bryan Rust, Tage Thompson, Brady Tkachuk, Matthew Tkachuk, Vincent Trocheck, Alex Tuch Varsity Wild Wild Wild.

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