USA Hockey Updates National Junior Evaluation Camp News

USA Hockey Announces Additional Details Regarding
2013 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Hockey announced today additional details surrounding its 2013 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp set to take place in Lake Placid, N.Y., at the Olympic Training Center from Aug. 3-10.

Jon Cooper (Tampa, Fla.) and Kurt Kleinendorst (Grand Rapids, Minn.) will serve as assistant camp coaches.

Cooper is the head coach of the National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightning, a position he was promoted to midway through the 2012-13 campaign. Previously, he was head coach of the Lightning’s top American Hockey League affiliates in Syracuse (2012-13) and Norfolk (2010-12). He led the Norfolk Admirals to the 2012 Calder Cup Championship. Cooper also spent two seasons (2008-10) as head coach of the United States Hockey League’s Green Bay Gamblers. The Gamblers won the 2010 Clark Cup Championship and Cooper received the General Manager and Coach of the Year Awards.

Kleinendorst has been a head coach at the AHL, ECHL, NCAA Men’s Division I, USHL and international levels. During the 2009-10 campaign, he was head coach of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program Under-18 Team. He led Team USA to the gold medal at the 2010 IIHF Men’s Under-18 World Championship. In 2008, he was an assistant coach for the U.S. Men’s National Team. Most recently, Kleinendorst was head coach of the University of Alabama-Huntsville men’s ice hockey team for the 2012-13 season. In the AHL, he was head coach of the Binghamton Senators from 2010-12 and the Lowell Devils from 2006-09. He coached the ECHL’s Raleigh IceCaps from 1991-94 and 1995-97. For the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, Kleinendorst was an assistant coach (2000-01), professional scout (2001-02) and special assistant scout (2002-06).

The 44 athletes participating in the NJEC have been separated into two groups for the first three days of practices and games vs. Finland and Sweden.

For the Team Blue roster, click here
For the Team White roster, click here

On Aug. 6, Team USA will trim its roster and a single U.S. squad will finish the camp with practices and games against Canada, Finland and Sweden.

Team Blue will be coached by Bob Motzko (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud State Univ.) and Jon Cooper(Tampa, Fla./Tampa Bay Lightning). Team White will be coached by Greg Brown (Scituate, Mass./Boston College) and Kurt Kleinendorst (Grand Rapids, Minn.).

USA Hockey, in partnership with FASTHockey, is providing live streaming coverage of the USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp. Games will be offered on a pay-per-view basis. FASTHockey uses a unique game-credit system for viewing games, offering discounts to customers who watch multiple games. Users who want to watch one or more games must first sign up for a free account atUSAHockey.FASTHockey.com. Users can then buy game credits – a single game ranges from $7.99 (when one game credit is purchased) to $5.99 (when 50 game credits are purchased). Game credits never expire and can be used to watch live games or access on-demand content.

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The NJEC will convene 44 U.S. players, all vying for a spot on the U.S. National Junior Team that will compete at the 2014 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, Dec. 26, 2013-Jan. 5, 2014, in Malmo, Sweden. In addition to daily practices, the U.S. will play international games against Canada, Finland and Sweden.

For a complete schedule of the U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp click here. Tickets for all games that are part of the camp can be purchased online at WhiteFaceLakePlacid.com, by phone at (518) 523-3330 or in person at the Olympic Center Box Office.

NOTES: Use the hashtag #NJEC on Twitter to join the conversation surrounding the camp … The 2014 U.S. National Junior Team will be selected following a pre-tournament camp Dec. 15-18 to be held in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area … Don Lucia (Plymouth, Minn.), head coach of the University of Minnesota men’s ice hockey team, was named head coach of the 2014 U.S. National Junior Team on March 23. Bob Motzko (St. Cloud, Minn.), head coach of the St. Cloud State University men’s ice hockey team, Greg Brown (Scituate, Mass.), associate head coach of the Boston College men’s ice hockey team and David Lassonde (Denver, Colo.) assistant coach of the University of Denver’s men’s ice hockey team will serve as assistant coaches. The video coordinator is Dan Muse (Clinton, Conn.), assistant coach of Yale University’s men’s ice hockey team … Jim Johannson (Colorado Springs, Colo.), USA Hockey’s assistant executive director of hockey operations, is serving as the general manager of Team USA for the fifth consecutive year.