USA-GERMANY CONNECTIONS
Today’s game will feature a few current/future teammate connections between the U.S. and Germany.
Buffalo Sabres (2): Tobias Rieder (GER), Tage Thompson (USA)
San Jose Sharks (4): Leon Bergmann (GER), Sasha Chmelevski (USA), Ryan Donato (USA), Kevin Labanc (USA)
Detroit Red Wings (2): Moritz Seider (GER), Piet VanZant (USA, athletic trainer)
In addition to the above-mentioned connections, the four LA Kings players (Trevor Moore, Cal Petersen, Matt Roy and Christian Wolanin) skating for Team USA are coached during the season by Marco Sturm, assistant coach with the Kings. Sturm, a 14-year NHL veteran, served as head coach for Germany at the 2016 and 2017 IIHF Men’s World Championships before serving in the same capacity for the German entry that claimed a surprising silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
FULL TEAM EFFORT
Through five games, 17 different players have contributed at least one point and nine players have tallied at least one goal. In addition, not a single player from Team USA ranks among the tournament leaders in time-on-ice, a credit to the defensive corp providing quality minutes as one full unit. In goal, both Cal Petersen (1.35 GAA, .939 SV%, 1 SO) and Jake Oettinger (1.04 GAA, .960 SV%) rank among the tournament leaders.
As a team, the U.S. leads the tournament in save percentage (.949) and goals-against-average (1.21) while allowing a tournament-best six goals against (only one on the powerplay). In addition, the U.S. was the first team to win four-straight games and the only team to do so with all four coming in regulation.
