Today, Team USA had a 60-minute practice at Ondrej Nepala Arena in Bratislava at 2 p.m. local time. The head coach of the team, John Hynes, who also coaches the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, had his coaching staff working on different aspects of the game. Assistant coach Jack Capuano focused on the Team USA penalty kill, while fellow assistant coach Derek Lalonde worked on the U.S. power play efforts. The coaching staff includes assistant coach Ty Hennes, goaltending coach Alex Westlund, and video coach Mike King.
During the practice session, three players from the 2019 U.S. Men’s National Team that played at Ondrej Nepala Arena during the 2019 IIHF Men’s World Championship were present: Zach Werenski, Johnny Gaudreau and Luke Kunin. This team competed in preliminary round games in Kosice, Slovakia before moving to Ondrej Nepala Arena for the quarterfinals where they lost to Russia by a 4-3 score. It is worth mentioning that John Hynes who is currently the head coach of Team USA served as an assistant coach for that team as well.