Team USA will begin its gold medal title defense at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships next week in Buffalo, N.Y., and will do so with University of Minnesota Duluth sophomore winger Joey Anderson as its team captain.

"Joey has been among the leaders of this group since this summer and we couldn't be happier than to have him leading this locker room," said U.S. National Junior Team Head Coach Bob Motzko.  "We have a strong leadership group and will announce our alternate captains in time, but in putting our mission together, every mission needs a leader and we're excited to have Joey take that step forward."

One year ago in Montreal and Toronto, Anderson became the first UMD product to ever claim a gold medal at the IIHF World Junior Championships. The Roseville, Minn., native was an alternate captain for the U.S. Under-18 Men's National Team that took home the bronze at the 2016 IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championships.

Thus far in the 2017-18, Anderson has racked up nine points on four goals and five assists in 13 games for UMD while going a +5. As a freshman, Anderson pocketed a nifty 37 points to take a backseat only to All-American Alex Iafallo on the UMD charts. That scoring output was the largest by a Bulldog newcomer in six years (J.T. Brown with 37 points) and help Anderson nailed down a spot on the NCHC All-Rookie Team.

USA Hockey will announce the final roster for the 2018 U.S. National Junior Team by Dec. 23 -- four days before the club opens preliminary round play with a bout against Denmark.  Fellow Bulldogs Riley Tufte, Scott Perunovich, Dylan Samberg and Mikey Anderson (Joey's younger brother) are all vying for a spot on that final roster.

To watch Coach Motzko name Anderson captain, click here.