Liles Replaces Gill on Team USA

[Paul755]

Great addition from where I sit. He's a solid 2-way defenseman....and he's young. And while his youth might hurt in the fact he doesn't have the international experience that most others might. He will provide some young legs to the older US lineup.

Liles replaces Gill for USA at World Cup
TSN.ca Staff
8/26/2004

USA Hockey today announced that defenceman John-Michael Liles of the Colorado Avalanche will replace Hal Gill on Team USA's roster for the World Cup of Hockey.

Gill, who was named to the team on August 11 to replace Mathieu Schneider, will be unable to participate after sustaining a broken foot in Wednesday night's 3-1 exhibition game loss to Canada in Ottawa. Gill is a seven-year NHL veteran, having spent all of his career with the Boston Bruins.

"Unfortunately the injury sustained by Hal Gill represents a loss for our team," said Team USA General Manager Larry Pleau.

"But we were very impressed after John-Michael Liles handed in an outstanding first year in the National Hockey League last season. He will add youth, offensive skills and speed to our roster."

Liles led all NHL rookie defensemen in scoring (34 points), goals (10) and assists (24), while tying for the lead in games played (79).
http://www.tsn.ca/world_cup_hockey/n...rld_cup_hockey

[SnowAvalanche33]

Alright! JM Liles is the ****. Got to watch him develop at Michigan State over the course of several GLI's, awesome to see him representing the US.

[dave the world]

Very cool for Liles. :D

[The Raven]

Again, no Gill makes me happy. And having Liles makes me even happier :D

[Sniper]

Is the depth of the Americans so low that they have to pick Liles? I'm not saying he sucks or anything like that, but there has to a better choice then a guy who just finished his first full pro season

[ColeJ.]

i've said it once, and i'll say it again... not every team gets to have chris pronger and rob blake... team usa's strength is apparently in power forwards, and goal scoring. we have no goaltending or defensive depth. in my opinion, the only world class defensive defenseman available to this team is derian hatcher, and he's not playing.

on a side note, liles is pretty impressive. i think he's going to suprise a few people.

[Jill]

Liles is definetly a better choice. He's younger and puts up better points, as if he's had a few years experience in the NHL.