Chicago Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane will be an alternate captain for the United States at the upcoming World Cup of Hockey, Team USA coach John Tortorella announced Wednesday. USA Hockey also announced that reigning Hart Trophy victor Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks has been named an alternate captain, as has Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter. That quartet includes Ryan Kesler, David Backes, Ryan McDonagh and Zach Parise, who was the captain of the 2014 U.S. Olympic team.
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Pavelski became Sharks captain before last season, helping them reach the Stanley Cup final.
According to NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio, the World Cup of Hockey will have two different overtime formats.
This past season he notched 38 goals and assisted on 40 more for 78 points, including 11-game winning goals, while leading the San Jose Sharks. Especially for a team that lost its captain this offseason, the fact that the Blues will nearly certainly have to wait until after the last game of the best-of-three final on October 1 for their new captain-Alex Pietrangelo of Team Canada-to arrive is troublesome.
He also sported the “A” on numerous occasions with Chicago past year, and is one of the more experienced players on Team USA in worldwide play having participated in two Olympics and the IIHF World Championships.
Sophie Shirley of the Okanagan Hockey Academy Female Prep team is among 44 players invited to attend Canada’s National Women’s Team Fall Festival from September 11-18 in Calgary.
It will be the first game for the 29-year-old netminder in almost 10 months.
When asked by Linda Cohn of ESPN how he would deal with one of his players expressing a political stance at a hockey game, he bristled.
He said: ‘It is hockey, but I also think it is a huge platform for us to represent our country, especially in today’s world, with everything is going on’. The next day, National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman and the 30 owners locked out the players for a full season.
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Team USA’s first pre-tournament game is in Washington on September 13.
