It's been a long week in Lake Placid, but the 2012 US National Junior Team to compete at the World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia is starting to take shape.
First, Finland won the final game on Saturday against Team USA 3-2 in overtime. Tyler Biggs (Miami - TOR) scored both goals for the Americans due in large part to his strong net-front presence - a tip in and hacking and whacking at the goal line. Finland's goals were scored by Markus Hannikainen, Artturi Lehkonen and Mikko Aaltonen with a beautiful breakaway for the OT winner.
Here is the Day 8 video blog….
Now, to the good stuff…who's going to make this team?
Of course, there are still a few months before early December when players are invited to selection camp and, of course, there is always a guy or two that were either sent home from this camp or not even invited that end up in the mix in December. That said, here's my list as of August.
In goal, John Gibson (Kitchener - ANA) will be the go-to guy. I don't like how he seems to take shifts off and has a bit of a cavalier attitude, but when he is focused and dialed in like he was against Sweden on Thursday, he is one heck of a goaltender. They played him a lot this week to give him some more experience against international teams and improve his confidence, something that plagued him last year in Calgary.
Backing him up could be one of several guys. Right now, the frontrunner is Garret Sparks (Guelph - TOR), who had a great camp, but the reason they kept all four goalies in camp was to give Jon Gillies (Indiana - CGY) and Anthony Stolarz (Corpus Christi - PHI) some time with Joe Exter, the goalie coach for Team USA, and if they have good starts to their respective seasons in Providence and Nebraska-Omaha, they could very easily jump to the front of the back up line. There's also Collin Olsen who played for the USNTDP last year and helped Team USA win their fourth straight gold medal at the World U18 Championship this past spring and will play for Ohio State this season. The Buckeyes head coach is Mark Osiecki, who also happens to be an assistant coach to this team. If Olsen plays well in Columbus, he could earn an invite to selection camp.
Moving on the the defense, this is where things get interesting because I have about nine guys who I think have done enough at this camp to earn a spot on the roster. Jacob Trouba (NTDP - WPG), the only guy who was on this team last year, Seth Jones (NTDP - DE2013), potential first overall draft pick in next year's NHL Draft, and Conor Murphy (Sarnia - PHX), who - along with Jones - would have made this team last year had he not been hurt, are essential locks. They are all so mobile, have great vision, are big bodies who can hit, are effective with the transition game and provide an offensive spark from the blueline. These three are the best of both worlds when it comes to defensemen.
Then you have the guys who are pure offense, yet positionally sound and defensively responsible - Shayne Gostisbehere (Union - PHL), Matt Grzelcyk (NTDP - BOS) and Mike Reilly (Penticton - CBJ). There isn't room for all three on the roster in Ufa but they have all proven that they'd be a reliable asset to the team. The degree of separation between them is so small that the deciding factor could come down to age and size, two things you unfortunately can't change. Gostisbehere and Reilly are both 19 and 6' tall. Grzelcyk is 18, although he does turn 19 on January 5th, and only 5'9.
On the flip side you have the BAMFs - Pat Sieloff (NTDP - CGY), Jake McCabe (Wisconsin - BUF), Brady Skjei (NTDP - NYR) and Garrett Haar (Western Michigan - WAS). All I know is you do not want to be in close quarters with these guys because they will win…every time. They are all at least 6', 200lbs with a mean streak of nasty running through their game. In my opinion, Sieloff is a lock, which leaves just one more spot open on the blueline. I really have no idea how they're going to choose…put names in a hat? They are just that close competitively. A strong start to the regular season is huge.
Up front, I think JT Miller (Plymouth - NYR), Sean Kuraly (Indiana - SJS), Mario Lucia (Penticton - MIN), Johnny Gaudreau (BC - CGY) and Alex Galchenyuk (Sarnia - MTL) are certain to make this roster, if they're available. Right behind them are Tyler Biggs (Miami - TOR), Nic Kerdiles (NTDP - ANA) Stefan Noesen (Plymouth - OTT) and Travis Boyd (Minnesota - WAS). After that, things get hazy. It's not that the other players were particularly bad, they just weren't as assertive on the offensive side of things.
Every successful team needs fourth line energy guys, but in a tournament like this when anything can happen, you need fourth line energy guys who can score, guys who are versatile and can fill any position. With four spots left on this preliminary roster of mine, I'm not sure I'm filling them with any of the guys at camp. For starters, I fully expect Rocco Grimaldi (North Dakota - FLA), who was not at the camp because he's still recovering from knee surgery, to have a stellar start to the season once he's 100% again and get a long look from the USA Hockey powers that be. I also think Adam Reid (Northeastern - UFA), who was sent home from this camp, will earn a long look as well and then you have guys like Boo Neives, who wasn't invited to camp but looks poised to have a stellar freshman season at Michigan.
If you add all that offense and then have Biggs, Boyd and Kerdiles as your fourth line who can win face-offs, wear opponents down, play on the penalty kill AND put the puck in the net…could be a winning combination.
There are a lot of ifs with this team right now and the only thing I know for certain is that this has been and will be one of the more difficult roster selections in recent memory. There are a lot of moving parts and a strong start to the season by anyone looking for an all-expenses paid trip to Russia in December is an absolute must.
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Since the guys have been together for a week now, I decided to see just how well they knew each other with a round of Fact or Fiction....check it out!
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While it's important for these guys to develop chemistry and learn their tendencies on the ice, I also thought it was important that they know how to spell each others' names so I decided to lighten the mood and play the name game. Here's what happened…..
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Julie
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