What has been a foregone conclusion for several weeks was made official this afternoon as

Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller was selected for the United States Olympic hockey team.

Miller is expected to be the starting goaltender on Team USA, ahead of Boston's Tim Thomas and

Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick. The annoucement of the 23-man U.S. roster was made following the

Winter Classic in Fenway Park between the Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers. Team USA's general

manager is Brian Burke of Toronto and Leafs coach Ron wilson will be the team's head coach.

Miller is third in the NHL with a 2.05 goals-against average, second with .933 save percentage

and tied for fifth with 25 victories. Miller and Phoenix's Ilya Bryzgalov, who will tend goal

for Russia, are the only players in the top five in all three categories.

Among those joining Miller on the team are South Buffalo native Patrick Kane of the Chicago

Blackhawks and Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik, the East Amherst product. Sabres center

Paul Gaustad, believed to be on the Team USA bubble because of his size and NHL-leading

faceoff proficiency (62.1 percent), was not selected.

Just as he has done to opposing scoring opportunities, Miller has deftly deflected a barrage

of questions about the Olympic team all season by pointing out that he can't truly discuss his

emotions or the tournament until he actually knows he's on the team.

"He's played very well," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said today. "Through the first 40 games,

there's maybe been a couple blips in the radar but other than that he's been really solid.

We've had games where we've played poorly and he's helped us win and games we've been solid in

front of him. He's been there to make the big saves at tough times in the game."

Miller is expected to make his first public comments as an Olympic team member following

tonight's game against the Atlanta Thrashers in HSBC Arena, his 34th start of the season.

Miller is coming off one of his worst games of the season, as he was pulled after giving up

three goals in 11 shots in Tuesday's eventual 5-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Former Sabres captain Chris Drury of the New York Rangers joins Kane on the 13-man contingent

of U.S. forwards. The others are Drury's New York teammate and Rochester native Ryan Callahan,

St. Louis' David Backes, Los Angeles' Dustin Brown, Vancouver's Ryan Kesler, Toronto's Phil

Kessel, New Jersey's Jamie Langenbrunner and Zach Parise, Tampa Bay's Ryan Malone, San Jose's

Joe Pavelski, Anaheim's Bobby Ryan and Colorado's Paul Stastny.

Joining Orpik on defense will be St. Louis' Erik Johnson, Los Angeles' Jack Johnson, Toronto's

Mike Komisarek, New Jersey's Paul Martin, Detroit's Brian Rafalski and Nashville's Ryan Suter.

Miller will be joined by several other Sabres at the Olympics as defensemen Toni Lydman

(Finland), Henrik Tallinder (Sweden) and Andrej Sekera (Slovakia) have already been named.

Forward Jochen Hecht (Germany) is on a provisional 35-man roster that will be whittled to the

final 23 on Jan. 20.