The US roster for the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championships in České Budějovice, Czechia in April was announced today and there were some surprising names that didn't make the cut and maybe even more surprising names that did. Let's look at the roster and have some quick reactions to the team that will be looking for gold in a month.
The United States opens the World Championship on April 9 against Finland.
Roster:
Forwards (14): Alex Carpenter, Jesse Compher, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Britta Curl-Salemme, Joy Dunne, Lacey Eden, Taylor Heise, Tessa Janecke, Hilary Knight, Abbey Murphy, Kelly Pannek, Hayley Scamurra, Kirsten Simms, Grace Zumwinkle
Defenders (8): Cayla Barnes, Laila Edwards, Savannah Harmon, Caroline Harvey, Megan Keller, Lee Stecklein, Anna Wilgren, Haley Winn
Goalies (3): Aerin Frankel, Ava McNaughton, Gwyneth Phillips
Newcomers
Twenty-three of the 25 women on the roster have previously played in an IIHF Women’s World Championship - the two making their debut are D Anna Wilgren and G Ava McNaughton.
Wilgren played in the last two Rivalry Series and was centralized prior to the 2022 Olympics, though she did not make the final roster. She was a fifth-round pick of the Montréal Victoire where she has recently been recording more than 20 minutes a game of time on ice. She is paired with Cayla Barnes at the Victoire and it seems likely we'll see that duplicated with Team USA.
McNaughton is just 20 years old. The sophomore goalie for the top-ranked Wisconsin Badgers in the NCAA is leading the country in goals against average (1.13) and is second in the country in save percentage (.948). She won silver with Team USA at the 2022 U18 World Championships.
I've been talking about the lack of goalie development from USA Hockey for a little while now, so I'm thrilled to see McNaughton here. Twenty goalies have been named to US U18 World Championship rosters in the past 10 years (some played for more than one season). McNaughton is the only one that has gone on to make a senior team roster. A few more have been invited to camp, but generally, women who play in the net for the US at U18s are not being developed into senior national team caliber goalies. In fact, McNaughton is just the third goalie to make the jump. Alex Rigsby played U18s in 2008 and 2009 and Maddie Rooney was on the 2013 U18 squad.
With the success at U18s, I don't think the wrong players are getting selected as teenagers. I think the talent isn't being nurtured from within and USA Hockey is expecting the individuals themselves and their college teams to do that work - and that hasn't been a recipe for success.
Defense
Of the returners, Lee Stecklein is probably the biggest surprise. She announced she was stepping away from USA Hockey in November 2023. She'd also previously said she was prepared to retire after the 2018 Olympics. She was one of the Minnesota Frost's first three "foundational" players signed. This will be Stecklein's ninth World Championship. She has six golds and two silver medals with Team USA in the tournament.
In the bigger picture, she's a veteran player in a group that is relatively young and inexperienced. She could be a spectacular mentor of Laila Edwards as the forward from Wisconsin continues to transition to defense with the national team. Her experience, her calmness and her steadiness are all things any coach would want for their team.
Generally, coach John Wroblewski has tended toward a group that's less stay-at-home and more nimble, with an offensive impact that goes behind slappers from the blue line. But at this level (and let's be honest, against Canada), you can't only have those players. You need some bigger bodies that can read the game well, use their size and reach to win pucks, not get bodied off and can close off lanes and sight lines and that's what Stecklein brings. She, Anna Wilgren and Megan Keller represent the stalwart part of a pair that allows the other half of the line to dip further into the offensive zone.
Haley Winn and Laila Edwards are the two that don't fit into either of those factions, for me. It's definitely not all cut and dried, but I don't think Wroblewski has designs on Edwards keeping mostly to the blue line in the offensive zone. She absolutely does need to unleash her shot from distance at times, but the way she can see the game and maneuver through traffic is a huge asset. Winn is the leading scorer for Clarkson and her shot chart is a mix of killer seeing-eye shots from the point and plays where the opponent loses track of her and she creeps into space along the tops of the circles and slot.
I'm especially interested in watching how everyone one of these players is used by Team USA on offense. Being able to stretch the zone to its fullest and be a threat any time anyone on the ice has the puck - meaning you're not assuming the folks up top are just looking to dish it off - gives the Americans an extra dynamic to their attack and forces opponents to put pressure up top, opening up more space in the middle and down low.
