Team USA announced their preliminary roster for the World Championships which included New York Rangers Chris Kreider and Brady Skjei.
The New York Rangers may have missed the playoffs this season, but that left the opportunity for Team USA to invite two Blueshirts to play in the World Championships next month.
Chris Kreider and Brady Skjei were two Rangers named to the preliminary roster for Team USA on Thursday. The IIHF Men’s World Championships will take place in Bratislava and Kosice, Slovakia, May 10-26.
#TeamUSA names its first 17 players to the 2019 U.S. Men’s National Team. #IIHFWorlds ??
Details → https://t.co/j5QZHC8ZMT pic.twitter.com/cUfL4MIyTM
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) April 18, 2019
“We’re excited about our team and it’s fun to hear the passion our players have when I’ve talked to them about representing our country,” said Chris Drury, general manager of the 2019 U.S. Men’s National Team and also the assistant general manager of the NHL’s New York Rangers. “We have one objective and that is to come home with the gold medal.”
Along with Kreider and Skjei, Alex DeBrincat, Thatcher Demko, Jack Eichel, Luke Glendening, Quinn Hughes, Patrick Kane, Clayton Keller, Dylan Larkin, Alec Martinez, Cayden Primeau, Cory Schneider, Ryan Suter, James van Riemsdyk, Frank Vatrano and Colin White were all named to the preliminary roster Thursday.
Kane, Suter, Eichel, van Riemsdyk, Schneider, Larkin, Keller, Kreider, Skjei Hughes and White were all first-round NHL picks.
Team USA will have a pre-tournament game against Germany at SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany on Tuesday, May 7. Team USA will then play in their first tournament game against Slovakia on Friday, May 10 at Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia.
