Breaking: Team USA names their captain for the World Cup of Hockey.

The one-ice leadership picture for the favored contenders at the World Cup of Hockey got a lot clearer with first an announcement from Team Russia and now one from Team USA.

There were reports last month that Sharks forward Joe Pavelski had received the nod as captain of the American squad and while there had been no refuting of those reports there had been no official word either.

On Wednesday Team USA made it official, confirming that Pavelski would be taking over as the captain of their team and he will be joined by two extremely talented superstars in Chicago Blackhawks' forward Patrick Kane and Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter who will both wear the "A."

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As a side note, it's pretty neat having two guys like Suter and Kane who are normally two big parts of a bitter rivalry, one that has brewed between the Blackhawks and Wild in recent years, sharing leadership duties when it comes to representing their country.