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Winter Olympics 2014: Team USA Announces Roster For Sochi

Team USA announced the full roster for the upcoming Winter Olympics following the conclusion of the Bridgestone Winter Classic in Detroit, Michigan.

Team USA officially unveiled their roster for the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The announcement came following the conclusion of the 2014 Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. There have been a ton of projections over the last few months, which included both Ryan Callahan and Ryan McDonagh as virtual locks to make the team.

But before any further wait, let's go ahead and meet your 2014 Winter Olympians for Team USA.

Left Wing Center Right Wing
James van Riemsdyk Ryan Kesler Patrick Kane
Max Pacioretty David Backes Phil Kessel
Zach Parise Joe Pavelski Dustin Brown
Blake Wheeler T.J. Oshie Ryan Callahan
Derek Stepan Paul Stastny

Left Defense Right Defense
John Carlson Ryan McDonagh
Paul Martin Ryan Suter
Brooks Orpik Cam Fowler
Kevin Shattenkirk Justin Faulk

Goalies
Jonathan Quick
Ryan Miller
Jimmy Howard

So as expected, Ryan Callahan and Ryan McDonagh will officially be representing USA at Sochi, while Derek Stepan will also be there as well. It is worth noting that Stepan will likely be used as an extra forward, mainly because there are so many other center's ahead of him on the roster. I'll admit, I was a little surprised to see him even get the call, mainly because he's been playing so poorly this season. I would have thought they would pass right over him.

Two more surprises that were left off of the roster? Bobby Ryan from the Ottawa Senators and Kyle Okposo from the New York Islanders. Okposo is currently second among all American skaters this season with 40 points, and there was some belief that he was making a late push for a roster spot. While there were some questionable decisions made by David Poile and the USA management, there's no way for everyone to be completely satisfied with the decisions.

Aside from USA, Henrik Lundqvist will also be representing Team Sweden in Sochi, and Mats Zuccarello will likely get the call for Norway. With that said, the New York Rangers will be very well represented at the Sochi Olympics, and it will be interesting to see how all of them play during that time.

For now, thoughts?

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