So, I'm one of the few people in this country who give a crap about the World Junior Championship. I consider myself a USA Hockey fan as much as I do a Ranger fan. The bigwigs at USA Hockey disappoint me year after year with how they manage the WJC team. Since the WJC was first played in 1977, the Yanks have just five medals. Only one was gold. All while icing plenty of talent most years. Perhaps more infuriating than the disappointing finishes have been the talented players left on the sidelines because of petty politics. Bobby Ryan in 2005 and 2007 comes to mind. Many years, we're not even showing up with our best.
Before I pick who I'd like to make up the 2010 American entry, let me state that I have minimal knowledge of these players. I've seen none of them play live. That said, I have done some research and consider these semi-educated selections.
* member of 2009 team
forwards
*Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota, 19, 1st round VAN
*Mitch Wahl, Spokane, 19, 2nd round CAL
*Danny Kristo, North Dakota, 19, 2nd round MON
Kyle Palmieri, Notre Dame, 18, 1st round ANA
Chris Brown, Michigan, 18, 2nd round PHO
Jeremy Morin, Kitchener, 18, 2nd round ATL
Drew Shore, Denver, 18, 2nd round FLA
Philip McRae, London, 19, 2nd round STL
Derek Stepan, Wisconsin, 19, 2nd round NYR
Zach Budish, Minnesota, 18, 2nd round, NAS
David Wohlberg, Michigan, 19, 6th round NJ
Emerson Etem, Medicine Hat, 17, 2010 draft eligible
A.J. Jenks, Plymouth, 19, 4th round FLA
dmen
Cam Fowler, Windsor, 18, 2010 draft eligible
Nick Leddy, Minnesota, 18, 1st round MIN
John Moore, Kitchener, 19, 1st round CLB
William Wrenn, Denver, 18, 2nd round SJ
David Warsofsky, BU, 19, 4th round STL
Jake Gardiner, Wisconsin, 19, 1st round ANA
Philip Samuelsson, BC, 18, 2nd round PIT
goalies
Mike Lee, St. Cloud State, 19, 3rd round PHO
Jack Campbell, NTDP, 17, 2010 draft eligible
strong candidates
forwards
Chris Kreider, BC, 18, 1st round NYR
Ryan Bourque, Quebec, 18, 3rd round NYR
Jerry D'Amigo, RPI, 18, 6th round TOR
Jordan Samuels-Thomas, Bowling Green, 19, 7th round ATL
Kenny Ryan, Windsor, 18, 2nd round TOR
Jordan George, Bemidji State, 19, undrafted
Myles McCauley, Plymouth, 18, undrafted
* Tyler Johnson, Spokane, 19, undrafted
Andrew Yogan, Erie, 18, 2010 draft eligible
A.J. Treais, Michigan, 18, undrafted
Tyler Maxwell, Everett, 18, undrafted
dmen
Brian Dumoulin, BC, 18, 2nd round CAR
Chris Wideman, Miami, 19, 4th round OTT
Patrick Wey, BC, 18, 4th round WAS
Aaron Ness, Minnesota, 19, 2nd round NYI
Adam Comrie, Guelph, 19, 3rd round FLA
Matt Donovan, Denver, 19, 4th round NYI
Sean Lorenz, Notre Dame, 19, 4th round MIN
Beau Schmitz, Plymouth, 18, undrafted
Derek Forbort, NTDP, 17, 2010 draft eligible
goalies
Joe Howe, CC, 19, undrafted
Brandon Maxwell, Kitchener, 18, 6th round COL
Connor Knapp, Miami, 19, 6th round BUF
Joe Cannata, Merrimack, 19, 6th round VAN
Michael Houser, London, 17, 2010 draft eligible
The list of 29 camp invitees was released this morning. They'll be cut down to 22.
http://www.uscho.com/news/college-
hockey/id,17615/SchroederHeadsListofInviteestoUSWorldJuniorCamp.html
First order of business is reviewing this year's major snubs. Let's start with Emerson Etem (left). He's the 10th ranked player by Red Line Report for the 2010 draft. He's got 20 goals in 31 games in the WHL, good for fifth in the league. But the politicians at the NTDP probably weren't happy that he spurned the Under-18 team this season after playing for the Under-17 team last year. It's an absolute joke that he isn't invited, but this is just standard operating procedure for USA Hockey. They'd rather go with a college mucker who played two years for the NTDP.
Nick Leddy was also denied an invite. The defenseman was drafted 16th overall by Minnesota last summer and is Minnesota's reigning Mr. Hockey. He's getting his feet wet with the Golden Gophers in the WCHA this year, the conference most often named the strongest in the NCAA. He supposedly turned down the chance to play with the NTDP last season. That couldn't have factored in USA Hockey's decision making, could it?
Four of the forwards I picked weren't even invited to camp. Etem, Zach Budish, Drew Shore, and Mitch Wahl. Shore and Budish were second round picks last year. Wahl put up 4 points in 6 games in the 2009 WJC, is in his fourth WHL season, and played for a Memorial Cup winner in 2007-08. Quite an experienced player for a 19-year-old. Not even good enough for a camp invite though.
Invited are forwards Luke Walker, an undrafted 19-year-old who plays for Portland, Vinny Saponari, fourth rounder of the Thrashers who plays for BU and doesn't exactly shoot the lights out (guess who he played for before college), and Jason Zucker, a tiny NTDP forward going to Denver next year. If you want to tell me Zucker is another Schroeder, fine, but I've never heard of him. Otherwise, there are older, more experienced players to choose from. I'm not a fan of using 17-year-olds in the WJC unless they're pretty special.
Two defensemen I chose, William Wrenn and Philip Samuelsson, weren't invited to camp. Not a huge deal. Maybe they've had slow starts. Tough to tell if freshmen defensemen are playing well by looking at their stats. Invited were Jon Merrill and Justin Faulk, both of the NTDP. Nothing against them, but I'd prefer older, more experienced players. Strangely, NTDP defender Derek Forbort, a North Dakota recruit, and 9th ranked player for the 2010 draft by Red Line, wasn't invited. But, these things rarely make sense.
I'm not going to bother breaking down the goalies.
Anyway, USA Hockey seems to still be more concerned about pushing current and former development team players to success than with winning medals in international tournaments. I just hope one day that that is not the case. I hope snubbing Emerson Etem isn't this year's fatal mistake. Go USA. (Not sarcastically, really).
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