Elite League NIT Rosters

The Upper Midwest Elite League has announced the two all-star rosters that will compete at this weekend's Midwest Elite League National Invitational Tournament.

The two teams have been split up this year, with one team made up of Twins Cities-Metro Area kids, and one team made up of kids from Outstate Minnesota/North Dakota/Wisconsin.

The roster for the Metro-area team:
1 G Derek Caschetta 6’ 0" 185 6/26/90 Edina 12
30 G Jack Hanna 6’ 0" 160 4/30/90 Centennial 12
2 D Jake Gardiner 6’ 1" 170 7/4/90 Minnetonka 12(Wisconsin commit)
3 D Joe Gleason 5’ 10" 180 3/20/90 Edina 12(North Dakota commit)
4 D Aaron Molstad 6’3’’ 194 9/24/89 Stillwater 12
5 D Anthony Raiola 6’1" 181 1/4/90 Minnetonka 12
6 D Charlie Raskob 6’0’’ 175 11/28/89 Academy of Holy Angels 12
7 D Dan Sova 6’ 3" 205 2/24/90 Hill-Murray 12
8 F Tyler Barnes 6’ 0’’ 170 2/13/90 Burnsville 12(Wisconsin commit)
9 F Ryan Bohrer 5’ 11" 175 5/25/90 Cretin-Derham Hall 12
10 F Dan Cecka 5’ 11’’ 185 9/21/89 Hill-Murray 12
11 F Ryan Furne 6’ 2" 190 12/12/89 Hill-Murray 12
12 F Jake Hendrickson 5’ 10" 170 10/2/89 Burnsville 12(UMD recruit)
13 F Matt Leer 6’ 0" 210 6/16/90 Edina 12
14 F Danny Mattson 5’ 10" 170 11/20/90 Academy of Holy Angels 11 (North Dakota commit)
15 F Adam Mueller 5’ 10" 160 10/4/89 Roseville 12(Minnesota State commit)
16 F Nick Nagel 6’ 2" 205 10/18/89 Totino-Grace 12
17 F Tyler Pitlick 6’2’’ 170 11/1/91 Centennial 11
18 F Mike Schaber 5’ 11" 175 10/26/89 Blaine 12
19 F Cory Thorson 6’ 1" 185 7/4/90 Robbinsdale Armstrong 12
20(Alt) D Joe Arbour 6’2’’ 180 7/7/90 Duluth East 11

And the other guys:
1 G Andrew Martin 5’9’’ 175 5/30/90 Stoughton 11
30 G Joseph Phillippi 5’10’’ 175 6/6/90 Hill-Murray 12
2 D Ryan LaDouceur 6’0’’ 170 11/10/89 G.F. Red River 12
3 D Luke McManus 6’1’’ 195 5/9/90 Rosemount 12
4 D Tim Smith 5’ 11" 180 7/15/90 Superior 12
5 D Drew Olson 5’11" 200 4/4/90 Brainerd 12
6 D Aaron Ness 5’ 10" 165 5/18/90 Roseau 11(Minnesota commit)
7 D Chris Student 5’ 10’’ 170 7/22/89 Benilde-St. Margaret’s 12(Northeastern commit)
8 F Matt Bergland 5’10’’ 171 5/28/90 Benilde-St. Margaret’s 12
9 F Nate Condon 6’ 1" 185 5/29/90 Wausau West 12(Minnesota commit)
10 F Jeff Costello 5’ 11’’ 180 11/20/90 Catholic Memorial 11
11 F Anthony DeCenzo 5’ 9" 170 8/25/89 Hibbing 12
12 F Ben Hanowski 6’ 2" 195 10/18/90 Little Falls 11(St. Cloud commit)
13 F Jake Johnson 5’ 8" 170 6/27/89 Duluth Denfeld 12
14 F Justin Jokinen 6’ 3" 185 11/25/89 Cloquet 12
15 F Zach Lehrke 5’ 8" 160 6/4/90 Park Rapids 12
16 F Corey Leivermann 5’11’ 162 5/7/90 Mankato West 12
17 F Robert Maloney 5’11 180 12/16/89 Eastview 12(Providence commit)
18 F Eric Meland 6’ 0" 180 9/27/89 G.F. Red River 12
19 F Bryce Ravndalen 5’ 8" 175 8/17/89 Warroad 12(St. Cloud commit)
20 F Seth Soley 6’ 1" 180 12/21/89 Eau Claire Memorial 12(Michigan Tech commit)
21(Alt) D Derek Docken 5’11’’ 170 6/12/90 Northfield 12


The other teams competing in the 8-team tournament include Shattuck-St. Mary's prep team, which won last year's NIT, Team Illinois who finished second last year, the LA Jr. Kings, Dallas Stars, Michigan Stars(an all-star team of Michigan HS players), and the Malmo Redhawks from Sweden.

For those curious about the Malmo Redhawks, this is the best I can figure out from their website.

The Malmo Redhawks pro team is currently playing in Sweden's second highest division, after being relegated from Sweden's Elite League last season. They've got a couple ex-NHL players on their roster including Ville Nieminem, Martin Samuelsson, and NHL prospects like Carl Soderberg. Like most European sports clubs, they also fund various youth teams, like an under-20 team, and an under-18 team, which is the team that will be playing in Minnesota.

Malmo will be playing in the NIT for the next five years. The players will be billeting with families of local hockey players for a week while they're playing in the tourament. It's a good opportunity for the players to learn about American culture, and to become more fluent in English. The Redhawks also referenced that playing in the US will be a good opportunity to be watched by many college and junior scouts.

Next Wednesday, the team will be going to see the Minnesota Wild play the Edmonton Oilers at the XCel Center, and after the game, will meet up with Wild defenseman Kim Johnsson, who is from Malmo, and played for the Redhawks program.

Here is the roster of the team they will be bringing to Minnesota:

Målvakter
#31 Fabian Sivnert
#35 Alexander Bengtsson

Backar
#5 Oliver Widding-Persson
#7 Oskar Berglund
#10 Rasmus Damgaard
#22 Dennis Palm
#26 Victor Mångs
#27 Anton Blomqvist
#39 Andre Schultz
#92 Jonathan Nilsson

Forwards och centrar
#11 Andy Ahlberg-Silverberg
#19 Linus Molin
#21 Adam Strandh
#23 Jacob Berglund
#24 Marcus Neuding
#28 Tobias Stenberg
#45 Fredrik Hergart
#58 Linus Karlsson
#71 Simon Rörstrand
#77 Joel Norlöv
#91 Victor Öhman
#93 Hampus Gustavsson

Not on this roster is forward Magnus Paajarvi, a 1991-born prodigy that has received a good deal of hype. He is playing up with Malmo's U20 team this year.