Team Profile

With seven players returning from its 2002 World Junior squad, which went 4-1-2, and graduates of its World Under-18 gold medalist team moving up, the United States must be considered a serious contender in Nova Scotia.

USA Hockey started its ‘incubator' for players at Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1996 and the results are beginning to show. The best Under-18 and Under-17 prospects in the nation live and train together.

The Americans have just three medals all-time in world junior championships, a bronze in 1986, 1992 and a silver at Geneva in 1997.

Coach Lou Vairo has been given the task of trying to duplicate the Under-18 gold medal at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship in Slovakia. Vairo started studying European hockey seriously on a three-week summer visit to Moscow in 1974. Since then he has served the American hockey program in a variety of coaching positions, including assistant to Herb Brooks at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, and Head Coach of the last two Men's World Championship teams.

Centre Christopher Higgins, a product of Yale, was the Americans' top scorer at the WJC last year with four goals and six points in seven games. Ryan Hollweg, also a pivot, had two goals and five points.

Centre Patrick O'Sullivan, a native of Sterling Heights, MI, led the OHL in points for a rookie last season with the Mississauga Ice Dogs with 34 goals and 58 assists for 92 points. He also topped all scorers at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship with seven goals and 15 points at the age of 16.

Right winger Eric Nystrom, son of former New York Islanders winger Bob Nystrom, and left winger Dustin Brown give the Americans excellent support on the flanks. Brown contributed four points as a 17 year-old last season and gained more experience playing in the Memorial Cup tournament with the Guelph Storm.

Two other candidates for the U.S. team also have famous fathers. University of North Dakota winger Zach Parise's father Jean-Paul played for Canada in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union. Defenseman Ryan Suter is the son of Bob Suter, who won an Olympic gold medal in the Miracle On Ice at Lake Placid in 1980.

The Americans have their second string goalie Dwight Labrosse back from last year, who was with Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League last season. James Howard, who played brilliantly in the IIHF World Under-18 Championship with a 1.17 GAA and .958 save percentage could challenge for the starting job.

The only defenseman returning for USA is 6-4, 200-pound Ryan Whitney, but he'll get lots of help from Tim Gleason and Jesse Lane. Gleason, a 2001 draft choice of the Ottawa Senators, chipped in 17 goals and 59 points in 67 games with the Windsor Spitfires last season. Lane led all rookie defenseman in scoring in the Quebec Major Junior League, with totals of 16 goals and 40 points in only 48 games for the Hull Olympiques.

The Americans will have excellent team speed and renewed confidence now that they are consistently playing on a level with world's major junior hockey powers.