In case you haven't seen it anywhere else, here's the US World Jrs. Roster.
Forwards:
Justin Abdelkader-Michigan State
Michael Carman-Minnesota
Jimmy Fraser-Harvard
Blake Geoffrion-Wisconsin
Nate Gerbe-Boston College
Jack Skille-Wisconsin
Ryan Stoa-Minnesota
Bill Sweatt-Colorado College
James van Riemsdyk-NTDP U18
Pat Kane-London(OHL)
Trevor Lewis-Owen Sound(OHL)
Peter Mueller-Everett(WHL)
Kyle Okposo-Minnesota
Comments: The big news here is that Bobby Ryan indeed did not make the team. Instead they opted for some former NTDP guys like Fraser and Geoffrion. It looks like a nice mix of grit and skill. They'll probably really need Okposo and Mueller to carry them offensively.
Defense:
Erik Johnson-Minnesota
Jack Johnson-Michigan
Kyle Lawson-Notre Dame
Brian Lee-North Dakota
Jamie McBain-Wisconsin
Taylor Chorney-North Dakota
Sean Zimmerman-Spokane(WHL)
Comments: Mark Mitera won't be on the team after making it last year. He hasn't had a great year, and I've heard that he's also nursing an injury, which could explain why they want to leave him home. Lawson had the reputation of being a favorite of coach Ron Rolson, which explains his presence. I know very little about Zimmerman.
Goalie:
Jeff Frazee-Minnesota
Jeff Zatkoff-Miami
Comments: Frazee is still on the team despite not having a great year. I think he's better than people give him credit for though. It should be interesting to see who gets the most playing time. My guess is they split time at the beginning, and they try to ride the hot goalie in the medal round.
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25 comments:
Nick Foligno (Sudbury -- OHL) Bobby Ryan (Owen Sound -- OHL)
Both should of made the team, both would have added more scoring....
Eaves' influence on the selection of the team is obvious. McBain bumped Mitera, although McBain is having a better year, and Geoffrion gets on ahead of Bobby Ryan. No way that happens without some politics.
Foligno left the NDTP program early so he was out. I thought Rahkshani deserved to be on it ahead of a few others that were selected
Zimmerman is there to add muscle, especially in the game(s) vs. Canada. He probably won't play much in the other games. He has AHL experience with Albany last year.
Rahkshani has 3 goals all season no way he deserves to be on the team, just because he played for the NDTP.We could have used Foligno and Ryan for more scoring.
Apparently the BCS has selected the US World Junior Team.
The fact that Bobby Ryan didn't make the team is garbage, period. USA Hockey should embrace and support the #2 overall pick - they're still pissed he went to the O. Leaving Bobby off the team was a mistake.
If Mitera is injured, then I understand the decision to not put him on the team - if he was passed up for any other reason than his health, then that too was a mistake.
I'm not going to make any comments about kids that made it and shouldn't have, as there are a few I haven't seen play... but there were a few who should have made it that didn't. Foligno too.
I have seen the Badgers play, and whoever commented on Eaves' influence was absolutely correct. McBain is a solid player, as is Geoffrion - but Neither are WJC caliber.
Friggen Bobby Ryan, I really can't believe they did that to him.
It was kind of nice to see USA hockey stick it to Brian Burke, as Ryan and Mitera are both Anaheim drafts. Here is a guy (Burke) who used the college system for the betterment of himself and then absolutely trashes it now that he has moved on.
After having seen Mitera on tv a couple times and live against Minnesota I'd say he didn't have a place on this team. The guy is a pylon. David Fischer is the one that got slighted on the selection. McBain over Fischer? Not even close. Fischer has been outstanding.
Bobby Ryan should be on this team. It is silly to have a guy like Geoffrion on the team instead of Ryan. In fact Geoffrion hasn't produced anything tangible this season to warrant his inclusion. Tthe BADgers have no scoring up front but they send two forwards? Good one Jim.
Ryan and Mitera were on last year's team, so they must have pissed someone off about their lack of ice time in last year's tournament to get snubbed like this. Mitera hardly played last year despite the injury to Butler as they basically went with 5 D and it cost them later in the tournament. Ryan didn't get all that much ice time last year either if my memory serves me right
McBain will likely be the only returning D'Man for next year's team as EJ will probably be with St. Louis by then. That means that 6 D'Mn spots will be available next year, so USA will have very little experience back there next year. Perhaps, they should have included 1 or 2 more '88 born d'men this year instead of say Zimmerman and even Lawson?
There is no doubt that some of the selections / ommisions are perplexing. I am sure that NTDP branch of USA hockey is feeling some heat to produce results at this year's tournament.
