Milwaukee, WI—The Road to the World Championships goes through Milwaukee.

Four Admirals Alums were named to the preliminary roster for TeamUSA for the 2026 Men’s National Team that will compete at the World Championships from May 15-31 in Switzerland, including defensemen Ryan Ufko, forwards Tommy Novak and Mathieu Olivier, and netminder Devin Cooley.

Ufko has played parts of the past three seasons with the Admirals and this past year he accumulated 44 points on 11 goals and 33 assists in 52 games. He represented the team at the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic and was named as a Second Team AHL All-Star as well. During his time in Milwaukee, he scored 20 goals and dished out 60 assists for 80 points in 133 contests, while also collecting 11 points (2g-9a) in 19 games with the Predators.

Novak spent parts of four seasons in Milwaukee, most recently during the 2022-23 campaign. The Hudson, WI native scored 37 goals and collected 98 assists and was +32 in 157 games with the club. Last year he skated in all 82 games with the Pittsburg Penguins and finished seventh on the team with 42 points (16g-26a). Overall he has 159 points (65g-94a) in 285 career NHL games between the Pens and Predators.

Cooley, who was teammates with Novak in 2022-23, played a pair of seasons with the Ads, going a combined 24-18-4 with 2.99 goals against average and a .904 save % during the regular season as well as a 5-4 mark with a .921 save % in 11 post-season games. He spent his first full-time NHL season in Calgary in 2025-26, going 10-10-6 with a 2.69 GAA and a .909 save percentage.

Olivier played three seasons in Milwaukee from 2018 through 2022, registering 19 goals and picking up 23 assists for 42 points in 156 games. The first born in Mississippi to make it to the NHL, he has led the Columbus Blue Jackets in penalty minutes each of the past two seasons and shows 92 points on 46 goals and 46 assists in 311 career games in The Show between Columbus and the Predators.