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ST. PAUL, Minn -- If it were up to Team USA architect Dean Lombardi, the players who make up the American roster that will compete in the upcoming World Cup of Hockey would have more than a short training camp to bond.Theres some jealousy in the general managers voice when he points out the fact that the 1996 World Cup-champion American team had a month to golf, bond and come together before winning it all.Thats not the case this time around. Its two frickin days, he said. Were not going to mess around.To help prepare, Team USAs management and coaching staff spent time in Minnesota before camps finalizing plans to try to repeat the success of 96. At the conclusion of the meetings, Lombardi chatted with ESPN.coms Craig Custance about the upcoming tournament:ESPN.com: What was the focus of the meetings in St. Paul?Lombardi: Obviously, with the five or six coaches, we had a couple of things to do. One, we gave them an overview on what our philosophy was in terms of selecting the team. As we all know, there are almost no wrong answers when you put together a team with this much talent.I thought it was good for [Team USA head coach] John [Tortorellas] assistants to understand what our thinking was. And then the second thing was Johns area -- putting a team of top players together. Its critical that guys accept their roles. Also, when you essentially have an All-Star coaching staff it can be beneficial -- or you can end up with a gong show.Its the same thing as your team. It was important that [Tortorella] designate the [coaching] roles and make their responsibilities clear. Each guy started putting that together.ESPN.com: You mentioned your philosophy in putting together this roster. Theres been criticism of how you built this team ...Lombardi: When isnt there?ESPN.com: Yeah, but you took on more risk than others in some of your player selections. Does that add more pressure on you?Lombardi: Using 96 as a model, its no different than putting together an NHL team. We made it very clear -- all the work I did prior to it, going through it last August in those preliminary meetings -- that this had to be about team and identity.?So much went into this that you cant begin to explain, but that said you have to stay within a certain theme and philosophy. We could have gone another direction philosophically; I just come back to the word identity. I thought [identity] was critical if we were going to win this thing.?This was a lot harder than I thought. Forget the size of the staff we had -- we had a lot of scouts out there. Youre splitting hairs. It really had to be about team because there were so many good players and there wasnt a lot of separation.It was a great experience. I didnt think it was going to be this difficult. We had to micromanage. We got down to the final one, we sat tighter and it was so close. You come back -- who fits right in? Whats the character? Will they fit into the team? That was always your tiebreaker.ESPN.com: How they fit in with the team was the tiebreaker?Lombardi: Yeah. Thats the other thing that was frustrating. The team in 96 was together for 30 days. We tried to do [team-bonding] things and werent allowed to because of the union. We cant afford to waste time. You cant have any maintenance. Its too short a tournament. You have no preparation.ESPN.com: Theres a belief that you built this team specifically to beat Canada. Is that a fair conclusion?Lombardi: Yeah. I mean, theyre the best. Who are we kidding? You want to be politically correct? No, theyre the best. Its like right now, youve got to beat the [Pittsburgh] Penguins. Thats just the way it is. There are really good teams but theyre clearly always the favorite going in. So, yeah.ESPN.com: So how big is the gap right now between Canada and the U.S.?Lombardi: Its kind of funny. You look at the young guys coming -- it goes in cycles ... I think there are some areas, without getting into it, why you had to go back to team and identity [when picking players]. A lot of people, the whole idea, thats coming with the center ice. One of the things we asked ourselves ... who is the top [center]? You know? Now you are seeing a few coming like Jack Eichel.ESPN.com: But now you dont have access to the top young American centers because theyre playing for Team North America.Lombardi: Yeah. Even Canada went through a period where its No. 1 defenseman since Chris Pronger wasnt there, and then boom, Drew Doughty and Alex Pietrangelo come along. Back then, the Americans had the [top] defensemen, if you looked at it closely.It goes in cycles. The fairly obvious biggest thing is the middle doesnt have the top [guys]. That said, a guy like Joe Pavelski?is one of the top players. He finally got his recognition this year. If you were playing against him, you know how good this guy is. Its not totally fair to say this guy is not a No. 1 center.ESPN.com:?He has to be your captain, right?Lombardi: John [Tortorella] is going to take care of that. You can try to pump it out of him.Editors note: Joe Pavelski was named Team USAs captain on Wednesday. Cyber Monday Soccer Jerseys . The parade and rally were held to celebrate the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday in the CFLs championship game. Soccer Jerseys China . Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player. https://www.fakesoccerjerseys.com/ . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. Cheap Soccer Jerseys China . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid. Authentic Soccer Jerseys . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying.Championship leader Nico Rosberg remained the man to beat at Mercedes in Practice One at the Russian GP as he set a commanding pace from team-mate Lewis Hamilton. In an opening session at the Sochi Autodrom totally dominated by F1s world champions, Red Bull still claimed most attention by debuting their answer to the sports search for improved cockpit protection for drivers.Daniel Ricciardo completed an installation lap with the teams aeroscreen concept attached to the front of his RB12. The windscreen-like device successfully held up in static tests away from the circuit last week, when an F1 wheel was fired at it at 225kph. After Ferrari trialed a halo design in winter testing, Red Bulls idea has split opinion, amid the FIAs search for a workable solution to be incorporated into the design of the all-new 2017 cars. Daniel Ricciardo completes a single installation lap with Red Bulls new aeroscreen canopy On the timesheet in Sochi, Mercedes immediately appeared at their best at the former Winter Olympics venue and ended P1 one second ahead of Ferrari.Their advantage was flattered by the fact Rosberg and Hamilton set their best laps on the quickest tyres available, the supersofts, whereas the Ferrari pair did not. However, Rosbergs 1:38.127 time was still an eye-catching early effort when compared to Hamiltons.The world champion, aiming to get his title defence properly up and running after a string of problematic races at the start of 2016, could not match Rosbergs speed on the supersofts and wound up 0.7s adrift. He was also one of a number of drivers to spin with the track offering up little grip so far.Sky F1 schedule: When is the Russian GP?Sebastian Vettel recovered from two lurid spins to take third place ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, as both Ferraris stuck with the slower soft tyres. With the SF16-Hs engine believed to have been upgraded for this race, the under-pressure Scuderia did run into some early reliability problems - albeit of the mechanical kind via a DRS fault on Raikkonens car.ddddddddddddilliams Felipe Massa was sidelined by a clutch fault in the early stages of the session, but steadily worked his way up the order on his return and ended a promising fifth.Once the canopy had been taken off his car, Daniel Ricciardo showed flashes of speed to take sixth, ahead of the second Williams of Valtteri Bottas and other Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat. Kvayt, aiming to build on the second podium finish of his career at the last race in China, lost the back end of his RB12 rounding Turn 17 but, despite spinning 180 degrees, was able to continue without damaging his car.The Russian was joined in the P1 field by countryman Sergey Sirotkin, who returned to an F1 car for the first time in two years after signing with Renault as a test driver earlier this week.The 20-year-old, whose one previous practice outing at the top level came with Sauber at the inaugural Sochi race in 2014, performed well on his debut in the RS16, finishing 13th - five places and 0.7s ahead of Renault regular Jolyon Palmer.McLarens Jenson Button (11th) and Fernando Alonso (12th) again finished just outside the top 10, with both former champions also caught out by the track conditions. Button spun at Turn 15, while Alonso went straight on at Turn Two on several occasions.Practice One timesheet1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:38.1272. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:38.8493. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:39.1754. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:39.3325. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:39.3656. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:39.6507. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:39.8028. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1:40.2189. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:40.28710. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:40.65411. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:40.66312. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:40.77113. Sergey Sirotkin, Renault, 1:40.89814. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:41.08515. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1:41.13416. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:41.23817. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:41.38518. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:41.67119. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:41.96220. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:42.48321. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:42.68722. Alfonso Celis, Force India, 1:43.432Watch the whole Russian GP weekend - LIVE ONLY on Sky Sports F1. The race begins at 1pm on Sunday, with build-up from 11.30am. Or watch the race without a contract for £6.99 on NOW TV. Every race live in 2016 Sky Sports F1 brings you every race live in 2016. Fast and easy online upgrade - click here. Also See: WATCH: Red Bulls canopy test When is the Russian GP on Sky? ' ' '