USA has a passionate team and they simply love floorball. Their head coach Stefan Hedlund stated in his interview (read more from him here) that battling against the top teams is a welcomed challenge for team USA.
How did you decide on this roster?
As always, we select the players that we believe could come together as the strongest possible TEAM. When the total squad size is quite small, smaller than what we are used to, we decided that this time we didn’t have room for rookies. The challenge in selecting the players has never been this competitive.
What kind of a team do you have?
We have players that really love the sport of floorball. No one is professional, so we all have jobs or school on the side. Every player pays their own expenses – and no one ever complains. They do it for the passion they have for the sport and they do it because they are proud ambassadors for the US Floorball Federation.
If you would need to use only three words to describe the team, what would they be?
Passion, Team, Joy
What are your team’s strengths and weaknesses?
Our team spirit is our strength. We are like a family who see each other every big holiday. We love to get together, we love the sport and we love to fight hard for every goal, point or win. Our weakness in comparison to the big 4 is our small amount of floorball players. It’s still a small sport in the USA. This makes us less experienced in comparison to the European teams.
Which three players people should watch and why?
Terence Frank: Our old timer goalie. He is getting stronger and better every year.
Robin Brown: Had a real great WFC and ended 5th in the scoring leader with his 13 points. Just as many as Alexander Galante Carlström, and one more than Kim Nilsson. That’s big for an American of course.
Michael Binder: The heart of a soldier! No one is a better symbol for our team. He always fights in every situation. He is aggressive and tough in defence and a daredevil in offence – with a good sense for scoring!
What are your goals for The World Games?
Gain experience, get a great starting boost when this team ends one four-year-goal to take place in this event – with the next goal to build a team for 2021 The World Games in USA (if floorball attend). We hope we get a chance to get a re-match versus Poland. Last time we faced each other in WFC 2012 and they won the great battle on penalty shots. We want our revenge now.
The final roster of USA for TWG 2017:
