U.S. men’s hockey players face off against Japan in FISU action. (Provided photo — FISU)

LAKE PLACID — The U.S. men’s and women’s ice hockey teams — 23 players for each — were announced this week for the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter World University Games, set for Jan. 12-22.

The Games will feature 1,443 collegiate-athletes, ages 17-25, from more than 540 universities across 43 countries. The competition consists of 12 winter sports contested throughout northern New York, including Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Wilmington, North Creek, Canton and Potsdam.

Lake Placid 2023 is the first time the winter edition of the FISU Games has been held since the 2019 Games in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. The 2021 FISU Games, set for Switzerland, were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Women

U.S. women’s hockey players face off against Russia in FISU action. (Provided photo — FISU)

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Playing as the No. 2 seed in a six-team tournament and on home ice for the first time since women’s hockey made its FISU World University Games debut in 2009, the U.S. team’s best results have been bronze medals in 2013 and 2017.

All women’s preliminary-round games take place at Maxcy Hall on the SUNY Potsdam campus. The women’s tournament begins Jan. 11 with Great Britain vs. the Czech Republic, the day before the opening ceremony. The U.S. women open play Jan. 12 against No. 3 Japan, which beat the U.S. for bronze in 2019, the last time the winter FISU World University Games were held. Other seeds are No. 1 Canada, No. 4 Great Britain, No. 5 Slovakia and No. 6 Czech Republic.

Four teams will advance to the Jan. 20 semifinals at the Olympic Center’s 1980 Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, and the gold- and bronze-medal games will take place on Jan. 21.

If the women’s seeds hold form, it will be three-time champion Canada vs. the United States for gold — a matchup echoing the sport’s most famous rivalry on the Olympics and World Championship stage.

Of the U.S. women’s 23 players, nearly half — 10 — are 2022 graduates, five from NCAA Div. I and five from NCAA Div. III, including NCAA Div. III champion Middlebury College’s Madeline Leidt. Current students include 10 from NCAA Div. I and three from NCAA Div. III schools.

“I’ve never had a chance in the past to coach in an international event,” Team USA head coach Brendon Knight told uscho.com. Knight is Utica University women’s assistant coach and former women’s associate head coach at Syracuse University. “I saw this as a great opportunity. The more and more I found out about the event, the more and more I got excited about it. It’s really going to showcase the best players, particularly at Division III, and give them an opportunity to play for their country.”

Knight will be familiar with the hockey venue, both on-ice and off. He played for SUNY Potsdam and coached at his alma mater from 2002-2005. Knight also was head coach at Hamilton College and has played internationally. Similar to an Olympic Village, all 400-plus Ice Hockey athletes, both men and women, will be housed in SUNY Potsdam’s Knowles Hall, with living quarters and a dining hall close to where preliminary rounds will be played.

Here is the women’s team roster: Eliza Beaudin, Elmira College (class of 2022); Clare Conway, Worcester State College; Allison Corser-James, Chatham University; Madeline Giordano, University of Maine (2022); Shannon Griffin, Princeton University (2022); Sasha Hartje, Long Island University; Maggie Hatch, Robert Morris University; Callie Hoff, University of Wisconsin – River Falls (2022); Annie Katonka, SUNY Plattsburgh (2022); Mikayla Lantto, Long Island University; Madeline Leidt, Middlebury College (2022); Hayley Lunny, Providence College (2022); Erin McArdle, SUNY Plattsburgh (2022); Gianna Meloni, Yale University (2022); Alexandra Nolan, Chatham University; Lydia Passolt, Bemidji State University (2022); Savannah Popick, Saint Anselm College; Calista Rowbottom, Mercyhurst University; Kaitlyn Schooley, Robert Morris University; Elizabeth Simmons, University of Vermont; Lauren Spino, Long Island University; Natalie Tuchnisky, Saint Anselm College; and Jeannie Wallner, Long Island University – Brooklyn Campus.

The women’s team staff will be Brendon Knight, coach, Utica University; Melissa Piacentini, assistant coach, Northeastern University; Emily McNamara, assistant coach, Hamilton College; Paul Flanagan, general manager, Syracuse University; and George Frank, equipment manager, Clarkson University.

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Men

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In another first, the No. 6-seeded U.S. team will be composed entirely of NCAA Div. III players. While the roster of 23 players plucked from their collegiate teams will be in mid-season form, they will have only a few weeks to gel before the U.S. opens play against 10th-seed Great Britain on Jan. 11 at Clarkson University’s Cheel Arena in Potsdam, the day before the opening ceremony.

The U.S. team is almost equally split – 12 players are from eastern universities and colleges and 11 are from western universities. Defending NCAA Div. III champion Adrian College (Michigan) has three players on the roster.

“This was a really difficult process for the staff,” Taylor said to uscho.com. “We like the balance of the group and know there were enough players interested that we could have made up two rosters. We think we have a very good group including some players in reserve that may be included (depending on injury or illness) prior to our final roster submission on Jan. 10.”

The men’s ice hockey competition features 12 teams. Besides Cheel, the men’s preliminary games will also be played at Roos House on the SUNY Canton campus.

The top four teams in the tournament will advance to play at the Olympic Center’s 1980 Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid. The FISU Games men’s semifinals are Jan. 21, and the Jan. 22 gold-medal game will be broadcast live on ESPN.

The U.S. plays in the six-team Pool B bracket. Besides Great Britain, teams include No. 2 Kazakhstan, No. 3 Slovakia, No. 7 Hungary, and No. 11 Korea.

Pool A consists of top-seed Canada, No. 4 Czech Republic, No. 5 Latvia, No. 8 Sweden, No. 9 Japan, and No. 12 Ukraine.

The U.S. is seeking its first FISU Games medal since 1972, when the U.S. didn’t win a game but won bronze in a field of just three teams that included the Soviet Union and Canada. That was the last time the FISU Winter Games were contested on American soil, also in Lake Placid. The U.S.’s best finish since then was fourth in both 1989 and 2013.

The goaltenders for the men’s team will be Dysen Skinner, University of Wisconsin – River Falls; Evan Ruschil, Williams College; and Ryan Kenny, Stevenson University. On defense will be Alex Sheehy, University of New England; Jack Ring, SUNY Plattsburgh; Jaden Shields, Adrian College; Mason Palmer, Augsburg University; Cooper Swift, Hobart College; Emmet Powell, Wesleyan University; and Brendan Mark, St. Norbert College. The forwards will be Jack Jaunich, Aurora University; Samuel Ruffin, Adrian College; Michael McChesney, St. Norbert College; Connor Szmul, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire; Matt Hanewall, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Quinn Green, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire; Zachary Heintz, Adrian College; Peter Morgan, SUNY Geneseo; Luke Aquaro, Hobart College; Clark Kerner, Norwich University; Mitch Walinski, Salve Regina University; Jonny Mulera, Salve Regina University; and Austin Master, Stevenson University.

Head Coach Mark Taylor, of Hobart College, leads a U.S. staff that includes Lake Placid native Bill Beaney, a former longtime Middlebury College coach and the team’s general manager; Matt Loen, associate head coach, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire; Mike Szkodzinski, assistant and goaltender coach, Lawrence University; Jack Ceglarski, assistant coach, Middlebury College; Peter Lynch, assistant general manager, SUNY Oswego; and Joel Stoneham, hockey operations, Hobart College.

For more information about the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter World University Games or to purchase tickets, visit www.lakeplacid2023.com.