TEAM USA - GOING FOR GOLD

USA Inline Hockey has been a staple in the sport since the mid 90’s when FIRS hosted the first World Inline Roller Hockey Championships (1995) for Men at the Odeum Arena in Chicago. Soon after in 2002, the World Inline Roller Hockey Championships hosted Women for the first time. Since then, Team USA has been feared by every team internationally.

THE SENIOR WOMEN
The Senior Women have now won three consecutive Championships dating back to 2017 in Najing, China. The Senior Women's roster is always filled with top talent like Laura Veharanta (Assistant Captain), Kyla Sanders (Assistant Captain) and Allison Era (Captain). Over the past few years the Senior Women have become a family and it has produced results on the rink. The 2021 World Championships roster looks different than in years past. The team still has their core, but there are some important names missing from this year's roster. Most notably, Goaltender, Jetta Rackleff. Jetta has back-stopped the team since 2009. The team has not yet released the goaltending tandem, but whoever it is will have not shoes to fill. Some newer names to the roster include Coco Bradely, Megan Myers and Jen Friedman. Jen was a force in Barcelona as she helped the Senior Women secure their last gold medal. The Senior Women have an impressive mix of players and look to bring home the 4th gold medal in 4 years!

THE SENIOR MEN
The USA Senior Men have been a different story over the past five years. Rosters have been inconsistent and until last year, the men have not medaled since 2015. Now keep in mind there could be two, maybe three, Senior Men's teams that could compete at the World Championships; but not many would compete with the star-studded roster taking the floor in 2021. The Senior Men finally got back on top of the international circuit beating the Czechs 3 - 0 in the World Roller Games. The roster primarily looks the same - why wouldn’t it - but there are some new faces making their debut with Team USA. KJ Tiefenwerth, product of NCAA Division 1 school Quinnipiac, is finally getting his opportunity to play with the red, white and blue. Tiefenwerth is familiar with the majority of the team from his ties with Black Ice and is a huge addition to this team. Two more new faces come from the Tour Roadrunners, Keith Johnson and Joey DiMartino. Both Johnson and DiMartino are pivotal pieces to the Roadrunners team and will definitely make a huge impact to this year's roster. DiMartino’s speed will open up room for the rest of the team, and having Johnson backstop Chinny is very similar to the tandem of Dwyer and Chinny. In 2019, we saw how the heat plays a huge factor in these events, so having a 1A / 1B situation is an incredible advantage. The Senior Men are primed for another gold medal and it should be fun to watch this team wheel!

THE COACHES
Dave Marmorstein has led the Senior Women to three consecutive championships. His energy and passion is unmatched in this sport. The Senior Women will be missing their Assistant Coach, Charles Sgrillo Jr. Sgrillo is a student of the game and has been with the team three out of three recent championships. The Senior Men are being led by inline hockey legends Tim McManus (Head Coach) and Greg Thompson (Assistant Coach). McManus and Thompson are fortunate enough to watch the men play year round at State Wars Hockey events, which is an advantage when coming into a tournament like this. McManus has talked about the adjustment to things like the puck, the floor and the nets. Now that a majority of the team has gotten a taste of the international game, I expect McManus will focus on bringing the team together, which can be hard when you have so much talent!

(Photo by MD Media : Team USA Men's Coaches, Tim McManus and Greg Thompson.)

We have all been waiting for Team USA to take the floor again, and August can’t come soon enough! USARS will be partnering up with Rollerdad News to bring coverage on and off the rink at this year's World Championships. Check out the new USARS Website for more info... 

USARS WEBSITE

Men's and Women's Roster

Check out some highlights of 2019 WRG Team USA Men's and Women's. Videos done by MD Media.