Team North America offers silver lining for USA Hockey

Team North America's Auston Matthews celebrates a goal on Sept. 21, 2016. (Mark Blinch / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

TORONTO -- The United States scored two goals in two World Cup of Hockey games before being eliminated.

In the first period of Team North America's game against Sweden on Wednesday, U.S.-born players scored three goals. Goal-scorers Auston Matthews, Vincent Trocheck and Johnny Gaudreau weren't eligible to be picked for Team USA, but they are part of a wave of young American stars who should be part of international competitions for years to come.

On Team North America alone there are Matthews, Gaudreau, forwards Jack Eichel and Brandon Saad and defencemen Shayne Gostisbehere and Seth Jones who should be wearing red, white and blue if NHL players participate in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. That's a silver lining for the U.S. after flaming out of the World Cup with a roster that underperformed expectations.

"We got some great guys on our team and there's still some great guys on that (U.S.) team, as well," Gostisbehere said Wednesday. "It's going to be a good blend of the veterans to the younger guys. It's exciting to see."

U.S. coach John Tortorella and players implied that the team would've had a different look if American players 23 and under were eligible for selection and not bound to Team North America. Even if Eichel, Gaudreau, Saad and Jones would've been the only players to get real consideration, it would have made it a stronger team.

But USA Hockey gets to look forward to a time when Matthews might be its No. 1 centre and Gostisbehere and Jones two of its top defencemen. North American coach Todd McLellan refused to pile on the U.S. for going 0-2 but praised his young Americans, who blended well with young Canadians Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Colton Parayko and others.

"In my opinion they have a tremendous and bright future ahead of them in USA Hockey," McLellan said. "They all have things to learn, and they have to grow up physically and mentally. But a lot of the countries are doing a tremendous job right now, the U.S. included."

The scary part for the U.S. is that Canada keeps churning out young talent like McDavid, MacKinnon, defenceman Morgan Rielly and goaltender Matt Murray. American depth may never match Canadian depth, but the influx of speed and skill from Gaudreau, 2016 No. 1 pick Matthews, Eichel, Dylan Larkin and Gostisbehere can't hurt.

"There is definitely a fantastic future coming here, not only for the U.S.A., I think for Canada, also," Tortorella said. "There's some pretty good players coming through for Canada. But yeah, there are some good young kids there that, I think, they'll bring some juice to the program."

U.S. centre David Backes said that if the 23-and-under players were available he might not have been on the team. The same could be said of forward Brandon Dubinsky and defencemen Jack Johnson and Erik Johnson.

But they were instead part of Team North America, which exemplified what hockey should be about. They're quick, they're skilled and they're exciting.

"Those are a lot of guys that are going to be playing for the U.S. and Canada real soon," U.S winger Zach Parise said.

Canada coach Mike Babcock said Team North America was a glimpse into the NHL 10 years from now. It's closer to two, not only for the NHL but for USA Hockey, even if players don't yet want to think ahead to 2018.

"It's a long ways down the road and there's lots to be decided if that's going to happen," defenceman Jacob Trouba said. "We'll see. They obviously have a lot of talent on (the North American) team and there's a lot of talent on (the U.S.) team. It'll be fun to see what happens if they come together."