COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Six former Ivy League men’s ice hockey players were announced as members of the 2017 U.S. Men’s National Select Team that will compete in the 2017 Deutschland Cup from Nov. 10-12 in Augsburg, Germany.
 
The roster is primarily made up of Americans playing professional hockey in Europe, with the competition serving as an ostensible tryout for the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team that will compete in February’s Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
 
With the NHL opting out of the Olympics for the first time since 1994, European professionals will make up the core of the U.S. Olympic Team, with American minor-league professionals and college hockey stars rounding out the roster.
 
Germany, Russia and Slovakia will join the United States in the four-team Deutschland Cup.
 
Harvard is represented by a pair of defenseman—Dylan Reese and Noah Welch—who currently compete in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). 

Reese, who played for Harvard from 2003-04 to 2006-07, will don the United States sweater for his second Deutschland Cup. He previously helped the American side to the tournament championship in 2013. The defenseman now plays for HV71 of the SHL, but does own 17 points (3G, 14A) in 78 NHL appearances.

Welch, a two-time All-American defenseman at Harvard from 2001-02 to 2004-05, will also join the United States from the Växjö Lakers of the SHL. He claims 75 games of NHL experience, tallying nine points (4G, 5A).
 
Four former Yale All-American forwards, all of whom skated together for Bulldog head coach Keith Allain—an assistant coach for the 2017 U.S. Men’s National Select Team and 2018 U.S. Olympic Team—were named to the Deutschland Cup roster.
 
Sean Backman, who skated for Yale from 2006-07 to 2009-10, joins the national team from Eisbären Berlin of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) in Germany. The forward spent seven seasons in the American Hockey League (AHL) before signing his first contract abroad for the 2017-18 campaign.
 
A member of the 2015 Deutschland Cup team that finished as the runner-up to host Germany, Broc Little returns to the United States lineup. The forward competed for Yale from 2007-08 to 2010-11 and currently plays for HC Davos of the National League (NLA) in Switzerland.
 
The 2014-15 Les Cunningham Award winner as the AHL’s most valuable player, Brian O’Neill joins the national team from Jokerit of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL)—the premier professional hockey league in Europe and Asia. A Yale Bulldog from 2008-09 to 2011-12, O’Neill also claims two points (2A) in 22 career NHL appearances.
 
Mark Arcobello, who led the United States to a bronze medal at the 2015 Men’s World Ice Hockey Championships in the Czech Republic, returns to the national team from SC Bern of the NLA in Switzerland. He is one of nine International Ice Hockey Federation world championships medalists on the Deutschland Cup roster and claims the most NHL experience among the Ivy League alums with 53 points (24G, 29A) in 139 NHL games.
 
Ivy League men’s ice hockey teams open the 2017-18 regular season on Oct. 27.