Whale’s Stack, Darkangelo playing with Team USA at world championships

Connecticut’s Kelli Stack is making her fifth appearance with Team USA at the world championships.

Two members of the National Women’s Hockey League’s Connecticut Whale are playing with the United States at the world championships underway now in British Columbia, Canada.

Forwards Kelli Stack and Shiann Darkangelo are playing with the Americans along with 2015 Whale draft pick Michelle Picard, a defenseman from Harvard.

The United States, which beat Canada to win the 2015 world championship with a 7-5 victory, opened Group A play Monday night with a 3-1 win over the host Canadians. Boston Pride forward Hilary Knight scored twice and Brianna Decker scored a goal to lead Team USA. Goalie Alex Rigsby made 22 saves to earn the win.

The two-time defending champion Americans face Finland on Tuesday and Russia on Thursday.

The NHL Network is showing the U.S. games primarily on a tape delay basis. The network will broadcast the championship game live on next Monday night, April 4, at 10:30 p.m., if the Americans qualify to play in it. Canada and the United States are the only two teams to play in the championship game since the debut of the world championships in 1990.

Stack won a silver medal with the Americans at the 2014 and 2010 Olympic Games. This is her fifth appearance at the world championships and she helped the Americans win the gold medal in 2008, 2009 and 2011. Darkangelo is making her world championship debut with the Americans. Picard won a silver medal with the Americans at the 2014 Olympic Games and represented the U.S. at last year’s world championships and took home a gold medal.

Darkangelo had a team-high 10 goals and five assists for Connecticut this past season while Stack had eight goals and a team-leading 14 assists for a team-leading 22 points. Stack had two goals and Darkangelo had two assists for Connecticut in their three-game loss to Buffalo in the Isobel Cup semifinals.

U.S. broadcast schedule at world championships
On NHL Network
Monday, March 28: Canada
Tuesday, March 29: Finland, 6:30 p.m. (Broadcast on Wednesday, March 30: 1 p.m., tape delay)
Thursday, March 31: Russia, 6:30 p.m. (Broacast on Friday, April 1: 1 p.m., tape delay)

Quarterfinal
Friday, April 1: vs. TBA, 6 or 10:30 p.m., EST (Broadcast on Saturday, April 2: 12:30 p.m., tape delay)
Semifinal
Sunday, April 3: vs. TBA, 6 or 10:30 p.m., EST (Broadcast on Monday, April 4: 1 p.m., tape delay)
Championship
Monday, April 4: vs. TBA, 10:30 p.m., EST (LIVE)
Bronze medal
Monday, April 4 vs. TBA (Broadcast on Tuesday, April 5: 1 p.m., tape delay)