This story originally appeared on Wild.com on Dec. 21, 2016.

Luke Kunin is old school. 

At least that's how his coach at the University of Wisconsin, long-time NHLer Tony Granato, describes him.  

"The kid is driven to win," Granato said. "It kills him to lose -- it kills him. He doesn't forget about a game and go out and have fun. He's one of the old-timers where a loss bothers him until the next chance he gets to get on the ice and turn it into a win."

That will to win has made Kunin, 19, a natural leader on almost every team he's played on in recent seasons. The Wild's first-round draft pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, Kunin is the first sophomore captain at Wisconsin in 41 years. 

Two years ago, he captained the U.S. Under-18 team to a world championship. The group featured the first overall pick in last summer's NHL Draft, Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

This week, Kunin was named the captain of Team USA for the upcoming World Junior Championships, which get underway in Toronto and Montreal the day after Christmas. The United States opens the tournament Dec. 26 against Latvia at Air Canada Centre. 

"It's a great honor," Kunin said. "We have a lot of great leaders in that locker room so to be able to share it with those guys and be able to help lead this team in the right direction is really special."

Kunin is the fifth Badger to captain Team USA in this tournament over the past 11 years. The list includes current Wild defenseman Ryan Suter, who led the United States in 2005.

Two of the past three Wisconsin captains have led the U.S. to the gold medal (Derek Stepan in 2010, Jake McCabe in 2013) and the Americans will be in search of their fourth gold medal at the World Junior Championships.

"That's our expectation and that's what we're going to do," Kunin said. "We have a great group of guys, we're very close and we're going to play a high and fast-paced game with a lot of speed and energy. Hopefully our skill will take over."

The United States, which finished third in last year's tournament, is considered one of the favorites at this year's event, as well. Finland, which won gold on home ice a year ago, along with Russia and Sweden (fourth place last year) are also considered medal contenders. 

And you can never discount Canada, especially with the tournament being on their home ice.

"We have a lot of great talent in our locker room," Kunin said. 

Read more at Wild.com.