GELSENKIRCHEN – A year ago, nobody gave the United States much of a chance of qualifying for the medal round at the World Championship. They did and now a year later they are looking for history to repeat itself.

USA Hockey has again entered a young team that if taken lightly could surprise the hockey world. General Manager Brian Burke and associate GM David Poile have assembled a squad that’s strong on the blueline and fast up front.

"We like the group's youth and competitive edge," said Burke.

Head coach Scott Gordon was an assistant coach a year ago and he has been handed the reigns in Germany. Gordon has also played in the world tournament, so he knows what to expect from the perspective as a coach and a player.

“From my experience last year, getting out of the gate is always important, to be able to build some confidence early,” said Gordon, who is the head coach of the NHL’s New York Islanders. “It is certainly not an easy tournament.”

A year ago, Team USA played Russia in the semi-final and lost 3-2 on a late power-play goal. Next up was Sweden and the Swedes took the bronze medal game 4-2, including an empty-net goal after the U.S. removed their goalie in favour of an extra attacker.

“Those were two really good games and they could have gone either way. I liked how we played against Russia and we had the better of the play most of the game against Sweden,” said Gordon.

Team USA now heads in Germany looking for a better ending.

Goal

Scott Clemmensen of the Florida Panthers is the No. 1 goalie and will do most of the heavy lifting for the USA in net.

He established himself as a sound goaltender two seasons ago when he was playing for the New Jersey Devils. When Martin Brodeur went down with injury, Clemmensen took over in net and wound up finishing the season with a 25-13 won-lost record. He joined the Panthers last summer and won nine games, lost eight and had two overtime losses.

“He is probably looking at this as an opportunity to play some games and hopefully we will get the kid of goaltending he gave Florida at the end the season,” said Gordon.

American Hockey League goalie Ben Bishop and David Leggio, who plays in Finland, are also on the roster.

Defence

This arguably has to be the strongest part of Team USA’s game. The defensive corps includes New Jersey's Andy Greene, Jack Johnson and Matt Greene of the Los Angeles Kings, along with the Phoenix Coyotes' Keith Yandle.

Johnson is the key. Johnson was a member of the silver medal-winning USA Olympic team at the Vancouver Games. He has captured the gold medal in the 2005 World U18 Championship, the silver medal at the 2004 World U18 Championship and the bronze medal in the 2007 World U20 Championship.

“He is a dynamic offensive player and he gets up and down the ice pretty quick and he is a guy who is familiar with playing on the big sheet,” said Gordon.

Yandle is coming off a great season with the Coyotes and Gordon expects him to have a physical presence every game.

Forward

Up front, the USA isn’t as deep as they were a year ago. But what they lack in depth they will make up with passion and drive.

Kyle Okposo of the New York Islanders, T.J. Oshie of the St. Louis Blues, Brandon Dubinsky of the New York Rangers, Nick Foligno of the Ottawa Senators and Eric Nystrom of the Calgary Flames each has a load of offensive talent.

“We’re fast and I like the fact they are hard-workers,” said Gordon.

Coaching

Gordon became coach of Islanders in 2008 and has compiled a 60-84-20 record in two seasons, including a 34-37-11 mark this past season. He was an assistant on Team USA's 2009 World Championship team and won a silver medal as an assistant for USA’s 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.

Assistant coach Joe Sacoo is coming off his first season as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche and is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach. Sacco served as an assistant coach for the 2009 World Championship and helped to a fourth-place finish, which was the United States’ best showing.

The other assistants are Todd Richards of the Minnesota Wild and Ron Rolston, who is coach of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.

Projected Results

There was no arm-twisting in assembling the roster and Gordon likes the fact his players jumped at the chance to represent the United States.

“One of the things, and we can say the same thing about the Olympic team, is we have gone a great job in identifying character and work ethic. Some of the guys on the team that I know who are coming, I can say they all have those characteristics,” said Gordon.

“I think the most important thing when you play a tournament like this, particularly at the end of the season, and for the guys who are coming over after being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, is that it will have to be important to want to be there.

“And these guys want to go. They are enthusiastic about it and they look forward to it.”

Whether the USA can translate the enthusiasm into a berth in the medal round remains to be seen, however.

ALAN ADAMS