The United States of Hockey

Seth Jones, a 1994-born defenseman and potential top pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, was injured in last night’s game against Russia and will be kept out of the World Junior Championship, Lindsay Berra of ESPN The Magazine reported.

Seth Jones (Photo: Dave Arnold)

I had been receiving messages from various sources over the course of the morning indicating that Jones was likely to be ruled out, but was unable to officially confirm. Berra got the final word from a USA spokesman.

A short time later, USA Hockey posted the following statement on its World Junior blog:

Team USA defenseman Seth Jones sustained an upper-body injury in last night’s exhibition game against Russia, and will not be able to participate in the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship.

So what does this mean for Team USA now? Find out after the jump.

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Editor’s note: Wednesday afternoon, I’ll post my projected 2012 U.S. National Junior Team final roster. The official announcement comes down from USA Hockey Thursday morning, so I’ll share who I think will be on that list. Tough decisions to be made for sure.

Bill Arnold, Kenny Agostino scufflin' (Photo: Dave Arnold)

A roster made up of 22 candidates for the U.S. National Junior Team lost to Russia Tuesday night, 6-3. Despite out-shooting the defending World Junior champs, 37-26, the U.S. couldn’t get the puck past 1994-born goaltender Andrey Vasilevskiy enough.

Jack Campbell took the loss in net for the U.S., allowing five goals on 25 shots. Not the start you hope for, but knowing that Campbell tends to particularly shine when the lights are bright, there’s not a ton of cause for concern.

J.T. Miller scored an unassisted shorthanded goal, and added an assist to pace the American outfit. Josh Archibald scored Team USA’s first goal, while Kenny Agostino scored the third. Miller, Connor Brickley, Austin Watson and Jacob Trouba each had assists in the game.

Special teams often suffer in these early exhibition games, and that was certainly the case for Team USA. Russia went 2-for-4 on the power play, while the U.S. couldn’t muster a goal with the man-advantage in six attempts.

“While we’re disappointed with the loss, this is just a step in our evaluation process,” said Dean Blais, head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team, in a team release. “We will continue to work to prepare for the tournament, beginning with tomorrow’s exhibition game against Switzerland.”

Thoughts after the jump…

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Normally exhibition games are next to meaningless. A chance to work on things, get familiar with teammates and fine tune the team, is usually the order of the day in a non-tournament game. That won’t be the case tonight for the 22 U.S. National Junior Team candidates that will suit up against Russia tonight in Red Deer, Alberta (7 p.m. MST). For several players, this game could be the difference between making the team and being sent home.

It’ll be a nice change of pace for the U.S. team that has had six ice sessions in the last four days. Instead of going head-to-head with the guys in the USA crest, they’ll get to hit some guys in different colors for once. It just so happens the guys they get to go up against tonight are ones the U.S. players generally don’t like.

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At least 28 players, 29 if Justin Faulk gets loaned, will enter the U.S. National Junior Team’s preliminary camp in Camrose, Alberta, Friday, looking for one of 22 spots on the final roster. The competition will be fierce and tensions should run high.

This will be the third year USA Hockey has held a pre-tournament camp in which the final roster had yet to be set. In years past, USA would select players based on their performance in the National Junior Evaluation Camp in August and the first half of the season. Based on the results at the tournament, it became evident that maybe it was time for a change. So in 2010, the pre-tournament camp was held. The result? Gold. So rinse and repeat in 2011. The result? Another medal. The second time around it was bronze, but it was the first time the U.S. had medaled at the WJC in consecutive years. We’ll call that a success.

The pre-tournament camp allows USA Hockey to get one final look at the talent pool and allows the staff to more easily separate the players that are close to one another in ability.

In addition, this pre-tournament camp raises the compete-level within the players. Playing for a job will cause some players to rise to the occasion and others to fade. Most importantly, the players are competitive from the second the camp begins and that often carries right into the tournament. Making the team is the confidence booster at the end of the battle.

Many of the roles are likely already established with only a few holes to fill in camp. It’s up to the on-the-bubble players to prove why they deserve a shot. They don’t have much time to do it, as the camp begins on Dec. 17 and the roster is expected to be announced Dec. 22. That makes it all the more important to have a flawless camp.

Coming up after the jump, find out which American players likely have a fight on their hands before the tournament even begins.

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