To no one’s surprise, Sharks forward Joe Pavelski was named today to the USA men’s national ice hockey team for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Pavelski is currently in the midst of his most productive season ever, on pace for a career-high 32 goals and 75 points while logging important minutes at just about every forward position for San Jose.
Since he won a silver medal with Team USA at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, only Patrick Kane and Phil Kessel have scored more points among American-born NHL players than Pavelski. All three will have the chance to go for gold in Sochi as USA Hockey unveiled the entirety of its roster this afternoon in Michigan immediately following the Winter Classic. Here is that roster:
Forwards
David Backes
Dustin Brown
Ryan Callahan
Patrick Kane
Ryan Kesler
Phil Kessel
T.J. Oshie
Max Pacioretty
Zach Parise
Joe Pavelski
Paul Stastny
Derek Stepan
James van Riemsdyk
Blake Wheeler
Defensemen
John Carlson
Cam Fowler
Justin Faulk
Paul Martin
Ryan McDonagh
Brooks Orpik
Kevin Shattenkirk
Ryan Suter
Goaltenders
Jimmy Howard
Ryan Miller
Jonathan Quick
The real Sharks-related Olympic roster suspense will come a week from now as Team Canada will reveal its roster on January 7th in Toronto with Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture, Joe Thornton and Dan Boyle all candidates to don the red maple leaf. Speaking of Pavelski and Team Canada, here’s Captain America contributing to Zach Parise’s dramatic game-tying goal against Canada at the 2010 goal medal game. We don’t need to talk about what happened next.
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