Southwest Players in International Events

With the World Jr. A Challenge starting up on November 8 and the race for spots to play on the World Junior championship Team as the USA looks to recapture the gold in both events coming up. The race for spots is starting to heat up and Southwest Players are looking to wear the Red, White and Blue at both tournaments coming up. Here's the news on both Events.

World Junior Championship

The first major cut for the World Junior championship will be coming up in Mid-November and Chris Brown of Flower Mound, Texas is looking to get over that final hump as he was one of the final cuts for Team USA last year just before the tournament started.

So far this season for the Michigan Wolverines, he's been off to another good start he scored his first goal of the season against the University of New Hampshire back on October 16 and had an assist against Mercyhurst back on Opening Night on October 2.

Elsewhere, he's starting to look to be a contributor which includes being a better hitter, but make sure their clean and doesn't cost his team like he did at times last year by having not a single minor penalty so far in 6 games played this season.

In addition to his great play with the University of Michigan, Brown also was involved at the World Junior Evaluation Camp where he was involved in some very intense practices and played in 3 World Junior Camp Games in a mini-tournament with teams from Finland and Sweden where he had a point in their final Game of the Camp.

He's also very familiar on what it takes to make the Team USA as he made the U18 Team for the 2009 World U18 Championship where he averaged a point a game where he scored 7 points (4G 3A) in the tournament where the USA Won Gold when the tournament was in North Dakota and Minnesota.

He also spent two years with them at the USNTDP which is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan before joining the University of Michigan. So you know he's going to get a long look towards making this team.

The First cut should be no problem for Brown, but it will be the further cuts that will be made in late November/Early December to 25 where they will play a series of pre-tournament games against both NCAA Teams and a series of teams that will play in the WJC coming up around the Winter Holidays in Buffalo & Niagara, New York as the Americans look to both defend the Gold Medal and win on home soil for the first time in the tournament history.

Here's the list of USA WJC Hopefuls

2011 World Junior Championship Website

Chris Brown Michigan Wolverines Profile

The World Junior Championships has 10 teams competing with 2 groups of 5 to start the tournament. After the Group Stage ends, the first place teams get a by in the QFS and go straight through to the Semifinals. For the teams that finish 2nd and 3rd in the groups, they will face off where the groups will cross over (2A VS. 3B, 2B VS. 3A) where the winners will face the Group Winners in the Semifinals. Then SF Winners faceoff for the Gold Medal, while the losers play for Bronze.

For the bottom 4 teams, they will play in a relegation round where the matchup between the (4A VS. 5A & 4B VS. 5B) teams will go from the Group Round to the Relegation Rounds. After two more games against teams from the opposing groups.

The 1st & 2nd Place teams finish 7th and 8th and will keep their spot will next year, while the teams that finish 3rd and 4th will be 9th and 10th and will lose their spots to the 1st and 2nd place teams from the Division 1 Tournament.

Last year, the Americans won the WJC for only the 2nd time in tournament history and will be looking for a historic repeat. They were fortunate to miss out on the top 3 opponents in the Group Round.

However, a match with Switzerland who finished 4th and is a rapid riser in Junior Hockey will see an interesting game that is proven that they can win big games by beating Russia in the QFS last season where they eventually finished 4th. The rest of Group A will contain Finland, Slovakia and Germany.

Group B will be the group of death in the prelim round as Canada, Sweden and Russia are expected to play in some great games early on. Joining them will be the Czech Republic and Norway in Group B.

Most of the games of this year's tournament will be played at the HSBC Arena (Buffalo Sabres) with some of the games also being played at Dwyer Arena (Niagara Purple Eagles, NCAA).

It will be interesting to see if our own Chris Brown of Flower Mound, Texas will be joining Team USA at the WJC This season after just missing out last year. Check out the USA Hockey Website for the latest updates.


World Junior A Challenge

Even though were still a little over 2 months away from the WJC, the World Junior A Challenge will be starting on November 8. This event is one of the biggest of the year for players playing in US Juniors (Mostly the USHL), Canadian Jr. A & European Junior Programs for players who are looking for to get noticed by both NHL & NCAA Teams as well.

With just a couple of weeks before the WJAC Tournament, teams are getting busy releasing their rosters as 5 of the 6 teams have released their rosters. The Americans are the 2 defending champions of this event and has medal ed all 3 times where the USA won Bronze in their debut back in 2007.

 6 teams compete in this event as the group round will be divided into 2 Groups of 3. Group A will have the defending champion Team USA as well as Canada East who finished 4th and a Sweden team who's looking to improve after finishing last at this event last year.

Group B will have last year's Silver Medalist who has been the only team to medal in all 4 years of this event's short history, including winning Gold in 2006 (The Tournament's first year) and in 2007. The last two years the Western Canadians have added a pair of Silver Medals as well.

The Russians got back on the podium for the first time last year after beating Canada East, marking the first time in the tournament's history where both Canada teams failed to Medal and a team in Switzerland who's making their debut and will be looking to make a strong showing, especially after a 4th Place Finish at the WJC and a 5th place Finish at the U18's last season.

