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The 4 Nations Face-Off rosters will be packed with NHL star power and a few surprises.

Full rosters for the league’s upcoming event were revealed Wednesday for Team USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland.

Auston Matthews, Charlie McAvoy and last season’s Norris Trophy recipient, Quinn Hughes, were among the names previously announced for Team USA. They’ll be joined now by a top-tier goaltending trio headed by reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck, defensemen Zach Werenski (currently third in points among NHL blueliners) and Brock Faber (a 2024 Calder Trophy finalist) as well as forwards Jake Guentzel, Kyle Connor and Matt Boldy.

The U.S. team prioritized veteran presence with the addition of Chris Kreider and Brock Nelson up front. And there will be a pair of brothers suiting up for their country in Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, and Quinn and Jack Hughes.

One name left off the USA roster was Anthony Stolarz, who has been one of the league’s best goaltenders this season for Toronto, with an 8-4-2 record, .924 save percentage and 2.23 goals against average. The U.S. instead went with Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman, who is 7-9-2 with an .892 SV% and 3.09 GAA.

Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby headline Canada’s core, and that roster’s forward group now also includes Sam Reinhart (currently seventh in NHL points) and Mitch Marner (11th). Reinhart’s Florida Panthers’ teammate Sam Bennett and 22-year-old Seth Jarvis were unexpected inclusions for the Canadians and will bring some physicality and center depth, respectively.

Canada tapped Travis Sanheim, who is having a career-best NHL season, and Colton Parayko, a solid stay-at-home defenseman, to join their blueline helmed by Cale Makar and Devon Toews. Four Vegas Golden Knights — defensemen Shea Theodore, Alex Pietrangelo, forward Mark Stone and goalie Adin Hill — are also in the mix for Canada.

One netminder (and former Golden Knight) surprisingly not on Canada’s roster is Logan Thompson. The Washington Capitals goalie has been dominant this season with a 10-1-2 record, .913 SV% and 2.52 GAA. Canada did include Sam Montembeault (7-10-2, .901 SV%, 2.99 GAA).

Sweden is going all-in on skill and speed up front with Lucas Raymond, Leo Carlsson and Elias Pettersson joining veterans William Nylander, Mika Zibanejad and Filip Forsberg. The roster’s back end — anchored by Victor Hedman — has one of the game’s rising stars in Rasmus Dahlin as well as established Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson. Sweden did not include forward Rickard Rakell on its bench despite the solid season he’s having (with 16 points in 28 games) for Pittsburgh.

Finland has all the makings of a potential shutdown defense with Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen suiting up. Mikko Rantanen, who is fifth in the NHL in scoring, leads the way up front with Aleksander Barkov and Sebastian Aho. They’ll have riser Kaapo Kakko and the newly healthy Patrik Laine filling in their forward depth, and Juuse Saros projects to be Finland’s top goaltender.

The tournament will take place from Feb. 12-20 at Boston’s TD Garden and Montreal’s Bell Centre. It will be a round-robin format in which each team plays three games, with the top two teams playing in a winner-take-all final.

Teams will receive three points for a win in regulation, two points for an overtime or shootout win, one point for an overtime or shootout loss and zero points for a loss in regulation.

Canada is the betting favorite at +135, according to ESPN BET. The U.S. is the second choice at +190, with Sweden at +450 and Finland at +700. The Americans have taken an overwhelming share of bets (66%) and handle (57%) to win it all, with the other three nations equally splitting handle (14%) at the sportsbook.

The NHL hasn’t been involved in best-on-best hockey since the 2016 World Cup, where Canada was the +200 favorite (and eventual winner). Sweden checked in then at +500, the U.S. was +650 and Finland was +1400.

ESPN’s Doug Greenberg contributed to this report.

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Twins call on RHP Matthews to keep streak going

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Twins call on RHP Matthews to keep streak going

The Minnesota Twins recalled right-hander Zebby Matthews from Triple-A St. Paul and inserted him into the rotation for their road game Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The 24-year-old Matthews closed out last season in the Twins’ rotation and fashioned a 1-4 record with a 6.69 ERA in nine starts. He has produced a 2-1 record with a 1.93 ERA in seven starts for St. Paul, which includes 38 strikeouts and nine walks over 32⅔ innings.

