2012 WJC Roundup: Making a Case for Faulk; Canada’s Roster; Links

The World Junior Championship is just 12 days away. As the tournament nears, the news will begin to pick up in a big way and you’ll be trapped in a WJC whirlwind. Not a bad whirlwind to be trapped in. The excitement this tournament has begun to create in the United States among the most die-hard hockey fans has been really great to see. It’s only a matter of time before this becomes more of an event for American hockey fans at large.

Throughout the tournament, hopefully The United States of Hockey will become one of your go-to stops for Team USA news, notes and analysis. We’ll have frequent WJC Roundup posts keeping you abreast of what’s happening with the tournament and what you need to know about in addition to the normal game previews, recaps and general analysis. It all starts today… 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 | 1 Comment

2012 WJC: Highlights from the Johannson/Blais Media Teleconference

There’s been plenty of analysis on this blog over the last few days regarding the U.S. National Junior Team’s preliminary roster. So there’s been enough of my blabbering. It’s time to hear from the people most directly linked to the selection of this roster.

Tuesday, Jim Johannson, USA Hockey’s assistant executive director of hockey operations and GM of the U.S. National Junior Team and head coach Dean Blais, were part of a media teleconference.

They covered everything from style of play to what will be expected in camp to thoughts on individual players. Coming up after the jump, I’ll share some of the main highlights from the call.

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2012 U.S. WJC Camp: Forwards

Earlier today, we took a look at the goaltenders and defenseman named to the U.S. National Junior Team’s preliminary roster. Now it’s time to look at each of the 17 forwards.

Goaltending and the top-six forwards are the biggest strengths for Team USA.  Then there’s terrific depth at the forward position as well. Plenty of players have been brought in to fill roles, which is exactly what you want for a team in a tournament like this. You need elite offensive guys at the top and guys that will out-work other teams at the bottom. What USA Hockey has put together for Dean Blais has all of that.

So let’s waste no more time and get an in-depth look at each of the forwards coming into camp for the U.S. National Junior Team.

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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

2012 U.S. WJC Camp: Goalies & Defensemen

Monday evening, the U.S. National Junior Team picture began to take shape when USA Hockey unveiled its 29-player preliminary roster. Those 29 Americans will compete for 22 roster spots in Team USA’s pre-tournament camp in Camrose, Alberta, Dec. 17-23.

The final roster will be announced Dec. 22 and there’s bound to be a few entertaining battles to get there. The best thing about the pre-tournament camp is getting the compete level raised before the puck is dropped against Denmark on Dec. 26. Sometimes that fear of getting cut motivates players to rise to the occasion.

We’ll talk more about the camp itself soon, but first, it’s time to break down this 29-player roster. We kick it off this morning with the two goaltenders and 10 defensemen USA Hockey has invited to camp.

Check it out after the jump…

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

Initial Thoughts on 2012 U.S. National Junior Team Preliminary Roster

Well, the preliminary roster for the U.S. National Junior Team has been announced. There are plenty of intriguing names on it. Many expected, several not, and that’s what makes it fun. The picture begins to become more clear what the U.S. outfit will look like in Alberta come December 26.

Before we get into the specifics about players, here are a few things that we learned in general about Team USA…

This will be an old team. Of the 29 players invited, 24 are 1992 birth years. There are three 1993s and two 1994s. There are no 1993-born players on the U.S. blue line, though both 1994s are defensemen.

This will be a fast team. We knew that going in, but looking at the forward line up, there’s a bunch of good skaters.

Size doesn’t matter for forwards. There are eight forwards under six-feet tall, four of which are 5-foot-8 or shorter.

Size matters on D. Team USA’s blue line will be big. Eight of the ten defensemen listed are 6-foot-2 or taller, five of which are 6-foot-4 or taller.

Now, coming up after the jump, a quick reaction to some of the players on the 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

2012 U.S. World Junior Camp: What We’ll Learn Tonight

***Got a specific question about Team USA, one of the candidates or the World Juniors in general? All day today (Dec. 5), I’ll be answering your questions on Twitter. So make sure to tweet your questions to @chrismpeters and I’ll retweet with an answer. Remember, there are no dumb questions, I don’t think…***

At 5:30 p.m. EST, on NHL Network, the U.S. National Junior Team preliminary roster will be unveiled on NHL Live. In  each of the last two years, 29 players have been named to this preliminary roster. The 29 (or so) players named tonight will be competing for 22 available spots on the final U.S. National Junior Team roster, which will be announced Dec. 22.