 Can Switzerland continue their success at the Junior Level which hopefully will include winning Medals? Only time will tell and this event would be a good start for that.

The format begins with a 2 game group stage where the 3 teams will faceoff within the group. After the Groups wrap up, the 1st Place Teams like the WJC get QF Round Byes while the 2nd & 3rd Place Teams will play cross over for the QF Games. The QF Losers will face off for 5th Place, while the QF Winners will advance to the Semifinals. Then the SF Winners will play for Gold, while the Losers will play Bronze.

Even though they are no Southwest Players that made the team, they are a couple of guys to watch for if they is reinforcements needed due to injury or any other reason. Some possible players include Blake Coleman who's a player with the Indiana Ice who's a 2011 Commit to Miami University which is in Ohio and is currently leading the Ice in scoring with 7 points in 7 games so far (2G 5A).

Also watch out for defensemen Ian Young's name to be possibly involved who's a Colorado College Commit for 2011, he's among one of the top scorers in defensemen in the young season with 5 points (2G 3A).

Even though the chances are long, these players should be on notice if they needed for possible call ups for the WJAC which will be in Pentiction, BC at the South Okanagan Events Center which is home of the Pentiction Vees (BCHL).

 BTW, Pentiction was also where Dallas Stars Prospect Austin Smith played his Junior Days in the season after he was drafted by the Dallas Stars.

Here's a look at the tournament info which goes from November 8-14.

Team Rosters from the Hockey Canada Website

Group A

Team USA

Info on the Team USA Coaching Staff

Blake Coleman Profile

Ian Young Profile

Team Canada East

Team Sweden


Group B

Team Canada West

Team Russia

Team Switzerland


Tournament Website

Tournament Schedule


Upcoming International Events

Here's a look at some of the upcoming international events later this season where players from the Southwest could be playing.

A few of the notables include Seth Jones who's with the USNTDP and will be fighting for a spot for the U17 Team at the U17 World Challenge and Colin Jacobs I would expect to be looked at for the U18 World Championship in the spring.



2011 U17 World Challenge

December 29 through January 4 2011 in Winnipeg and Portage Prairie, Manitoba

Teams Involved: CAN Atlantic, CAN Ontario, CAN Pacific, CAN West, CAN Quebec , Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Slovakia, USA

Seth Jones Profile


2011 U18 World Championship

April 14 through April 24 in Crimmitschau and Drisden, Germany

Teams Involved:  Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, USA

Colin Jacobs Profile


2011 World U18 Women's Championship

January 1 through January 8 in Stockholm, Sweden

Teams Involved: Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, USA


2011 Women's World Championship

April 16 through April 25 in Zurich and Winterthur, Switzerland

Teams Involved: Canada, Finland, Kazakhstan, Russia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden, USA


2011 World Championship

April 29 through May 15 in Braislava & Kosice, Slovakia

Teams Involved:  Austria, Belarus, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, USA 

USA Falls in their 2nd Game against Sweden

The USA dropped their first and only game of the Junior Evaluation Camp against Sweden 4-1 as Sweden returned the favor on the fast starts as the Americans had 6-3 and 8-3 wins in their first 2 International Games.

Chris Brown wasn't much of a factor in this game while Chris Brown took the day off in this game.

Press Release from USA Hockey: www.usahockey.com

From Lake Placid, NY: Team USA dropped a 4-1 decision to Sweden here this afternoon in its third international game of the 2010 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp.

The contest featured 22 of the 28 U.S. Players currently participating in the camp and auditioning for a spot on the U.S. Junior National Team that will take part at the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships, Dec. 26 thru Jan. 5 2011, in Buffalo NY.

"We needed to take fewer penalties," said Keith Allain, head coach of the 2011 U.S. Junior National Team. "We'll learn from today's game and see how our guys respond against Finland tomorrow."

Sweden scored three goals on consecutive power play opportunities over a three minute span in the 2nd period. They extended their lead to 4-0 six minutes into the third period with yet another goal on the man advantage.

Team USA found the back of the net midway through the third period to cut Sweden's lead to three. Patrick Wey fired a long snap shot from the blue line that slipped through traffic to the crease. Zach Budish was there to redirect the shot past the Swedish Goalie Robin Lehner.

The U.S. could not complete a comeback, however, and took its first loss of the camp. Team USA goalie Zach Gothberg made 24 saves in the loss, while Lehner turned aside 22 shots in a winning effort. The U.S. will return to action tomorrow at 4 PM EDT against Finland in the final game of the camp. A full schedule and results are below.

