The US World Junior team will be announced by USA Hockey this afternoon.
I mentioned yesterday that Thomas McCollum and Josh Unice will be the goaltenders for the US team.
It looks like Minnesota will send Jordan Schroeder, Cade Fairchild, and Mike Hoeffel to the tournament. Schroeder was a no-brainer. Fairchild is having a great season so far, and I really like the way that Hoeffel has played this year. He'll bring some good skill and a lot of effort to a lower line.
U18 stars Cam Fowler and Jeremy Morin won't be on the US roster. I have no idea why the US wouldn't select them.
UPDATE: The roster has been released.
Not a bad team. The inclusions of Blake Kessel and Tyler Johnson make the omission of Fowler and Morin all the more confusing, however.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
Morin & Fowler probably won't be named because this is essentially a 19 y/o tournament.
Canada will likely select a younger team this year because of all of the 18 and 19 y/o Canadian stars currently playing in the NHL. This is one of the few years that the USA have a legit chance to win it since Canada will be so young, and as such they'd be crazy not to ice as many 19 y/o's as they can
Can't believe Morin & Fowler were not named! What is the rationale for leaving them off the roster? The selections for this team have always baffled me over the years, but these two omissions are indefensible!
Will this be the last straw, to push them to Major Junior?
How does Kessel get chosen over Petrecki (an NHL 1st round pick who is already 19 years old)? Morin and Fowler are only 17
Shattenkirk & Kessel selections are a joke. Morin a no-brainer on this team.
Anon @ 12:50: re saying leaving off Fowler is "indefensible"; if you've watched any significant sample of the u18 games this year, you'd see what a nice little pun that is. You might want to look at his plus/minus to see why his own coach (Rolston) didn't pick him; it probably had nothing to do with his age. And through 21 games, if you exclude power plays (where he's featured 97% of time), he has only 8 points, so I'm not sure what he would add as a third line d-man behind guys like Cole. Agree that Morin should have been included, but it's no secret that he's heading for the ohl after this year (if not straight to the nhl). Fowler has great upside potential but his decision making is just not there yet; he would get eaten alive at the u20 tourney; his current coach knows that !
have finally figured out method to your WCH comments; if a player is not "projected" to be good, you dismiss him; Tyler Johnson (5'9") is the MVP of the WHL (IN HIS ROOKIE YEAR !) and you think he doesn't deserve a spot on roster. A year ago some pro scouts dismissed him as being too small and you just parrot the company line; great analysis. Yeah, you definitely don't want a guy like Martin St. Louis on your team; esp one that's used to playing v. Canadian juniors (unlike Morin).
Anon at @ 2:33. I appreciate the analysis re: Fowler. I admit I have only seen him play 3 times this year, but based on his performance in the games that I saw him in and his overall skill package, I thought he would be a shoo-in for this team. With regards to Morin...well I don't know the back-story here but there must be one. It's just frustrating to see USA Hockey not send the best possible team to the Tourney. I just get the impression that politics plays too large a role in the selection of the team. How else to explain Morin's omission. Is he a "bad kid?" Has he pissed off the powers that be at USA Hockey somehow? Or is there a simple explaination such as an injury or whatever??? I would love to know if anyone out there has that info.
Not alot of hands there who's going to put it in the net in a shootout to win it...Not Morin
it doesnt matter. sweden will win it all this year. they have a stacked team this year including the top goaltender Jacob Markstrom.
Anchored on defense with Victor Hedman and 1st rounder Erik Karlsson, a very good 2nd Division pro in Viktor Ekbom, possible 1st rounder Tim Erixon (born in NY), Elitserien D man David Rundblad, and 6th rounder Nichlas Torp and a stay at home defense man who hasnt been a healthy scratch yet in Elitserien Sebastian Erixon.
Forwards- Joakim Andersson 3rd rounder good pro start, 1st rounder Mikael Backlund last cut from CGY Flames, possibly fastest player in WJC Carl Gustafsson, 2nd rounder very good pro Simon Hjalmarsson, another very good pro in Marcus Johansson, Projected first rounder Jacob Josefson, 5th rounder Nicklas Lasu, defensive minded center Anton Persson, 4th rounder Andre Petersson, if it was any other year Magnus Paajarvi- Svensson would be the top pick ultra skilled, 1st rounder Mattias Tedenby, 4th rounder pt a game player in 2nd Divison David Ullstrom. and back up goalie is MARK IN DA PARK Mark Owuya (search youtube if you've never seen it)
John Carlson anyone? 30 minutes a night in the O. everyone has said hes the top D man in the league right now. Will make the capitals next season.
this is a grat mix of players. they went herb brooks style adding sioux recruit kristo and a few others over some very good skilled usa players. they want a TEAM, not a bunch of usndt players that just rode a free ride to a wjt roster spot. i like this team, usa has sucked since parise played and won that gold over canada. its time for a team, not a bunch of superstars. go usa
Re: Fowler. Clearly a good player, and a likely first round pick NEXT YEAR. but come on.... USNDTP'ers Jack Johnson and Erik Johnson didn't make the World Junior Rosters as 17-year olds. The last USNDTP 17-year old D-man to make this club was Ryan Suter 6 years ago. It's highly unuasual for any 17-year old to make the club, it's even more extraordinary for a defenseman. As for Morin, clearly the USA Hockey brain trust has made a philosophical decision to go older this year (prior years this team broke 60/40 19-year old/18-year old -- this year it's 82/18. The oldest team I can remember.
Anon @ 1:02 hit nail on the head; there's really no reason to move fowler up; whether he can handle that level of play is not relevant; he's clearly been annointed by his coach to be the go-to guy on u18 team. On almost all power plays, it's him, Morin, Shore, Bourque, and usually one other forward. My guess is that maybe Rolston really thinks u18s have a chance to win Gold in Fargo, so he's keeping Morin's ego in check by not adding him; or perhaps common sense dictates that guys dominating at major junior and D1 are a little ahead of guys playing american junior and small college schedule; the u18s have really not been able to compete with the top D1 programs. What's the rush, let them stay together as a team and maybe they'll surprise the Swedes (who clearly are the team to beat per Anon @ 4:27).
Post a Comment