Calgary Flames F Johnny Gaudreau to play for Team USA at Worlds
By Ramina Shlah
After being invited to play for Team USA at this year’s World Championship, Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau has now confirmed he will play.
When the Calgary Flames were cleaning out their lockers after their season ended, we found out who has been invited to play for their respective countries at the World Championship and who was confirmed to go. The only confirmation we had was Mikael Backlund to play for Team Sweden.
There were some invites who aren’t going because they have newborn babies/their wives are due. And others are injured. There was Johnny Gaudreau who was invited, but he still wasn’t sure if he was going since his dad recently had a cardiac event. But Gaudreau has confirmed that he will be joining Team USA.
This past season, Gaudreau set a career-high in assists and points with 60 and 84 respectively, which also led the team. His 60 points was the first time a Flames player has reached the 60-assist mark for the first since 1993.
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Gaudreau has played for Team USA at the World Championship two others times. Once in 2014 and the other last year. In 2014, he had two goals and 10 points in eight games. Last year, he had six goals and 11 points in eight games while playing on USA’s top line. He was also voted as a top three player for Team USA last year. In the game vs. Sweden last year, he won player of the game.
After the preliminary rounds, Gaudreau was tied in first for goals among all skaters at the tournament (6), leading Team USA in goals and points (11). USA lost in the quarter-finals against Team Finland.
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There are also talks that Calgary Flames prospect, defenceman Adam Fox, could also be playing for Team USA. He most recently played for USA at the World Junior Championship, where they won the Bronze Medal and he was voted as a top-three player for Team USA.