BOSTON – A total of 28 players will descend upon Boston University’s Agganis Arena tomorrow (Dec. 15) in hopes of landing a spot on U.S. National Junior Team that will compete in the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, Dec. 26-Jan. 5, in Helsinki, Finland.
“We’re looking forward to a very competitive camp here in Boston,” said Jim Johannson, general manager of the 2016 U.S. National Junior Team and also the assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey. “There are 28 great players that have excelled through a wide variety of development programs within USA Hockey and I know our coaches are excited about the talent pool we have to build our final roster from.”
The training camp will include practices at Agganis Arena Tuesday-Thursday (Dec. 15-17) from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. In addition, on Dec. 18, a one-hour practice session at Walter Brown Arena will begin at 10 a.m. with a game against UMass that evening at 7 o’clock at Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. All practices are open to the public and the game against UMass will be streamed live.
NOTES: USA Hockey will announce the final roster for the 2016 U.S. National Junior Team by Dec. 24 … Use the hashtag #USAWJC on Twitter to join the conversation about the 2016 U.S. National Junior Team … Following its time in Boston, the U.S. will move to Vierumaki, Finland, where it will continue preparations for the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship. The camp will include a game against Finland on Dec. 22 … Ron Wilson (Riverside, R.I.) is head coach of the 2016 U.S. National Junior Team. Wilson, who directed the U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey team to the silver medal at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, ranks eighth all-time in National Hockey League history in wins, and is the all-time winningest American coach in NHL history … The assistant coaches for Team USA are Chris Chelios (Chicago, Ill./Detroit Red Wings), Danton Cole (Pontiac, Mich./USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program) and Kevin Reiter (Pittsburgh, Pa./USA’s Hockey’s NTDP) … Nick Siergiej (South Bend, Ind./University of Notre Dame) is the video coordinator … 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 seventh consecutive year … Ryan Martin (Simsbury, Conn./Detroit Red Wings) and Ben Smith (Gloucester, Mass./USA Hockey) are assisting with player evaluation during the Boston training camp … USA Hockey’s international council, chaired by Gavin Regan (Potsdam, N.Y.), vice president of USA Hockey, has oversight responsibilities for all U.S. national teams … At the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship, the U.S. will compete in a group with Canada, Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden. All U.S. games will be broadcast live on NHL Network.