They are damned if they do and damned if they dont.
Take a look at the possible situations:
Select NTDP alum -win
Select NTDP alum -lose
Other than NTDP -win
Other than NTDP -lose
I am sure the powers that be consider the above scenarios and what the consequences would be in each of the possible outcomes.
Geoffrion made the team because he'll do the dirty work. Having an allstar roster last time did not work (aka too many egos). McBain will be a nice PP QB and as someone else pointed out will be the lone holdover on the next version. Are there players with better individual talents or ability? Probably. Like the US Olympic BBall teams have been learning, sending a collection of the best individuals does not generally get you the results you want.
Yep...exactly what Eaves needs, a struggling team needing to get on a little bit of a run before they dig the hole too deep to make the tourney, and he is back door politicing to lose some of his better players over more "deserving" guys lol. Do people ever think about what they post before they post stupidity.
I sure hope that Rolston knows what he is doing; Fraser and Geoffrion over Rau and Foligno?
Are you kidding me?
Maybe it would be wise to have a mini camp, to at least see what chemistry there is between players.
For the one joker who thinks Eaves didn't have some influence on getting his players on the WJ roster you are totally out of touch with USA Hockey politics. Eaves was the Caoch of the only Gold Medal winning USA team in the tournament and he is one of the main men in charge of this operation. You don't think his '88 born players were given the spots in tie-breaker decisions as close as these had to be? Go look at those 2 players stats, they aren't any more worthy than numerous other players vying for spots on this team. I'd call Eaves the ultimate tie-breaker on these decisions. I think he's willing to give up 4 games, especially this year after winning the NCAA's last year (including 2 in the meaningless Badger Showdown) to get the WJ publicity for recruiting future players. This is a bigger deal to have your players on this team than winning a couple of regualr season games. If it wasn't, they wouldn't allow their players to participate
oh, and by the way, Wisconsin is out of the NCAA tourney by now if they don't win the WCHA...they're 5-9-3 for crying out loud! They SUCK!
Does anyone have early intuitiion on who Rolstons "go to" guys are going to be?
Eaves didn't want those 3 picked. He told me.
What college fan really gives a rats rearend about the jr tournament? I'd rather see these players stay with their respective college teams. Let USA Hockey send the development team for this tournament if they want a team. I would rather have the chance to see the college players on TV for the next month instead of reading about them while they are in europe or where ever the hell the tournament is played.
Everyone is missing the obvious weakness on this team. You don't win this tournament without elite goaltending and I am not convinced that the two selected will provide it.
Frazzee has been there done that, he will be young and tested, but he is a big time big game goalie in International in the past.
Who else is out there for US??
The problem is that Frazee has not been overly great this year. He did have, at the beginning of the season (the 3 games while Kellen Briggs was under suspension), a chance to esbablish himself. Instead,his save percentage and wins is borderline.
Zatkoff,looks great with a better percentage on a team that is not as good.
The other guys are out east.They are lesser knowns but are playing well. There is Alec Richards of Yale and Dan Rosen of Brown. I personally like Rosen, he does not have the NTDP pedigree but his numbers and amount of games played work well for him. Although, lets not kid ourselves, he does not face the quality of shooters that are in the WCHA.
There is also one guy playing in the ohl who is having a good year.
I will also add as a note of interest, the top 3 GK in the ohl are US players.
John Murray Pa 87
Thomas McCollum NY 89
Jeremy Smith MI 89
The US goaltending will definetly be inferior to Canada's. Part of the reason is that the Canadian goaltenders play almost every game for their Junior teams whereas both Frazee and Zatkoff only play 1/2 of their team's games. That means that the US goalies have played 1/4 of the games this season to their Canadian counter-parts due to the CHL playing twice as many games as NCAA. Us doesn't have the firepower it had when these same players were competing in the Under-18 tournament 2 years ago. Remember, no Kessel to provide the offense to over come lesser goaltending this time around.
Conspiracy theory du jour-
Who's to say Fischer wasn't inquired about? Perhaps Lucia's statement regarding he wouldn't release players to be the 13th forward or the 7th defenseman put the ball out of Fischer and Bariball's court? Ok, ok, I bet the next time I read this blog there will be 5 or 6 posts stating how this is just another Lucia attack post, but really, Lucia has to field a winning team while 5 of his players are gone. No other team has it this rough. I think Lucia's selfishness is warranted. He has to keep SOME talent on his team this next month.
I agree,since playing for the u-18 team, Frazee has only played in a handful of games compared to his canadian counterparts.
In general, most players should spend an extra year playing in the USHL playing big minutes rather than riding the pine.
I watched the u-18 vs North Dakota last week and you needed a program to find Mike Forney.
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