Game Summary

Sweden 4 USA 1 (0-0, 3-0, 1-1)

1-0 SWE: Lander (PP) (Almqvist, Paajarvi-Svensson) 5:18

2-0 SWE: Jarnkrok (PP) (Wannstrom) 5:52

3-0 SWE: Wallen (PP) (Larsson) 7:33

4-0 SWE: Cehlin (Landeskog, Fasth) 6:17

4-1 USA: Budish (Wey) 11:44


SOG: SWE 28 USA 23

Goaltenders

SWE: Lehner 22 SVS on 23 Shots

USA: Gothberg 24 SVS on 28 Shots


PP: SWE 4/10 USA 0/6

PIM: SWE 5 PEN for 12 MIN USA 12 PEN on 32 Minutes

USA Has another fast start to beat Finland at Junior Evaluation

Another game, another fast start for the American Team in New York as the 2nd game saw another great start lead to a 6-3 win over Finland. It was very similar in a lot of ways as a great comeback effort was too little, too late for the Finns to comeback from as the Americans head to 2-0 in the 4 Game Exhibition Series as they play both the Finns & Swedes twice in this series and it will last through this weekend.

Campbell had the day off and it was well deserved after beating Sweden, for Chris Brown, he had his first goal of the international series and 2nd overall in the camp after scoring once on in the Inter Squad Series earlier in the camp.

After a day off today, it's the 2nd game against Sweden which will start at 3:00 PM at the Lake Placid Olympic Center, the same arena that the 1980 Olympic Team won the Gold Medal and played the Miracle on Ice Game.

Chris Brown Profile

Jack Campbell Profile

From the USA Hockey Website: http://www.usahockey.com/

From Lake Placid, NY: For the 2nd straight game, Team USA jumped out to a 4-0 lead en route to a 6-3 win over Finland here at the 2010 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp.

The contest featured 22 of the 28 U.S. Players currently participating in auditioning for a spot on the U.S. Junior National Team that will take part in the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships, from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5, in Buffalo, NY.

"I thought we displayed a lot more synergy tonight," said Keith Allian, head coach of the 2011 U.S. National Junior Team. "Once again" we jumped out to a quick lead, which is something we definitely want to carry into Buffalo."

The U.S. took an early 1-0 lead with a power play goal less then three minutes into the game. Jeremy Morin collected a feed from Adam Clendening and snapped over a shot over the blocker of Jonathan Lilahti from above the left circle.

Midway through the first period, Team USA Grabbed a two goal advantage when Nick Bjugstad and buried a rebound opportunity off a shot by Justin Faulk. Chris Brown made the score 3-0 heading into the first intermission when he intercepted a pass into the neutral zone, chipped the puck over a defensemen and lifted a shot past Lilahti's glove.

Less then five minutes into the second period, Brock Nelson gave the U.S. a 4-0 lead with a tap in power play goal from the crease. Then, following a Finland goal by Julius Junttila, Chris Kreider redirected a floating wrist shot by Derek Forbort between Lilahti's pads to restore Team USA's Four Goal Advantage.

Finland cut the U.S. Lead to three again while on the two-man advantage. But Bjugstad notched his second of the game on the right side of the net with less then 10 seconds remaining in the period to give the U.S. a 6-2 lead after two periods.

Finland scored the lone goal of the 3rd period, but could not mount a comeback. U.S. Goalie Andy IIes made 18 saves in the win, while Lilahti turned aside 20 shots in the losing effort.

The U.S. will return to action Friday August 6 at 3:00 PM CDT against Sweden. A full camp schedule is below.

USA uses fast start to beat Sweden in Junior Camp Opener

The United States Started the Game Schedule of the USA Hockey Junior Evaluation Camp as the team is starting to begin in their preps to defend the Gold Medal at the 2011 World Junior Championships which will be in Buffalo, NY which starts the Day After Christmas. A 4 goal 1st period put the Americans over the top en route to a 6-3 victory over last year's Bronze Medalists Sweden.

Two players with Texas Ties, Dallas Stars first Round Jack Campbell and Flower Mound Native Chris Brown both made it to this point in the camp. Campbell had another strong day by stopping 24 of 27 shots while Brown was starched to make the IIHF Roster Requirements.

The Americans have 28 players at this point of the camp, but only 22 will play at a time. Each player will probably be stracthed once to meet these requirements and to rest players when needed.

Next up for the USA will be the first of two games against Finland at 3:00 PM while the Americans will play Sweden again on on August 6.

Here's the Profiles for both Players on the USA Hockey website to better track their progress during the camp.

Jack Campbell

Chris Brown

Press Release from the USA Hockey Website: www.usahockey.com

From Lake Placid, NY: The United States scored four times in the first five minutes of play en route to a 6-3 win over Sweden in its first of four international games here at the 2010 USA Hockey National Evaluation Camp.

The contest featured 22 of the 28 players currently participating in the camp and auditioning for a spot on the U.S. Junior National Team that will take part in the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships, Dec. 26 thru Jan. 5 2011, in Buffalo, NY.

"I thought we had a good all-around effort," said Keith Allain, head coach of the 2011 U.S. National Junior Team. "We need to improve on our systems, but this is the first time in a long time a lot of these guys have played together, and this camp will prepare us for December."

Jason Zucker got the U.S. on the board less then 90 seconds into the game when he drove to the front of the net, shielded off a Swedish Defensemen and lifted a shot past Goalie Robin Lehner.

