Team USA hopes World Cup will provide Sochi redemption

Team USA's disappointing finish at the 2014 Winter Olympics is certainly not lost on the team as the World Cup approaches.

Many players who donned the red, white, and blue in Sochi will once again represent their country when the top hockey powers reconvene in Toronto for two weeks, and for them, the World Cup offers a do-over.

"It's a great opportunity for that group in Sochi that we had," New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh said, according to Tom Gulitti of NHL.com. "We have a lot of the same guys representing the U.S. that kind of get a chance to get back on the right side of things."

After opening the Olympics with three straight wins, the Americans ultimately faltered in the medal round. What made the tournament such a disappointment to the players, according to Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie, was the immense pressure the players placed on themselves, with a seemingly first or last mentality.

"It was a letdown," Oshie said. "It would have been amazing to get a medal, but I think overall we had our eye on gold, and it almost felt like it was gold or bust for us."

As for Minnesota Wild captain Zach Parise, the most devastating part was the final game, which saw the Americans get blown out by Finland in a battle for bronze.

"I thought Canada really played well against us," said Parise, who was captain of the 2014 team. "We really didn't get much offensively. They locked it down pretty good on us and they had good players. You're going to look at their roster 15 years from now and be like, 'Oh my gosh! All these guys were on the same team together?' The ending in Russia with a 5-0 pretty good waxing was tough. Had we gone home after a 1-0 loss to Canada, of course that would have been brutal, but we finished with a kind of disappointing game, and that's what everyone remembers."

So less than two years later, the team is hoping to rectify that disappointing result. However, things won't be easy for the Americans who find themselves in a group with the early favorite Canadians.

But as Capitals defenseman John Carlson notes, there is a simple solution to getting a better result this time around.

"The only way you can fix it is to work harder and get better and get another crack," Carlson said. "Only one team gets to win, so everybody else (in Sochi) was feeling pretty badly for themselves too. So we're going to go out there and leave it all on the line."