RED DEER, Alberta — The United States Under-18 Men’s Select Team began preparation for the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup with an opening practice Monday (July 30) in Red Deer, Alberta.
Team USA will play an exhibition game Saturday (Aug.4) at NexSource Centre in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, against Slovakia at 3 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET). The U.S. will open Hlinka Gretzky Cup pool play Aug. 6 against the Czech Republic at Servus Arena in Red Deer at 7 p.m. MT (9 p.m. ET).
HockeyTV will provide live streaming coverage of the tournament’s preliminary round, fifth- and seventh-place games – 14 games total – starting Aug. 6. Then, on Friday, Aug. 10, NHL Network will televise the tournament’s final four games live. Coverage begins with the tournament’s two semifinal contests at 3 p.m. MT (5 p.m. ET) and 7 p.m. MT (9 p.m. ET) before concluding Saturday, Aug. 11, with the third-place game at 5 p.m. ET followed by the championship at 7 p.m. MT (9 p.m ET).
The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is an annual best-on-best tournament held in August for players under the age of 18. It is regarded as the first major international event of the 2018-19 scouting season for NHL Draft-eligible prospects. The U.S. has won the tournament once (2003) and finished among the top three in three of the past five years, including a second-place finish in 2016.
The 2018 tournament will be held Aug. 6-11 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. The U.S. will begin tournament play in Pool B with the Czech Republic, Finland and Russia. Pool A will include Canada, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland.
