Most of the players in the World Cup of Hockey will have their nation’s name and flag somewhere on their uniforms, reminding them to show the world that their people play the best hockey on the planet. But the Team Europe guys are basically trying to shut everyone else up.
They come from Slovenia, Slovakia, Denmark, Kazakhstan, Norway … all over really. Even from Turkey and Mexico.
Team Europe doesn’t have an established playing style that they can all adhere to. Heck, they don’t even speak the same language. But they are all fluent in hockey, so don’t think your team is going to be able to skate through this crew assembled by Oslo Outlaws General Manager Chris Lee.
Lee announced the following players have made the team:
Goalies: Frederik Anderson (Denmark), Andres De La Garma (Mexico)
Defensemen: Ken Kuusk (Estonia), Nerius Alisauskas (Lithuania), Roman Josi (Switzerland), Gurkan Cetinkaya (Turkey), Andrej Meszaros (Slovakia), Philip Larsen (Denmark)
Left Wing: Thomas Powell (Australia), Eliezer Sherbatov (Israel), Olivier Roland (Belgium), Michael Grabner (Austria)
Center: Anze Kopitar (Slovenia), Talgat Zhailauov (Kazakhstan), Nardo Nagtzaam (Nehterlands), Alexei Kalyuzhny (Belarus)
Right Wing: Mats Zuccarello (Norway), Marko Dano (Slovakia), Tomas Zaborsky (Slovakia); Marian Gaborik (Slovakia)
Reserves – Leon Draisaitl (Germany), Thomas Vanek (Austria), Wei Yang Zhang (China), Patrick Thoresen (Norway), Andrej Sekera (Slovakia), Luca Sbisa (Italy) Jaroslav Halak (Slovakia)
Kopitar, the 8th-leading scorer in EURO League history, has been named captain of the team with veteran defensemen Andrej Meszaros and Roman Josi as alternate captains.
This team has some creative players up front – especially Kopitar and Zuccarello – and they should be able to put four capable lines on the ice. Thomas Powell of Australia became a 30-goal scorer this season with Nicklas Backstrom/Jordan Staal as his center, so look for him to get plenty of chances if he plays on the top line with Kopitar and Zuccarello. The other three lines are under-rated, but they will be probably be overmatched against some of the real powerhouse teams in this tournament.
Andersen is one of the best goalies in the world, and in front of him he will have some defensemen in their prime, even if they aren’t all-stars. They can all hit and block shots, but their two biggest problems might be contributing the offense and simply communicating with each other.