The U.S. then crashed in on consecutive Swedish penalties, as defensemen Derek Forbort and Justin Faulk notched power-play goals with wrist shots above the faceoff circles. Charlie Coyle then scored at the 4:05 mark of the first to complete Team USA's early Scoring Spree.

Sweden trimmed the U.S. lead to 4-3 with a late first period goal and a pair of goals in the second. But Faulk's 2nd period power play goal of the game midway through the 3rd period gave the U.S. some breathing room, and Brock Nelson's late empty net goal closed out the scoring.

Jack Campbell made 24 saves in the victory, while Swedish Goalies Lehner and Fredrik Petterson-Wentzel turned aside 18 shots in the loss.

The U.S. will be back in action tomorrow at 4PM EDT against Finland. A full schedule is available is below.

Game Notes: Team USA went 3-for-11 on the power play, while Sweden was 2-for-10 with the man advantage... For a full camp schedule, including live scoring and stats from the international games, a blog, photos, videos, and rosters, click here .... All four of the remaining international featuring the U.S., Sweden and Finland will be webcast at http://usahockey.fasthockey.com The 2011 World Junior Championships will take place from Dec. 26 thru Jan. 5 at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY., and Niagara University's Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, NY. Additional info including a full prelim round tournament schedule and ticket details can be found at www.buffaloworldjuniors.com The 2011 U.S. National Junior Team will be selected in late December following a pre-tournament camp that will take place in Mid December... Keith Allain, head men's ice hockey coach at Yale University, will serve as head coach of the 2011 US National Junior Team. Allain will be assisted by Mark Osiecki, head mens ice hockey coach at the Ohio State University; Phil Housley, head boys ice hockey coach at Stillwater HS (Minn); and Joe Exter, USA Hockey's National Goaltender Coach. Mark Carlson, head coach and GM of the USHL's Cedar Rapids Roughriders, and Greg Brown assistant men's at Boston College, will also participate in Lake Placid as camp coaches. Jim Johannson is serving as the GM of the National Junior Team for the 2nd straight year, meanwhile, Tim Taylor, former US Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Head Coach and longtime Yale University Men's Hockey Team Head Coach, is also serving his second straight year as Team USA's director of player personnel.

Game Summary

Sweden 3 U.S.A. 6 (1-4, 2-0, 0-2)

0-1 USA: Zucker (Bennett, Dumoulin) 1:16

0-2 USA: Forbort (PP2) (Clendening, Nelson) 1:24

0-3 USA: Faulk (PP) (Bennett, Morin) 3:07

0-4 USA: Coyle (Palmieri, Ramage) 4:05

1-4 SWE: Lander (PP) (Larsson, Paajarvi-Svensson) 17:21

2-4 SWE: Cehlin (Norman) 7:49

3-4 SWE: Josefson (PP) (Norman, Cehlin) 11:31

3-5 USA: Faulk (PP) (Merrill) 9:41

3-6 USA: Nelson (EN) (Palmieri) 19:48


SOG: SWE 27 USA 24

Goaltenders:
Lehner (SWE) 4:05 2 Saves on 6 Shots
Petterson-Wentzel (SWE) 54:34 16 Saves on 17 Shots
Campbell (USA) 60:00 24 Saves on 27 Shots

Special Teams

PP: SWE 2/10 USA 3/11
PIM: SWE 13 PEN. for 26 Minutes USA 13 PEN. for 26 Minutes


Evaluation Camp Schedule

8/2: Sweden 5 Finland 3

8/3: Sweden 3 U.S.A. 6

8/4: Finland VS. U.S.A.

8/5: Finland VS. Sweden

8/6: U.S.A. VS. Sweden

8/7: U.S.A. VS. Finland

Full US Junior Camp Eveluation Roster

The Evaluation Roster for the 2011 World Junior Championship is now out and once again, Chris Brown of Flower Mound, Texas has been selected again to have a shot at the team after falling at the final possible hurdle just a couple of days before last year's WJC got going in Saskatchewan, Canada where the Americans ended Canada's 5 year Gold Medal Streak in the WJC.

For Brown, last year's disappointment of not making the team should be a huge motivation for him and I would expect that he should make the team given he has another strong year for the University of Michigan.

If the Wolverines forward can improve on his 28 points in 45 games played. Which also included a strong player on the PP and had 4 game winning goals last season after having a mediocre regular season for the team, the Wolverines and shocked everyone by winning the CCHA Tournament. If they failed to win, it would have been the first time in nearly 25 years the team would have failed to make the NCAA Hockey Tournament.

His assistants include Mark Osiecki who's the head coach of Ohio State University, and Phil Housely who's the head coach of the famous Minnesota High School Program in Stillwater, Minnesota.

This year should be even more competitive as the Americans are looking to win the WJC on home ice and defending it for the first time in the tournament's history. With the group set up as the Americans have avoided all 3 main rivals in the WJC (CAN, SWE & RUS), it should give the Americans a strong chance as the USA will play Switzerland & Finland as the main rivals with Germany & Slovakia rounding out the group.

