The WCHA has a long history of contributing current and former players and coaches to international teams, but those numbers have been especially impressive lately:
* 10 WCHA alumni are on the 2010 U.S. men's Olympic team which will play in Vancouver, Britisn Columbia in Febuary ... two more are on Canada men's Olympic team
*13 WCHA alumni or present plsyers are on the 2010 U.W. women's Olympic team coached by Mark Johnson of Wisconsin ... another 12 are on the provisional rosters of the women's Olympic teams of Canada, Slovakia and Sweden. Finland, which has not named its team yet, also is expected to have five or six present WCHA players.
* Seven WCHA players were on the U.S. men's team which won the World Junior Championsips in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan by beating Canada 6-5 in overtime on Tuesday. The team's coach was Dean Blais of Nebraska-Omaha, which will join the WCHA next season. Blais also is a former coach at North Dakota. One of his assistants was Mark Osiecki, an assistant coach at Wisconsin.
Those seven: U.S. captain Derek Stepan, a Wisconsin forward, and Badgers defensemen Jake Gardiner and John Ramage; Jordan Schroeder, a Gophers forward; Dannny Kristo, a North Dakota forward; Mike Lee, a St. Cloud State goalie, and Matt Donovan, a DU defenseman.
"We put the right team together for this tournament, filled with gritty, hard-working players," Blais said. "Our guys battled the whole tournament, and we're very happy to come away with the gold here in Saskatoon."