The Twins, who carry a 13-game winning streak into Sunday’s game, also selected the contract of outfielder Carson McCusker, a 26-year-old who has yet to make his big league debut. The 6-foot-8, 250-pound slugger is hitting .350 with 10 homers and 36 RBIs in 38 games this season for St. Paul.

The task ahead of Matthews is to try to continue a hot pitching streak that has seen the Twins record three straight shutouts, including in the first two games of the Brewers series. Minnesota enters Sunday with a collective 3.15 ERA that ranks No. 3 in the majors.

The active stretch of 33 straight shutout innings is the longest such streak in Twins history, which began in 1961. They had three longer shutout streaks when they were the Washington Senators, but the most recent of those took place in 1913.

To accommodate Matthews’ arrival, the Twins placed reliever Danny Coulombe (left forearm extensor strain) on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Thursday. Coulombe has yet to allow a run this season in 16⅔ innings.

To make room for McCusker, the Twins shifted rookie Luke Keaschall to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Keaschall fractured his right forearm April 25 against the Los Angeles Angels.

The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.

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Cora to skip game to attend daughter’s graduation

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Cora to skip game to attend daughter's graduation

BOSTON — Red Sox manager Alex Cora will miss Monday’s series opener against the New York Mets at Fenway Park so he can attend his daughter’s college graduation.

Cora’s daughter, Camila, will be graduating from nearby Boston College.

“It’s going to be a very special day — one that I’m not going to miss,” Cora said before Sunday’s game vs. the Atlanta Braves. “I 100% will miss the game for that. I will do that any given day. It’s going to be a very special day for us.”

Cora reflected on how the time has seemed to go quickly and spoke about how fast his daughter seemed to grow up.

“It went fast, it went really fast,” Cora said of her time in college. “For a girl from divorced parents, her mom did an amazing job, staying the course while I was playing and coaching and doing my ESPN thing. … She’s actually a reflection of her. I appreciate everything she’s done for her and for us.”

Asked if he’ll be able to hold back his emotions at the ceremony, Cora smiled and said “We’ll see,” before bringing up memories of when his daughter was at the 2018 World Series victory celebration and a postseason series wrap-up win over Tampa Bay in ’21 at Fenway.

“It’s going to be an amazing day. It happened fast,” he said. “You put everything into perspective, you go back to the videos of ’18, she was a little girl.

“Then you go back to ’21 when she hopped onto the field when we beat Tampa, she was still a little girl. Now, she’s not a little girl,” he said. “She’s a woman. She had fun with it. She’s a great student and the future’s bright for her.”

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Brewers send struggling starter Myers to minors

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Brewers send struggling starter Myers to minors

MILWAUKEE — Brewers pitcher Tobias Myers is going back to the minors as he continues to struggle to match the success he enjoyed as a rookie last year.

The Brewers optioned Myers to Triple-A Nashville on Sunday while selecting right-handed pitcher Easton McGee from Triple-A and transferring left-handed pitcher Connor Thomas to the 60-day injured list.

Myers is 1-1 with a 4.95 ERA in six appearances, including five starts. He allowed four runs over 3 2/3 innings in a 7-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.

The right-hander had gone 9-6 with a 3.00 ERA last season and was selected the Brewers’ most valuable pitcher by the Milwaukee chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He closed that season by pitching five scoreless innings in the decisive Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series against the New York Mets, a game the Brewers lost 4-2 by allowing four runs in the ninth.

“I love the kid, man,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after Saturday’s game. “You saw it in Game 3, that’s in there. So we’ve got to get back to that.”

The Brewers had optioned Myers to Nashville a week ago, but he didn’t actually pitch there before rejoining the big-league club after left-hander José Quintana went on the injured list with a left shoulder issue. Now he’s heading back to Nashville.

Myers entered Saturday having walked 10 batters over 16 1/3 innings. He didn’t walk anyone Saturday, but gave up a career-high 11 hits.

“My goal was to fill the zone up and kind of get away from the walks I’ve been dealing with,” Myers said after the game. “I think I just filled it up a little too much.”

McGee went 1-0 with a 3.44 ERA and 20 strikeouts over 18 1/3 innings in 13 relief appearances with Nashville.

McGee appeared in one game for Tampa Bay in 2022 and one game for Seattle in 2023.In the only two games he has pitched in the big leagues, McGee has allowed just one unearned run over 9 2/3 innings while striking out three and allowing five hits and one walk.

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