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The United State men's hockey team took the ice Sunday for their first practice together in Italy before Winter Olympics competition gets underway.
That allowed fans to begin to get a look at what the lines might look like when action actually gets going with the U.S. in pursuit of a gold medal.
In early proceedings, the first two lines took a real shape, while the rest of the forwards mixed in with various arrangements.
The Athletic's Michael Russo provided these insights from watching the initial practice.
The first line shapes up to be centered by Auston Matthews. Jake Guentzel was on his left wing, and Matt Boldy on the right.
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The second line has Jack Eichel sandwiched by a pair of Tkachuk brothers, Brady on the left and Matthew on the right.
Russo also reported on what the initial defenseman pairings looked like.
Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy are slated to be the top blue-line pairing.
Behind them, it looks like Justin Slavin and Brock Faber will be a pairing.
Zach Werenski and Noah Hanifin were working together, too.
That left Jake Sanderson to work with Jackson LaCombe (who was the injury replacement for Seth Jones).
The first game for the United States will be on Thursday against Latvia, with group games against Denmark and Germany to follow.
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