Tortorella said it’s great news that the US has “plenty of leaders”, adding that’s the reason the leadership group includes seven players. Team USA also named Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane and Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter as alternates. Joe Pavelski was named captain and Ryan Suter is the other alternate.
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And Tortorella has support among the USA delegation to the World Cup. Pavelski also recorded 23 points in 24 playoff games this season, third-most in the league. His decision to kneel during the anthem before National Football League exhibition games, meant to call attention to racial inequality and police relations in the USA, has already inspired other National Football League players and athletes from other sports, such as American women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe, to follow suit. He and his Sharks lost in the Stanley Cup Final to the Pittsburgh Penguins four games to two. It may be up to guys like Kane, Pavelski and Blake Wheeler to rack up points like insane while still playing defensively responsible hockey to win some games. Six current St. Louis Blues players are set to participate, along with a seventh (Vladimir Sobotka) who is expected to join the team in time for the 2016-17 season.
“If any of my players sit on the bench for the national anthem, they will sit there the rest of the game”, USA Hockey Coach John Tortorella told ESPN’s Linda Cohn ahead of the World Cup of Hockey. There was a lot of speculation regarding the anthems for the World Cup, mostly as a result of the North American team, and the European team being comprised of multiple nations with multiple anthems.
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If team Europe happens to win the tournament, there were already measures reportedly being taken to solve that in the form of a lyricless, instrumental song that will be used to represent all eight nations.