When that list is unveiled tonight, we won’t know what the final group will be, but the picture will become much more clear. We won’t know everything when the roster is initially announced tonight, but we should be able to at least piece together a few things.

Coming up after the jump, a look at what we’ll learn about Team USA when the preliminary roster is unveiled tonight….

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NCAA, NHL, NHL Draft, NTDP, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey, World Junior Championship | Comments Off on 2012 U.S. World Junior Camp: What We’ll Learn Tonight

USofH on The Air: The Pipeline Show — 2012 WJC and Team USA Talk

Saturday at noon ET, I’ll be joining Dean Millard and Guy Flaming on The Pipeline Show. We’ll chat about the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship and particularly who might be part of Team USA’s plans.

You can listen live right here, or check it out later via the archive here.

Be sure to follow the show’s terrific blog, Coming Down The Pipe! and on Twitter @ThePipelineShow for great prospect news, notes and analysis.

Posted in Blog News, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey, World Junior Championship | Comments Off on USofH on The Air: The Pipeline Show — 2012 WJC and Team USA Talk

U.S. World Junior Spotlight: Brandon Saad [UPDATED]

Brandon Saad -- USAHockey.com

Brandon Saad — Left Wing
Hometown: Gibsonia, Pa.  Birthdate: October 27, 1992
Height/Weight: 6’2″/206
Current Team: Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
NHL Rights: Chicago Blackhawks (2nd Rd., 43rd Overall, 2011)
National Team Experience: U.S. National Under-17 Team (2009 U17 Challenge), National Team Development Program (2009-10), U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team (gold, 2010)

What an insane year it has been for Brandon Saad.

Right up until last year’s U.S. World Junior camp, all was normal for Saad. He was on the fast track to a first-round selection in the upcoming draft and was producing at a high rate in his first season in the OHL.

Then Saad narrowly missed the cut for Team USA. It was a bit of a surprise considering the season Saad was having up to that point, but he didn’t have a great camp and other guys emerged. You might say Saad’s roller coaster year began right there.

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

U.S. World Junior Camp: Roster Speculatin’

Hockey Canada unveiled the roster for its World Junior selection camp Monday. USA Hockey’s roster unveiling should be right around the corner, so there’s really no better time to start some innocent speculation, am I right?

This year, the U.S. has an incredibly deep group to pull from and there’s bound to be a few surprising omissions and inclusions for the camp roster. That said, USA Hockey has left no stone unturned and no player ignored over the last three years.

Director of Player Personnel Tim Taylor, who spends the majority of his weekends in rinks from Boston to Kelowna, knows these players as well as anybody. Taylor also knows Dean Blais well enough to know what type of player the head coach needs to be successful. So just because a player didn’t make the evaluation camp roster in August doesn’t mean he’s out of the running today.

There are always a few surprises in camp like Luke Walker in 2010 and Mitch Callahan and (now former American) Jamie Oleksiak in 2011. There very well could be again. However, I think a good portion of the names will be familiar, as in players that attended the National Junior Evaluation Camp in August.

Last year, USA Hockey invited 29 players to its pre-tournament camp before cutting down its roster to 22. Using that as a template, I’ve listed the 29 players I believe are most likely to earn an invitation. I also included a few other players that may be in the mix at each position. This is purely speculation on my part, so we’ll see how right (or how wrong) I am when the final roster drops.

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NCAA, NHL Draft, NTDP, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey, World Junior Championship | 5 Comments

U.S. World Junior Spotlight: Seth Jones

Seth Jones -- USAHockey.com

Seth Jones — Defense
Hometown: Plano, Texas  Birthdate: October 3, 1994
Height/Weight: 6’3″/201
Current Team: U.S. National Under-18 Team (NTDP)
NHL Rights: Draft Eligible in 2013
National Team Experience: National Team Development Program (2010-present), U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team (gold, 2011)

Despite turning 17 less than two months ago, Seth Jones is one of the best defensemen in the U.S. National Junior Team’s incredibly deep pool of candidates. That’s no exaggeration. The kid can flat out play.

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NHL Draft, NTDP, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey, World Junior Championship | Comments Off on U.S. World Junior Spotlight: Seth Jones