Though the ending was not what Brady Skjei nor Team USA envisioned at the 2016 World Championships, the opportunity to represent his country the past three weeks in Russia certainly put an exclamation point on Skjei's first season as a professional hockey player.
"It was a frustrating ending for sure, but overall it was a really good experience for me," Skjei told BlueshirtsUnited.com after arriving back home in Minnesota earlier in the week. "It helped my confidence a ton that the coaching staff trusted me to play out there in big time parts of games."
The 22 year-old Skjei appeared in all ten games which the United States played in this year's tournament, scoring one goal, while logging the fourth most ice time among the team's defensemen.