In all 44 players will make the roster of hopefuls coming from all over North America with the USNTDP, the NCAA & Major Juniors making up the majority of players of hopefuls. Even though a couple of high school players and Beau Bennett who's one of the nation's top Canadian Junior A Players playing in the BCHL also made the roster.

Watch out for Emerson Etem who's looking to be one of the most successful players to come out of California who had a great year for the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Western Hockey League

In all 9 players are back on the roster which includes Cam Fowler who's scheduled to be one of the top defensemen, Jack Campbell who's the #1 Ranked Goalie in the Scouting Rankings for this weeks Draft that will be taking place in Los Angeles this weekend.

Of the 44 players, only 30 will make the first cut which will be taking place in November as the team will start to schedule pre tournament games and take a look at their efforts for their club teams in the first part of the season to determine who's moves on and who will be left off the team.

USA Hockey Coaching Staff for 2011 WJC: www.usahockey.com/world_junior_championships/default.aspx?id=287916

More info on the Junior Camp Roster: www.usahockey.com/Template_Usahockey.aspx?NAV=TU_04_01_06&id=288578&DetailedNews=yes

Here's the Junior Evaluation Camp Roster

Goalies

Jack Campbell 6'2" 185 L Pt. Huron, Mich USNTDP U18 (USHL)

Zach Gothberg 6'1" 177 L Grand Forks, N.D. Thief Rivers HS (HS-Minn)

Michael Houser 6'1" 180 L Wexford, PA London Knights (OHL)

Andy Iles 5'8" 179 L Ithaca, N.Y. USNTDP U18 (USHL)


Defensemen

Mark Alt 6'4" 205 R St. Paul, Minn. Cretin-Derhim Hall (HS-MN)

Brandon Archibald 6'3" 200 R Pt. Huron, Mich St. Sault Marie Greyhounds(OHL)

Adam Clendening 5'11" 190 R Niagara Falls, NY USNTDP U18 (USHL)

Brian Dumoulin 6'4" 203 L Biddeford, Maine Boston College (HEA)

Justin Faulk 5'11" 195 R St. Paul, Minn. USNTDP U18 (USHL)

Derek Forbot 6'4" 195 L Duluth, Minn. USNTDP U18 (USHL)

Cam Fowler 6'2" 190 L Farmington Hills, Mich. Windsor Spitfires (OHL)

Stephen Jones 6'3" 215 R Wampum, PA USNTDP U18 (USHL)

Nick Leddy 5'11" 180 L Eden Prairie, Minn U. of Minnesota (WCHA)

Jon Merrill 6'3" 200 L Brighton, Mich. USNTDP U18 (USHL)

John Ramge 6'0" 195 R St. Louis, Missouri U. of Wisconsin (WCHA)

Philip Samuelsson 6'3" 198 L Scottsdale, Ariz. Boston College (HEA)

Jarred Tinordi 6'5" 202 L Millersville, Md. USNTDP U18 (USHL)

Patrick Wey 6'2" 200 R Pittsburgh, PA Boston College (HEA)


Forwards

Beau Bennett 6'1" 180 R Gardena, Calif. Penticton Vees (BCHL)

Nick Bjugstad 6'4" 188 R Blaine, Minn. Blane HS (HS-MN)

Ryan Bourque 5'9" 166 L Boxford, Mass. Quebec City Ramparts (QMJHL)

Connor Brickley 6'2" 193 L Everett, Mass. Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)

Chris Brown 6'2" 194 R Flower Mound, TX. U. of Michigan (CCHA)

Zach Budish 6'3" 220 R Edina, Mass. U. of Minnesota (WCHA)

Charlie Coyle 6'2" 207 R East Weymouth, Mass. South Shore Kings (EJHL)

Jerry D'Amigo 5'11" 190 L Binghamton, NY Rensselaer (ECAC)

Emerson Etem 6'0" 198 R Long Beach, Calif. Medicine Hat Tiers (WHL)

Kevin Hayes 6'2" 201 L Boston, Mass. Noble & Greenough School (HS-Mass)

Chris Kreider 6'2" 205 L Boxford, Mass. Boston College (HEA)

Phil Lane 6'2" 194 R Rochester, NY Brampton Battalion (OHL)

Kevin Lynch 6'1" 198 R Gross Pointe, Mich U. of Michigan (CCHA)

Tyler Maxwell 5'9" 179 L Manhattan Beach, Calif Everett Silvertips (WHL)

Jeremy Morin 6'1" 196 R Auburn, NY Kitchener Rangers (OHL)

Brock Nelson 6'3" 205 L Minneapolis, Minn Warroad HS (HS-MN)

Matt Neito 5'11" 182 L Long Beach, Calif. USNTDP U18 (USHL)

Kyle Palmieri 5'11" 195 R Montvale, N.J. U. of Norte Dame (CCHA)

Tyler Pitlick 6'1" 196 L Centerville, Minn Minnesota State (WCHA)