Forwards
I could not be more thrilled to see Grace Zumwinkle back in the fold. She simply brings a combination of skills, size, strength, speed and IQ that no one else quite captures and is invaluable in super-physical games. She has a rocket of a shot she can unleash from anywhere on the ice, but you're just as likely to see her crashing the net. There's a bit of controlled chaos to her play that makes things messy for opponents but either puts her in position to score or gives her teammates space. Beyond that, I really like her 200-foot game and she's deceptively fast for her size, using her long stride - and her long reach - really effectively in transition.
Jesse Compher has largely not been in the mix for Wroblewski since he took over as head coach. She's been mixed into some Rivalry Series rosters, but after playing in the 2022 Olympics and World Championships, has not made a major roster under Wroblewski. But she's had a standout year with the Toronto Sceptres in the PWHL, tripling her output from last season already with 8 goals and 7 assists for 15 points. She's winning at a 60% clip as a secondary option at the dot and has three power play goals.
Compher can be dynamic on the ice such that you notice every time her line goes over the boards. That was hard to find in her first season, but has been much more evident this year.
I'm not sure how much there is to say about the rest of this group. They're tested and experienced and massively talented. Alex Carpenter has had a few hockey phases post-college, but she's played the past two seasons in the PWHL like the best is still yet to come.
I'll focus on the college players that I've gotten a chance to see so much of this season.
I think fans will see continued improvement from both Tessa Janecke and Kirsten Simms. Some is just about experience and growing up, but Simms rounded out her game quite a bit this season and Janecke just seems to be really settled into herself - assured and confident and steady. What I hope we see from her at the international level is a little less restraint. She can make defenders look silly, move the puck with ease and place shots with ease.
Now that I'm writing this, what I think and hope we'll see is a little more Janecke in Simms and a little more Simms in Janecke. Simms is seeing the bigger picture more and not necessarily going to toe drag everyone on the ice (even though she absolutely can) and Janecke is having a little more outward fun with the game and playing a little looser.
Abbey Murphy has really honed in on her shot - which was already pretty lethal - and I think you'll really see that at this level. She's able to find seams and lanes no one else sees and is just really getting the puck on frame so that even if a block or save is made, there's usually extra opportunities for her teammates.
On a team full of standouts at Wisconsin, Lacey Eden still catches your attention game in and game out. Sometimes she's scoring empty net goals off the boards from behind her own goal line, sometimes she's puck handling around a series of defenders in a way that makes it look like she's standing still and sometimes she's fighting for the puck along the boards and coming out with it to lay off a great pass to a teammate. She's as scrappy as she is skilled, has a massively underrated wicked shot
Joy Dunne is just 19 years old and still stands out among older, more experienced players. She plays much older than her age, with a maturity and roundness to her game that a lot of players don't find until they're much older. She uses her size well in transition, similar to Zumwinkle and has been huge - literally and figuratively - for the Buckeyes in front of the net, screening goalies, reaching for deflections and tip ins and owning that part of the ice. She has been lethal from the jump this season, scoring early in the game for #2 Ohio State and setting the tone. She leads her team in points with 23 goals and 29 assists.
Goalies
I talked about McNaughton at the top and for me, the other two picks are unsurprising. Aerin Frankel has been Wrobelewski's top goalie for awhile now and Philips has been the logical number two. Both have more than earned their roles and I can't imagine who else could even be in the conversation at this point.
I think there's a wider conversation to be had about why the pool of goalies that even seem capable of taking this job is so small, but I don't know if a bigger pool changes that Frankel and Philips are considered one and two for USA Hockey right now.
With her numbers this year in the PWHL, there is no reason to have expected Nicole Hensley to have made this roster. On the other hand, after having a pretty bad showing last season, Maddie Rooney has upped her game this season in Minnesota. She may have played herself back into an invite and contention, but I don't think it's odd for Wroblewski to go with what I think our his two preferred goalies at this point and for the third goalie to be someone that's been playing consistently for a few seasons, is one of the candidates for the future of the program and needs to gain experience.
The expectation for this team is always the gold medal and they'll be extra hungry this year after the way the game ended in overtime in 2024. Detractors have knocked Wroblewski for going with such a young roster in the past, but he's kind of been playing the long game here where he has a roster that is both young and experienced and it's not a coincidence that has been accomplished in the year leading up to the Olympics.
I'm not sure if it's possible or compatible with the goal of winning, but I'd like to see Philips and McNaughton get some time in net. If this is the trio we can expect to head to Italy in 2026, none of them have Olympic experience. I don't think that's a deal breaker and I think that's a problem of USA's own making, but it seems prudent to get them more reps at the only level that even comes close to matching what the Olympics feels like. It simply cannot be replicated in any other way.
(Author's photo)
