from Ken Campbell of The Hockey News,

The good news is Team USA at this year’s World Championship has an NHL 50-goal scorer among its forwards. The bad news is it’s a committee of seven guys. Of the 12 forwards named to this year’s team, there are just 59 goals at the NHL level this season. That’s six fewer than Sidney Crosby and Tyler Seguin have between them.

It’s strange how good the United States is at almost every level of hockey. It has owned the under-18 World Championship, recently picking up its sixth gold medal in the event in the past seven years. The Americans are a force at the World Junior and women’s level, but have been a bust on the international scene with their NHL players.

The Americans have yet to win an Olympic tournament with Olympic participation and their results in the World Championship have been downright dismal. USA has not won a true World Championship gold medal since 1933 – it was given World Champion designation in 1960 by virtue of winning the Olympic gold medal – and has a paltry three bronze medals to show for the past 20 years.

Perhaps that’s because they treat the World Championship as though it’s the Podunk Regional Silver Stick. Whether it’s by design or due to the fact that their top players don’t seem terribly interested in going, the tournament has been something of a petry dish for the Americans where they can watch their young players germinate in an international tournament.

continued