Bryan Rust 5'11" 191 R Bloomfield, Hills, Mich. USNTDP U18 (USHL)

Brandon Saad 6'1" 196 L Gibsonia, PA USNTDP U18 (USHL)

Drew Shore 6'2" 190 R Denver, Colo. Univ. of Denver (WCHA)

Nick Shore 6'0" 186 R Denver, Colo. USNTDP U18 (USHL)

Austin Watson 6'3" 187 R Ann Arbor, Mich. Peterborough Petes (OHL)

Steve Whitney 5'7" 168 R Reading, Mass. Boston College (HEA)

Jason Zucker 5'10" 168 L Las Vegas, Nev. USNTDP U18 (USHL)

2011 World Junior Championship Schedule & Groups

The Tournament Schedule & Groups for the 1st Round were recently announced and confirmed as the cities of Buffalo & Niagara, New York will host the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championships from December 26 thru January 5 2011 as the Americans are looking to win back-to-back Gold Medals for the first time ever on American Ice (2010 was in Saskatchewan while 2004 was in Finland).

With the Groups now out, it came up all roses for the Americans were able to avoid all three of the major rivals in Junior Hockey as Canada, Sweden & Russia were bunched up in Group B along with the Czech Republic who finished 7th last year & Norway who were promoted from the U20 Division 1 Tournament by finishing 2nd behind Germany.

The Americans got lucky as Switzerland and Finland will be the teams main opponents for next year's World Juniors. The Swiss are starting to become a more dangerous team in Junior Competitions as they had one of they best years ever by finishing 4th at the WJC & 5th at the U18 World Championships last year.

Finland is looking to come back after several sour performance's in juniors in recent years. The worst performance was in 2009 when the U20 Team was in the relegation round, but hope is starting to come back as the Finns have won the Bronze Medal at each of the last two U18 World Championships.

Rounding out the group is Slovakia who barely survived relegation with a nail bit ting win over Austria and getting crushed to arch rival Czech Republic. Germany ended up winning the U20 DIV. 1 Tournament and won promotion as well.

No Ind. Tickets are on sale right now, however, if they do go on sale. They will be more expensive then the ticket packages per game that you can get either with the Gold, Silver or Bronze Packages right now.

The host arenas will be the HSBC Arena (Home of the Buffalo Sabres) and Dwyer Arena which is on the campus of Niagara University (Home of the Niagara Purple Eagles) as a majority of the games will be at the HSBC Arena. All Group A and Playoff Round Games will be played at the HSBC Arena as well as all the Group B Games involving Canada. The rest of the Group B Games and all the Relegation Round Games will be at the Dwyer Arena.

First Round Groups

Group A:
USA
Switzerland
Finland
Slovakia
Germany

Group B:
Canada
Sweden
Russia
Czech Republic
Norway


USA Group Stage Schedule (All Times are CDT)

12/26: VS. Finland 7:00 PM

12/28: VS. Slovakia 7:00 PM

12/30: VS. Germany 6:00 PM

12/31: VS. Switzerland 7:00 PM


The way it's set up for the USA, it's Taylor Made for the Americans to defend gold next season; with Canada, Sweden & Russia all beating each other up in Group B.

Hopefully the Americans should be able to control this group with relative ease and by the time the Americans reach the Knockout Rounds, hopefully either CAN, SWE or RUS will be so beat up that they may not have much left.

This is a great shot for the USA to have a shot of defending the Gold for the first time ever and winning it on American Soil for the first time.

2011 World Junior Championship Website: http://www.buffaloworldjuniors.com/

2011 World Junior Championship on Twitter: http://twitter.com/2011WorldJrs


Full Prelim Round Schedule: www.buffaloworldjuniors.com/scheduleT.asp

Full Playoff & Relegation Round Schedule: www.buffaloworldjuniors.com/scheduleP.asp


Here's the info for tickets.

Ticket Package: www.buffaloworldjuniors.com/tickets.asp

IND. Tickets: www.buffaloworldjuniors.com/ticketsI.asp

Tickets FAQ: www.buffaloworldjuniors.com/ticketsF.asp

2010 WJC Tournament Recap

Here's a recap of the scores, the medalist, the big stories and what the Group Set up for next year will be like the official relegation of Latvia and Austria after finishing last while Germany and Norway won the Division 1 Tournament and have been promoted for next season for the 2011 World Junior Championships that will take place in Buffalo, New York.

Let's the start with the stats and scores of the Group Stage, Knockout Rounds and the Relegation Round.

