Sunday, December 23, 2018
U.S. Names WJC Roster
18 current NCAA players and one recruit fill Mike Hastings’s team.
The United States National Junior Team that begins its pursuit of World Junior Championship gold on Dec. 26 in Victoria, B.C., will feature 18 current college players and one committed recruit, USA Hockey announced Sunday.
Returnees from the 2018 squad Mikey Anderson (Minnesota Duluth), Quinn Hughes (Michigan), Josh Norris (Michigan), Ryan Poehling (St. Cloud State) and Dylan Samberg (Minnesota Duluth) highlight the 23-man roster assembled by head coach Mike Hastings of Minnesota State and general manager John Vanbiesbrouck.
Twelve NCAA schools are represented on the roster, led by Minnesota Duluth with three players selected. Boston University, Michigan, Northeastern and Yale each have a pair of players on the team, while Boston College has one current player and one recruit.
The 12 schools represented are two more than last year’s team, which had five UMD Bulldogs on the roster.
A few highlights among the selections:
- Penn State’s Evan Barratt shares the national scoring lead with linemate Alex Limoges, as the sophomore has posted 29 points through 17 games this season.
- Hughes is tied for second nationally among defensemen with 20 points in 17 games this season, while his Michigan teammate Norris is one point behind him.
- Poehling is the lone NCAA junior on the roster; eight players are sophomores while nine are freshmen.
- Wisconsin’s K’Andre Miller shares the national lead among freshmen with 17 points in 18 games.
- Northeastern has two players on the U.S. team for the first time; Yale has two for the first time since 1993.
The Americans could face a number of familiar faces as six current NCAA players are in contention for spots on other rosters:
- Canada: Shane Bowers (Boston University), Ian Mitchell (Denver)
- Czech Republic: Jachym Kondelik (Connecticut)
- Finland: Filip Lindberg (Massachusetts), Sampo Ranta (Minnesota), Aarne Talivitie (Penn State)
In all, 14 NCAA schools could have representatives in the tournament.
Tournament play for the U.S. gets underway on Wednesday, Dec. 26, vs. Slovakia. Kazakhstan, Sweden and Finland are also in the U.S. group, which plays its preliminary round in Victoria, B.C.
The NHL Network features an extensive slate of World Junior Championship games, including each U.S. game broadcast live.
| 2019 U.S. National Junior Team | |||
| No. | Name | Pos. | Team |
| 1 | Kyle Keyser | G | Oshawa (OHL) |
| 2 | Jack St. Ivany | D | Yale |
| 4 | Dylan Samberg | D | Minnesota Duluth |
| 6 | Jack Hughes | F | U.S. National Under-18 Team (USHL) |
| 7 | Quinn Hughes | D | Michigan |
| 8 | Sasha Chmelevski | F | Ottawa (OHL) |
| 9 | Tyler Madden | F | Northeastern |
| 11 | Ryan Poehling | F | St. Cloud State |
| 12 | Logan Cockerill | F | Boston University |
| 14 | Josh Norris | F | Michigan |
| 15 | Jason Robertson | F | Niagara (OHL) |
| 16 | Jay O’Brien | F | Providence |
| 17 | Evan Barratt | F | Penn State |
| 18 | Oliver Wahlstrom | F | Boston College |
| 19 | Jack Drury | F | Harvard |
| 20 | K’Andre Miller | D | Wisconsin |
| 21 | Noah Cates | F | Minnesota Duluth |
| 24 | Mattias Samuelsson | D | Western Michigan |
| 25 | Phil Kemp | D | Yale |
| 26 | Mikey Anderson | D | Minnesota Duluth |
| 28 | Joel Farabee | F | Boston University |
| 29 | Spencer Knight* | G | U.S. National Under-18 Team (USHL) |
| 30 | Cayden Primeau | G | Northeastern |
| * Boston College commit | |||