2014 Team USA WJC Preliminary Roster: Rapid Reaction

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Chris Peters

USA Hockey unveiled its 26-player preliminary roster for the World Junior Championship today. This list will have to be whittled down to 20 skaters and three goaltenders before Team USA takes the ice against the Czech Republic on Dec. 26 in Malmo. All of these players will convene in Minneapolis for the U.S. portion of the pre-tournament training camp Dec. 15.

Logo_USA_hockeyAs there is every year, there were a few surprise additions and omissions, but only a few this time around. This year’s roster was complicated by the fact that three age-eligible players were on NHL rosters and one eligible returnee injured (Patrick Sieloff).

The roster in full can be found here, but here’s who made the camp:

Goalies (3): Jon Gillies, Anthony Stolarz, Thatcher Demko

Defensemen (8): Will Butcher, Connor Carrick, Tony DeAngelo, Matt Grzelcyk, Ian McCoshen, Brett Pesce, Steven Santini, Brady Skjei

Forwards (15): Riley Barber, J.T. Compher, Andrew Copp,Tommy DiPauli, Jack Eichel, Adam Erne, Hudson Fasching, Ryan Fitzgerald, Ryan Hartman, Nic Kerdiles, Stefan Matteau, Tyler Motte, Dan O’Regan, Henrik Samuelsson, Quentin Shore.

Some rapid reaction after the jump…

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NCAA, NHL, NHL Draft, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey, World Junior Championship | 9 Comments

U.S. World Junior Watch: Projecting Team USA’s Preliminary Roster

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Chris Peters

On Wednesday, USA Hockey will announce its pre-tournament camp roster for the U.S. National Junior team in preparation for the 2014 World Junior Championship. The candidates will then convene in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota for the first portion of its camp Dec. 15-18.

2014WJCLogoThis U.S. team will be missing some key age-eligible players either due to injury or NHL duties. Because of that, the depth for this team is a little troublesome. A relatively lackluster summer camp in Lake Placid (that at least ended on a high note) and a potentially confusing first half for some players must have made for some tough decisions.

With Seth Jones, Jacob Trouba and Alex Galchenyuk in the NHL, which is something Team USA had to know was coming, a rather unexpected blow to the depth and experience came this week.

Defenseman Patrick Sieloff, who has been out since early October after contracting an infection after receiving an injection for a sore hip, won’t be available for Team USA. He is currently home in Ann Arbor, Mich., recovering from the infection and is not expected back in action by the Calgary Flames organization until early 2014. Sieloff would have been the lone returnee on defense.

Additionally, I have heard, but have been unable to definitively confirm that Chicago Blackhawks first-round pick and eligible returning forward Ryan Hartman’s availability for the tournament is questionable. He has been out since Nov. 9 with an undisclosed injury.

If Hartman is indeed out, that leaves forward Riley Barber and goalie Jon Gillies as the lone returnees from last year’s gold-medal squad. That’s a dramatic turnover in roster.

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NCAA, NHL, NHL Draft, NTDP, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey, World Junior Championship | 3 Comments

U.S. World Junior Watch: Examining Talent Pool for Defense

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Chris Peters

With a training camp roster announcement expected in just a few short weeks for the U.S. National Junior Team, the picture should probably start to clear a bit. Only it hasn’t, especially on defense. Some of that is performance based, in other cases it’s injury-related.

2014WJCLogoEither way, as the time comes to make a final decision, Team USA’s blue line looks unsettled to say the least. That was essentially the expectation, however, when Jacob Trouba and Seth Jones made NHL rosters on opening night. The decisions were always going to be tough, but not much has happened to make them any easier.

There are very few clear choices for Team USA’s D corps, which will eventually be whittled down to seven players more than likely. At this stage, even without Jones and Trouba, that is of moderate concern.

Though the decisions are difficult, there is still a fair amount of talent in this group. It’s just a matter of finding the right mix, which is hard every year.

Coming up after the jump, a comprehensive look at candidates to fill out Team USA’s defensive corps.

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NCAA, NHL Draft, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey, World Junior Championship | 4 Comments

2014 Olympics: Concern Over Lack of U.S. Success Overseas Overblown, Outdated

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Chris Peters

One of the ongoing narratives, partially driven by comments from Team USA’s executives themselves, is the fact that the U.S. has struggled mightily at the Olympics when playing overseas. It’s a narrative based in fact, because… well… the only two American gold medals won in the tournament came on home ice and the last two silvers were in North America.

Hockey: U.S. Men's National Team CampA sixth-place finish at 1998 in Nagano, Japan, and an eighth-place disappointment in Turin, Italy, are still recent enough for Team USA’s management team to remember so vividly. Both were crushing disappointments in the middle of what appeared to be a momentum-building time for American hockey.

Playing an Olympics on big ice overseas comes with very real concerns, but the most frequently noted concerns may be overblown. Additionally, this argument that the 2014 edition of Team USA is going to falter in Sochi because that’s what American teams have done in the Olympics before is a bit outdated.

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Posted in 2014 Olympics, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey | 3 Comments

College Hockey Roundup: Milano switches to BC, Big TV Ratings for Minnesota-Notre Dame, More

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Chris Peters

The College Hockey Roundup is usually supposed to appear on Thursdays, but there were a few things from this weekend that are worth addressing in a special early edition.