Group Stage

12/26

Czech Republic 1 Sweden 10 (0-4, 1-2, 0-4)

Latvia 0 Canada 16 (0-5, 0-6, 0-5)

Russia 6 Austria 2 (4-1, 1-1, 1-0)

Slovakia 3 U.S.A. 7 (2-1, 1-4, 0-2)


12/27

Austria 3 Sweden 7 (0-2, 3-2, 0-3)

U.S.A. 3 Switzerland 0 (0-0, 1-0, 2-0)

Czech Republic 3 Finland 4 (2-0, 1-1, 0-3)

Slovakia 8 Latvia 3 (5-0, 2-2, 1-1)


12/28

Canada 6 Switzerland 0 (2-0, 3-0, 1-0)

Finland 0 Russia 2 (0-1, 0-1, 0-0)


12/29

Austria 1 Czech Republic 7 (1-1, 0-3, 0-3)

Latvia 1 U.S.A. 12 (0-6, 1-1, 0-5)

Sweden 4 Russia 1 (2-0, 1-1, 1-0)

Canada 8 Slovakia 2 (3-0, 4-1, 1-1)


12/30

Finland 10 Austria 1 (5-0, 3-1, 2-0)

Switzerland 7 Latvia 5 (2-3, 1-1, 4-1)


12/31

Sweden 7 Finland 1 (1-0, 3-0, 3-1)

Switzerland 4 Slovakia 1 (0-0, 1-0, 3-1)

Russia 5 Czech Republic 2 (1-0, 1-1, 3-1)

U.S.A. 4 Canada 5 (SO) (1-1, 2-1, 1-2, 0-0, 0-1)


Group Stage Standings

Group A

1. Canada 3-1-0-0 11 PTS 35-6

2. U.S.A. 3-0-1-0 10 PTS 26-9

3. Switzerland 2-0-0-2 6 PTS 11-14

4. Slovakia 1-0-0-3 3 PTS 14-22

5. Latvia 0-0-0-4 0 PTS 9-43


Group B

1. Sweden 4-0-0-0 12 PTS 28-6

2. Russia 3-0-0-1 9 PTS 14-8

3. Finland 2-0-0-2 6 PTS 15-13

4. Czech Rep. 1-0-0-3 3 PTS 13-20

5. Austria 0-0-0-4 0 PTS 7-30


Relegation Round

12/27: Slovakia 8 Latvia 3 (5-0, 2-2, 1-1)

12/19: Austria 1 Czech Republic 7 (1-1, 0-3, 0-3)

1/2: Slovakia 3 Austria 2 (2-0, 0-2, 1-0)

1/3: Czech Republic 10 Latvia 2 (5-0, 2-2, 3-0)

1/4: Czech Republic 5 Slovakia 2 (1-1, 3-1, 1-0)

1/4: Austria 4 Latvia 6 (1-4, 2-0, 1-2)


Relegation Round Standings

1. Czech Rep. 3-0-0-0 9 PTS 22-5

2. Slovakia 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 13-10

3. Latvia 1-0-0-2 3 PTS 11-22

4. Austria 0-0-0-3 0 PTS 7-16


Knockout Rounds

Quarterfinals

1/2

Russia 2 Switzerland 3 (OT) (0-0, 2-1, 0-1, 0-1)

U.S.A. 6 Finland 2 (2-0, 1-1, 3-1)


Semifinals

1/3

Canada 6 Switzerland 1 (1-0, 2-1, 3-0)

Sweden 2 U.S.A. 5 (0-1, 2-1, 0-3)


5th Place

Russia 3 Finland 4 (2-1, 0-1, 1-2)

Bronze Medal Game

Sweden 11 Switzerland 4 (5-0, 5-4, 1-0)

Gold Medal Game

Canada 5 U.S.A. 6 (OT) (2-2, 1-1, 2-2, 0-1)


Final Tournament Rankings

Gold Medal: U.S.A.

Silver Medal: Canada

Bronze Medal: Sweden

4th Place: Switzerland

5th Place: Finland

6th Place: Russia

7th Place: Czech Republic

8th Place: Slovakia

9th Place: Latvia

10th Place: Austria

Division 1 Promotion: Germany and Norway

The U.S.A. are the 2010 World Junior Champions

Austria and Latvia have been relegated to the 2011 U20 Division 1 Tournament

Germany and Norway have been promoted to the 2011 WJC in Buffalo, NY

Here's the Tournament's All Star Team that was selected by media groups during the tournament.

Tournament All Star Team

G: Benjamin Conz (SUI)

D: Alex Pietrangelo (CAN)

D: John Carlson (USA)

F: Jordan Eberle (CAN)*

F: Derek Stepan (USA)

F: Nino Niederreiter (SUI)

*Jordan Eberle was also selected the Tournament MVP

The 2011 Tournament Groups will be determined by how the teams finished the 2010 WJC. As for the 2 newly promoted teams in Germany and Norway, the Division 1 Champions will be the 9th seed while the Runner up will be the 10th seed at next years event which will take place from the HSBC Arena which is home of the Buffalo Sabres while Dwyer Arena which is on the University of Niagara Campus which is about 20 miles just outside of Buffalo. Schedule, The Group Venues and more info regarding on next year's 2011 Tournament will be on line at http://www.buffaloworldjuniors.com/

Group A: U.S.A. (1), Switzerland (4), Finland (5), Slovakia (8), Germany (9)

Group B: Canada (2), Sweden (3), Russia (6), Czech Republic (7), Norway (10)

Breakout Star, Nino Niederreiter of Switzerland

His stock is rising big time after a really successful run at the WJC where his 2 goal effort against Russia helped pull off one of the biggest upsets in recent years in the WJC. Before coming to Portland Winterhawks in the Western Hockey League, he was pretty successful with EHC Chur and HC Davos Junior Programs and even played a few games near the end of last season for HC Davos which included the playoffs as the team won the Swiss NLA title back in the Spring. After that, he decided to go to the Major Junior Import Draft where he selected by the Portland Winterhawks 2nd overall.

