Monday, December 9, 2013

Collegians Fill US WJC Roster

Updated: 23 players with NCAA ties will compete for spots on the 2014 U.S. National Junior Team.


Collegians Fill US WJC Roster
Matt Grzelcyk is one of three BU representatives on the U.S. preliminary roster for the World Junior Championship.

Twenty-three of the 29 players competing for spots on the 2014 U.S. National Junior Team are current, future or former college hockey players. USA Hockey announced the preliminary roster on Dec. 4 for the training camp that will take place Dec. 15-18 at the University of Minnesota.

Tuesday USA Hockey added Notre Dame’s Vince Hinostroza (Bartlett, Ill./Waterloo-USHL/CHI), Colorado College’s Jaccob Slavin (Erie, Colo./Chicago-USHL/CAR) and Minnesota State’s Zach Stepan (Hastings, Minn./Waterloo-USHL/NSH) to the roster, bringing it to a total of 29 players.

A 23-man roster will be announced Dec. 23, with competition in the IIHF World Junior Championship set for Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, 2014, in Malmo, Sweden. The U.S. is the defending champion at the event.

“We’re excited about the group of players we’ve invited to camp,” said Jim Johansson, former Wisconsin star and the general manager of the team. “There will be some tough decisions in getting to the final roster, but that’s certainly a good problem to have.”

Assisting Johansson in making those selections are a group of college coaches, led by Minnesota’s Don Lucia, who is the head coach for Team USA. He is assisted by St. Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko, Boston College associate head coach Greg Brown, Denver assistant coach David Lassonde and Yale assistant coach Dan Muse.

Thirteen schools are represented on the roster, led by Boston College with four players. Boston University and Michigan each have three representatives, while Denver, Minnesota and Notre Dame each have two. BU’s group includes the only future college player to make the preliminary roster, Jack Eichel.

U.S. Training Camp Roster

Player Pos. NCAA Team
Riley Barber F Miami
Will Butcher D Denver
Connor Carrick D
J.T. Compher F Michigan
Andrew Copp F Michigan
Tony DeAngelo D
Thatcher Demko G Boston College
Tommy DiPauli F Notre Dame
Jack Eichel F Boston University*
Adam Erne F
Hudson Fasching F Minnesota
Ryan Fitzgerald F Boston College
Jon Gillies G Providence
Matt Grzelcyk D Boston University
Ryan Hartman F
Vince Hinostroza F Notre Dame
Nic Kerdiles F Wisconsin
Stefan Matteau F
Ian McCoshen D Boston College
Tyler Motte F Michigan
Dan O’Regan F Boston University
Brett Pesce D New Hampshire
Henrik Samuelsson F
Steve Santini D Boston College
Quentin Shore F Denver
Brady Skjei D Minnesota
Jaccob Slavin D Colorado College
Zach Stepan F Minnesota State
Anthony Stolarz G Nebraska Omaha#

* Committed to BU
# Former player