ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell men's hockey captain and junior forward Ryan Walsh has been added to the United States Collegiate Selects roster for the upcoming 2025 Spengler Cup, it was announced Thursday morning (Nov. 6).

Walsh was one of five players added to the roster Thursday, joining Northeastern senior defenseman Vinny Borgesi, Minnesota Duluth sophomore goaltender Adam Gajan, Wisconsin junior forward Quinn Finley, and Penn State sophomore forward JJ Wiebusch and senior Matt DiMarsico.

Scheduled for Dec. 26-31 in Davos, Switzerland, Walsh and the U.S. Collegiate Selects will help make history as this year's iteration of the prestigious tournament marks the first time in the 102-year history a select team representing college hockey will compete in the annual invitational-based tournament. Only two U.S.-based college programs — Minnesota (1981) and North Dakota (1982) — have previously participated in the event.

"It's well deserved. He's a complete player and we're excited about him being able to represent us and represent college athletics here at that highest level," said Casey Jones '90, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Ice Hockey. "He deserves a spot and I'm really glad they zeroed in on him. It gives him an opportunity to get some international experience and he'll bring that back to our team."

"Obviously, it's a big honor, something that I'm really excited for," Walsh said. "It's going to be a really cool experience — one of those things that you always hope to make, but you're never sure. Being able to get the call and have the opportunity to go play on such an amazing team with a bunch of amazing players is going to be really fun."

Through the Big Red's first two games of the season, Walsh has two assists, both coming on Cornell's power-play goals scored in its 3-1 victory over No. 13 UMass last Saturday at the Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass.
 
The Rochester, N.Y., native has compiled 55 points (29 goals, 26 assists) in 73 career games across his two-plus collegiate seasons for the Big Red. He has won 53.8 percent of the faceoffs he has taken (688-of-1279) and recorded seven game-winning goals, which is tied for ninth among active Division I players.
 
Walsh entered this season with 29 career goals, including 17 as a sophomore last year — the most by a Big Red player since Joe Devin '11 also had 17 in 2010-11, and the most goals by a sophomore since Matt Moulson netted 18 in 2003-04.
 
Among active Division I players, Walsh's 29 goals since the start of the 2023-24 season are tied for 20th overall and rank 14th for players through their junior year.
 
The Spengler Cup annually features six teams composed of club and national teams from Europe and North America. The U.S. Collegiate Selects team will comprise 25 student-athletes from across Division I hockey, representing all six conferences (Atlantic Hockey, Big East, CCHA, ECAC Hockey, Hockey East, and NCHC) and Division I independent programs.
 
Penn State's Guy Gadowsky will serve as head coach, with Niagara head coach Jason Lammers and New Hampshire head coach Mike Souza as assistant coaches.
 
Action for the U.S. Collegiate Selects will begin on Dec. 26 at 8:15 p.m. local time (2:15 p.m. ET), when the team faces Team Canada in the first game of group play. Each team will play a minimum of three contests and a maximum of five games across the six-day event.
 
Other teams in the tournament include Swiss-based HC Davos (host) and HC Fribourg-Gottéron, Czech-based Sparta Praha, and Finnish-based IFK Helsinki.
 
The tournament will be broadcast to over 20 countries, either through a partner or via livestream. Official details on how the games can be viewed in the United States will be announced at a later date.
 
For more information on the Spengler Cup, visit www.spenglercup.ch/en.
 
2025 U.S. COLLEGIATE SELECTS ROSTER
Forwards: Charlie Cerrato (So., Penn State), Matt DiMarsico (Sr., Penn State), Aiden Fink (Jr., Penn State), Quinn Finley (Jr., Wisconsin), T.J. Hughes (Sr., Michigan), Cole Knuble (Jr., Notre Dame), Joey Muldowney (Jr., UConn), Jack Musa (Jr., UMass), Zam Plante (So., Minnesota Duluth), Ryan Walsh (Jr., Cornell), JJ Wiebusch (So., Penn State)
 
Defensemen: Vinny Borgesi (Sr., Northeastern), Mac Gadowsky (Jr., Penn State), Jake Livanavage (Jr., North Dakota), Erik Pohlkamp (Jr., Denver)
 
Goaltenders: Adam Gajan (So., Minnesota Duluth), Alex Tracy (Sr., Minnesota State)