So far this season for Portland, he has an impressive 41 points in 37 games this season and is getting ready for the NHL Draft this summer. Despite being one of the youngest players on the Swiss Team, but he looks to be the first big forward from Switzerland to make an impact in the NHL and for the Swiss National Team Program for many years to come. Despite getting shutout twice in the Group Stage, he came back with a strong come back by scoring 6 points in the Group Stage in games against Latvia and Slovakia. He also scored a power play goal during the Bronze Medal game against Sweden and also made the All Tournament Team that was announced after the Gold Medal Game.

Most Important Group Stage Game (Czech Republic VS. Finland)

I easily could have picked the USA VS. Canada that ended the Group Stage, but they saved the best stuff for the Gold Medal Game. However, after a crushing 10-1 loss the previous day against Sweden, the Czechs were looking for a comeback against Finland. It looked good after going up 3-0, but a 2nd period goal by Teemu Hartikainen helped the Finns start a 3rd period rally with goals by Sami Vatanen on a 5 on 3 power play chance to get them within goal at 3-2. Then it looked like the Czechs calmed down after that and for a while at least, it looked like the Czechs would pull off a huge win and a comeback after the big loss against Sweden.

However, Vatanen scored with 5 and a half minutes left to tie the game at 3-3. Just 3 Min later, Rask put the Finns up for good and a 4-3 win that turned out to be the decider not just in the game. But in Group B, as the Finns would use that as the difference to make the Quarterfinals where they later went on to finish 5th after a win against Russia of the same score in the 5th place game. As for the Czechs, that loss meant that the Czechs were sent down to the relegation round where they beat Slovakia and Latvia to finish 7th overall.

Thoughts on the USA Winning Gold

When the Tournament began, a lot of people thought they would be lucky to win the Bronze Medal with the lack of experience at this level and the young roster. However, the USA embraced the underdog role to it's finest and won only the 2nd WJC Gold Medal in the Tournament's 30 plus year history.

I thought that the USA would finish at least 2nd in the group where I feared a big time loss against Canada on New Years Eve. However, they played one of the best games in this tournament in years where despite a 4-2 lead, a SO loss took them out of winning the group and getting an important bye.

I was wondering how they would respond, especially after how they got beat by Slovakia in the QF's last year. After controlling the Finns, it was a tough matchup against Sweden where a lot of people were picking them to play Canada in the Final. However after a gut wrenching 1st 2 periods where the game was tied at 2-2.

A frustrating power play early in the 3rd period gave a lot of people a lot of fits. However John Carlson started the 3rd period runaway with a goal with 7 and a half minutes left, started the USA resurgence where I felt no going back after Jerry D'Amigo scored to make it 4-2. Then in the Gold Medal, where I great confidence where they could get this done after a strong showing against them in the group stage.

The most amazing thing was that after the initial 1-0 lead by Canada in the first couple minutes, the Americans didn't trail very much after that, after going 3-2 in the opening minute, the Canadians came back to tie the game electrify the crowd in Saskatoon and I thought, O No, at some point the Canadians would take this game over. Home Ice, the Gold Medal Streak and the fact they know high pressure would help them out to win the game.

However, the Americans didn't allow that to happen in the 3rd where 2 goals just over 2 minutes apart put the team up 5-3 and a great goal tending performance by Jack Campbell seemed like it would be enough, but those Canadian Nerves came back with 2 goals by Jordan Eberle put the game tied at 5-5 and thought they would find a way to do it in OT. However, give credit to head Coach Dean Blais to put the team at ease and allowing John Carlson to score his 2nd of the game to win the WJC Gold for the Americans.

Great job boys, you ended the Gold Medal Streak and let's do this again same time next year in Buffalo, NY as we have a shot of defending a WJC gold which the USA has never done in this event. As for Matt Donovan, he did the Southwest proud by being the first player from the Southwest to win a major international hockey event and hopefully his performance will help his chances at the University of Denver and with him being in the NY Islanders program.

Also for USA Hockey, keep the Pre Tournament Camp going every year before this event, most teams have a tough camp to help their chances not just in the WJC, but in most major tournaments.

And it payed off in the biggest way for Team USA. Now let's do this next month for the Men's and Women's Olympic Tournaments in Vancouver, B.C., after a bad showing where a single win against Kazakhstan was the only thing they could muster 4 years ago. Also the Women's team failed to reach the Gold Medal Game for the first time in the Short History of the Women's Tournament.