Auston Matthews headlines USA men’s Olympic hockey roster

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews headlines the United States men’s Olympic hockey roster, as the 25-man group was announced Friday morning.

Matthews was among the first six players named to the team, and captained the United States at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off. Canada defeated the United States in an overtime thriller during the final, after the United States won the round-robin matchup.

“Yeah, it’s exciting,” Matthews said Thursday, following his own hat-trick against the Winnipeg Jets. “You know, you get a look at Canada’s team and some of the other teams that are coming out. I mean, it’s exciting, it feels like it’s right around the corner, you know, it’s only five or six weeks away. So I’m definitely very anxious to kind of see that.”

There was a ton of competition for the final roster spots, and Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies is among the notable omissions. Knies was pushing for his place, recording 11 goals and 36 points in 37 games this season.

“I think he’s played great this year,” Matthews said of Knies’ candidacy. “He’s a great young up-and-coming player. There’s gonna be guys that get left off that made a good case to be on it. There’s just so many players from so many different countries that are great players, are having great seasons, and you kind of leave them in the hands of the managers that are directing the team. So kind of leave it up to them, but obviously selfishly I’d love to see him there.

Here is the full roster: 

Forwards: Matt Boldy, Kyle Connor, Jack Eichel, Jake Guentzel, Jack Hughes, Clayton Keller, Dylan Larkin, Auston Matthews, J.T. Miller, Brock Nelson, Tage Thompson, Brady Tkachuk, Matthew Tkachuk, Vincent Trocheck

Defencemen: Brock Faber, Noah Hanifin, Quinn Hughes, Seth Jones, Charlie McAvoy, Jake Sanderson, Jaccob Slavin, Zach Werenski

Goaltenders: Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger, Jeremy Swayman