The selection includes five players who helped the nation to a bronze medal at the 2015 event in Prague and Ostrava.

Connor Hellebuyck, Dylan Larkin, Anders Lee, Connor Murphy and Brock Nelson were members of the team, who beat hosts Czech Republic to the final medal place.

Murphy was also a member of the side which finished in fourth place in last year’s event in Moscow and St Petersburg, where the United States fielded the youngest team at the tournament.

J.T. Compher featured as part of the team and he has been named among the squad for this year’s event in Cologne and Paris.

Nick Bjugstad, Daniel Brickley, Andrew Copp, Danny DeKeyser and Christian Dvorak have also been announced as part of the initial selection for the Championship.

They are joined by Jordan Greenway, Jimmy Howard, Cal Petersen and Jacob Trouba.

The selection currently consists of three goaltenders, four defencemen and eight forwards.

Jeff Blashill will lead the team at the Championships, with the head coach of National Hockey League (NHL) team Detroit Red Wings set to take up the same role in the national team.

The United States will face Russia, Sweden, Slovakia, Denmark, Latvia, Italy and hosts Germany in Group A of the competition.

They will seek one of four playoff spots available in Cologne.

Defending champions Canada, Finland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belarus, Norway, France and Slovenia will compete in Group B, which will be based in Paris.

The 16-team Championships is set to be held from May 5 to 21.