With the Olympic Winter Games set to start in a couple of days, there has finally been an announcement on who the captain of the U.S. Men's Ice Hockey Team will be, according to Chris Johnston of The Athletic.
“Auston Matthews has been named captain of Team USA at the Milan Olympics, with Charlie McAvoy and Matthew Tkachuk serving as alternate captains,” Johnston wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
General manager Bill Guerin made a statement about the announcement of the captains.
“Auston, Charlie and Matthew did a great job in leading our team a year ago at the 4 Nations Face-Off and it’s great to have them back in those roles for the Olympics,” Guerin said. “They all bring different leadership traits to the table and I know all three are excited, as is our whole team, about representing our country as part of Team USA.”
Matthews was a part of the gold medal-winning U.S. Under-18 Men's National Team at the 2014 IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championship.
As for Matthews, McAvoy, and Tkachuk, they've played together three times at the international level. They recently helped the U.S. place second in the 4 Nations Face-Off last February in Montreal and Boston. They helped the U.S. earn gold at the 2015 IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championship and bronze at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Matthews is currently the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, so this is nothing new to him to be a leader amongst men.
Team USA will open play on Feb. 12 in Milan against Latvia.
