Team USA treats the November Worlds as a title defense, not a tryout
The final 31-player camp barely changes, adds goalie Callie Shanahan, leaves off Grace Dwyer and lines up two games against Canada.
USA Hockey just told everybody what it thinks of the November Worlds: this is a title defense, not a tryout. The 31-player list for the final camp is almost the same group that skated at the first camp in Blaine, Minnesota, and that's the right call for a team that won the 2025 Worlds and the Olympic gold in Milan.
The camp runs Oct. 23-30 in Plymouth, Michigan, with two games against Canada built in: Oct. 28 in Windsor and Oct. 30 at USA Hockey Arena. Then it's Denmark, Nov. 6-16, with the Americans in Group A in Esbjerg against Czechia, Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
The two moves that matter
The only real changes are one add and one omission. Goaltender Callie Shanahan of the New York Sirens is in. Grace Dwyer, a Boston Fleet first-round pick, is out.
The Shanahan add is the tell. The crease already has Aerin Frankel, Gwyneth Philips and Ava McNaughton, the Wisconsin goalie who already owns an Olympic gold medal.
Bringing a fourth goalie to the camp with the Canada games says the staff wants a long look at the next one, in a real rivalry game, nine days before Worlds.
Dwyer is the one I'd circle. She's a first-rounder, and the U.S. forward group is so deep that a first-rounder can't crack it in October. That's not a knock on her. It's a scouting report on everyone ahead of her.
Who's carrying it
The core is the core. Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Alex Carpenter and Abbey Murphy up front, with Caroline Harvey, Laila Edwards and Megan Keller on the back end. By our count of the published list, PWHL Detroit and the Minnesota Frost each send at least five players, which tells you where the American game lives right now.
College still has a seat at the table. Three of the 31 are playing NCAA hockey this fall: McNaughton and defender Laney Potter at Wisconsin and forward Joy Dunne at Ohio State. Those are the top two teams in the Oct. 12 USCHO women's poll, with Ohio State No. 1 at 6-0-0 and Wisconsin No. 2.
The other bench
Canada is going to Denmark in a very different spot. Danièle Sauvageau is the new general manager, Kori Cheverie of the Montreal Victoire is behind the bench, and Marie-Philip Poulin is recovering from off-season knee surgery. Canada opens against Sweden on Nov. 6 in Group B in Herning, with Finland, Japan and Denmark.
That's a lot of new for a program that won silver in Milan. Canada has the talent to win any single game, and the two camp games against this U.S. group will tell us whether the new staff has a plan for the American forecheck or just a roster.
The W read: the U.S. didn't use the November Worlds to experiment, and it shouldn't have. My call: the Americans win at least one of the two camp games against Canada and leave Denmark with gold again.
