from Kevin Allen of USA TODAY,

The United States hasn't won the senior world championships tournament since 1933. The Americans have been more competitive in recent years, but that's because they have had passionate players perform at their best.

The Americans would be more competitive if they had more veterans saying '‘yes" to invitations to play. With the way the youngsters played in Moscow, if USA would have had one veteran defenseman, a scorer and one of its accomplished goalies, it could have competed for a gold medal.

Some players have legitimate reasons for not playing, especially those with expiring contracts or those with injuries. But too many decline because the world championships isn’t as important to them as the Olympics or World Cup.

Maybe it would help if USA Hockey asked members of American hockey’s greatest generation to recruit players. Chris Chelios, Bill Guerin, Mike Modano and Brian Leetch, among others, all had overwhelming pride in wearing a USA jersey.

But maybe the best chance USA Hockey has of receiving a higher participation rate from veteran will come from the pride the next generation of Americans seem to have.

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