Team USA Name Men's, Women's 2014 Olympic Teams

USA Hockey named both the Men's and Women's Olympic hockey teams for the upcoming Sochi Olympics.

Needless to say the Kessel family is very happy (though likely not too surprised). Phil Kessel, the electrifying sharpshooter of the Toronto Maple Leafs, will be asked to lead the Men's team to Olympic gold. Meanwhile his sister Amanda will - in very similar fashion - try to do the same on the ladies side.

Here are the men's and women's rosters.

Here's some interesting notes regarding the men's team:

• 13 of the 25 players selected have previous Olympic experience. The 2010 silver medal winning team only had 3 previous Olympians.
• The average player is 6'1" 203lbs and 27 years old.
• Goaltender Ryan Miller is the oldest player at age 33. Defenseman Justin Faulk is the youngest at age 21.
• Eight players hail from Minnesota and five come from New York. A total of eight states are represented. 
• The New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues are well represented on Team USA, supplying three players each.
• Twenty of the 25 players come from US college hockey, with the University of Wisconsin leading the way with four players and the University of Minnesota with three players.
• Every American player selected has worn the national team jersey at some point in the past. They have played a combined 632 international game and captured 38 medals at various tournaments.
• Ryan Suter is the most experienced player with 64 international games, followed by Kessel (53) and Dustin Brown (52).
• Suter is the only player with family connections to previous Olympics. His father Bob played on the 1980 Miracle on Ice Team, while his uncle Gary played on the 2002 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team
• While the team captain and alternates will be announced later, general manager David Poile firmly established David Backes, Dustin Brown, Ryan Callahan, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter as his leadership group.
• The USA roster includes 15 first round picks, 6 second round picks and 1 third, fourth, fifth and seventh round NHL draft choice. Joe Pavelski is the lowest picks (205th overall in 2003).

Here are some interesting notes regarding the US Women's hockey team:

• 11 of the female players have previous Olympic experience. Julie Chu leads the way as this will be her fourth Olympics.
• 18 of the 21 players were part of the gold medal winning team at last years World Championship.
• Notable family relationships are Kessel, Alex Carpenter (daughter of former NHLer Bobby Carpenter)
• Chu is the oldest player at 31 years, 10 months. She is the oldest player to ever represent USA Women's hockey at the Olympics. Lee Stecklein is the youngest at 19 years, nine months.
• The average age is 23.8 years old. 
• 10 different states are represented, with Massachusetts leading the way with 5 players.
• Katey Stone was named as head coach back in June, 2012. She will be the first female head coach of a USA Olympic women's hockey team. 

USA Hockey: Where's The Top End Talent?

Everyone is lauding the growth of hockey in America these days, with good reason. Never before have so many Americans taken up the sport, and they are increasing in numbers at the elite level - the National Hockey League - every year. Back in the 1976 Canada Cup tournament, there were fewer than 100 professional hockey players with American birth certificates to stock the team. Last season the NHL featured 220 Americans alone!

That makes the American Olympic team a formidable threat for the Olympic gold medal. But there must be a concern amongst those at USA Hockey that they are still waiting for a truly elite player or players to emerge.

Think about it. The victorious 1996 World Cup of Hockey team featured Chris Chelios, Brian Leetch and Gary Suter on defence, plus Derian Hatcher and Phil Housley. The top American dman these days is Ryan Suter, but the level drops after that to the likes of Keith Yandle, Jack Johnson or Dustin Byfuglien. Perhaps Kevin Shattenkirk is ready to make the leap.

It's the same story up front. For all their current depth, the Americans do not have a Brett Hull, Pat Lafontaine or Mike Modano pulling the trigger. Patrick Kane, Zach Parise and Phil Kessel are the top marksmen now, and with all due respect, they are not of the same calibre.

That 1996 team boasted a lot of nasty power forwards like John Leclair, Keith Tkachuk, Bill Guerin, and Joel Otto. Do Dustin Brown, Ryan Kesler and David Backes compare? Maybe, it is not as significant a drop as the scoring forward.

American hockey is rich in net, with Jonathan Quick arguably the best in the world. He'll have to be Mike Richter like good if the Americans hope to do what they did in 1996 - win the world title.

The Americans have never been better. But they still lack that true superstar. Soon the Americans may have a player will be considered the best player in the world. That's when the American golden age of hockey will truly begin.

Team USA Unveils Olympic Jerseys

USA Hockey and Nike have unveiled the 2014 Team USA Olympic jerseys. While they are a little underwhelming, they are clean, classic jerseys reminiscent of the original USA jerseys from the 1920 Olympics

Chris Peters has a fantastic retrospective on the history of the American Olympic hockey jersey through the years over at The United States of Hockey.

My favorite USA jersey might be this rare classic from the 1976 Canada Cup:

Watch Out For USA at Olympics

The final Olympic team was announced on New Year's Day.

Team USA team took advantage of the NHL's Winter Classic - probably America's only national hockey event on the calendar - to name the team. The announcement was much like the Winter Classic itself in that was hard to live up the hype. Team USA's roster was one of the easiest to predict.

Most people are not expecting a lot from Team USA at the Olympics. I believe that is foolish.

The Americans are coming in with a new generation of players, with only three returning players from Torino. There is not a lot of high end talent in terms of superstar scorers, but there is a lot of depth featuring solid, two way players. They are spunky, hard hitting and hard working players. Since they all play similar styles it should be easy for the coaching staff to put together a game plan that they will all buy into quickly, further improving their cohesion level.

Besides, the likes of Zach Parise, Ryan Kesler, Patrick Kane, Bobby Ryan and Phil Kessel will impress everyone with timely goal scoring.

Oh yeah, and the Americans have the NHL's best goalie this season in Ryan Miller. History tells us a hot goalie can take you a long ways in the Olympics. With some timely goals I would not be surprised to see the Americans surprise somebody with upset victory and possibly end up in a medal game.