First off, the last weekend of college hockey was rather terrific. There were great series across the country. Wisconsin and Miami played two great games in Oxford, Michigan, Nebraska Omaha had an entertaining split, Quinnipiac stretched its unbeaten streak to 11, UNH and Providence each earned weekend sweeps for each to take five-game winning streaks into this weekend’s series against the two. That’s just scratching the surface.

I said it last week and this weekend only solidified it: This college hockey season is off to a much better start overall compared to last season. A lot of teams are clicking earlier and we’re seeing extremely competitive series across the country. The good teams have been very good and there aren’t a lot of teams out there that just aren’t competitive. That makes for entertaining hockey and it’s been a real treat to watch so far.

Coming up after the jump, a look at some of the bigger bits of college-hockey related news including a blue-chip recruit switching commitments, the huge TV viewership Notre Dame-Minnesota pulled down recently, and an interesting new angle on the debate on who the best player in college hockey is.

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NCAA, NHL Draft, NTDP | 1 Comment

College Hockey Roundup: Gaudreau Still Dazzling, RPI’s Haggerty in Spotlight, NLIs Signed

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Chris Peters

After the typically slow month of October, it really hasn’t taken long for this season to get interesting, unpredictable, and above all, entertaining. I think you could say that the whole of college hockey is better this season when compared to the beginning of last season. More teams are playing at a high level and there have been many close, entertaining games.

There have also been some absolutely ridiculous individual performances to start the year, which often makes for some more intriguing players to watch to see how long they can keep up such sensational play.

Coming up after the jump, a look at the nation’s leading goal scorer, more wizardry from BC’s Johnny Gaudreau, the (semi) weekly viewer’s guide and five stray thoughts.

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U.S. World Junior Watch: Key Players Surging, Bubble Candidates Fading

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Chris Peters

The clock is ticking. Decision time just seems to keep creeping closer for the U.S. selection of its pre-tournament camp. A number of U.S. candidates are really beginning to separate themselves from the pack in what is still a fairly shallow selection pool.

Logo_USA_hockeyThe good news for Lucia is that a lot of the key guys the team was expected to be counting on are playing pretty well this season. Some of the players that had good camps, but were looking more like bubble candidates, aren’t having the greatest season though.

The relative lack of depth from this year compared to others is noticeable, particularly when looking at the candidate pools of other countries — Canada and Sweden specifically. That’s going to require some guys to really step up when the tournament goes live.

There’s still some time for candidates to make their case.

Coming up after the jump, a look at which players are surging and some of the bubble guys fading away from consideration without a quick turnaround.

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NCAA, NHL, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey, World Junior Championship | 2 Comments

USA Hockey 2013 International Break Recap

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Chris Peters

Five different U.S. teams were in action last week during the IIHF’s first designated international break. Three of those teams won tournament titles, so not a bad week for USA Hockey.

USAHockeyThe U.S. Junior Select Team earned a 4-1 victory over Russia Sunday to win the World Junior A Challenge for the fifth time in six years. The U.S. National Under-17 Team captured its fifth straight U17 Four Nations Tournament championship and the U.S. Men’s Select Team claimed the Deutschland Cup.

The U.S. National Under-18 Team had a five-year winning streak at the U18 Four Nations Cup snapped, but finished second in the tournament, while the U.S. Women’s National Team was stunned on home ice to place third in the Women’s Four Nations Cup.

Coming up after the jump, a quick look at each tournament.

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2013 Under-18 Four Nations Tournament: Team USA Preview

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Chris Peters

With the international break in full swing, the U.S. Women’s National, U.S. Junior Select, U.S. Men’s Select, U.S. National Under-18 and U.S. National Under-17 Teams are all in action.

USAH NTDP LogoThe Women’s Four Nations Cup and World Junior A Challenge are already underway, while three more tournament will open action in the coming days. The 2013 Under-18 Four Nations Tournament in Turku, Finland, is one that a lot of scouts will be taking in for the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

The U.S. National Under-18 Team, which is made up almost entirely of U18 players from the National Team Development Program will meet national teams from Finland, Sweden and Switzerland Nov. 8-10, in Turku.

The round-robin style tournament should feature top-quality competition providing a good early season test for the Under-18s as they march toward the World Under-18 Championship in April.

Coming up after the jump, a quick preview of the tournament as well as which players are off to good starts this season.

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2013 World Junior A Challenge: Team USA Preview

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Chris Peters

The International Ice Hockey Federation’s first international break is upon us this hockey season meaning several U.S. national teams will be in action this week both domestically and abroad.

One of the bigger tournaments of the break is the 2013 World Junior A Challenge, hosted in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, starting Tuesday. The tournament features the U.S., Russia, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and two Canadian regional teams — Canada West and Canada East.

The tournament is designed for players under the age of 19. The U.S. Junior Select Team is made up of players entirely from the USHL (excluding players from the National Team Development Program), while Canada’s squads are made up of players from the various Junior A leagues across the country.  Team USA’s complete roster is here.

The U.S. has won this event four of the last five years, going on a streak from 2008-10 and reclaiming the title last year.

Team USA opens tournament play Tuesday against Russia. Coming up after the jump, Team USA’s full schedule, how to follow the tournament and some of the American players to watch.

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NCAA, NHL Draft, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey | 1 Comment