Here's a look at the talent available to the red, white, and navy blue this year as they defend their title on home ice. Players with an asterisk were on last year's squad. Listed are age, team, and draft status.
forwards
*Chris Kreider, 19, Boston College, 1st round (19th overall) by NY Rangers in 2009
*Kyle Palmieri, 19, Syracuse Crunch, 1st round (26th overall) by Anaheim in 2009
Chris Brown, 19, U. of Michigan, 2nd round (36th overall) by Phoenix in 2009
Zach Budish, 19, U. of Minnesota, 2nd round (41st overall) by Nashville in 2009
Drew Shore, 19, U. of Denver, 2nd round (44th overall) by Florida in 2009
*Jeremy Morin, 19, Rockford IceHogs, 2nd round (45th overall) by Atlanta in 2009
Kenny Ryan, 19, Windsor Spitfires, 2nd round (50th overall) by Toronto in 2009
*Ryan Bourque, 19, Quebec Remparts, 3rd round (80th overall) by NY Rangers in 2009
Marcus Foligno, 19, Sudbury Wolves, 4th round (104th overall) by Buffalo in 2009
*Jerry D'Amigo, 19, Toronto Marlies, 6th round (158th overall) by Toronto in 2009
Mitchell Callahan, 19, Kelowna Rockets, 6th round (180th overall) by Detroit in 2009
Jonathan Parker, 19, Prince Albert Raiders, undrafted
Tyler Maxwell, 19, Everett Silvertips, undrafted
Austin Watson, 18, Peterborough Petes, 1st round (18th overall) by Nashville in 2010
Nick Bjugstad, 18, U. of Minnesota, 1st round (19th overall) by Florida in 2010
Beau Bennett, 19, U. of Denver, 1st round (20th overall) by Pittsburgh in 2010
Kevin Hayes, 18, Boston College, 1st round (24th overall) by Chicago in 2010
Charlie Coyle, 18, Boston U., 1st round (28th overall) by San Jose in 2010
Emerston Etem, 18, Medicine Hat Tigers, 1st round (29th overall) by Anaheim in 2010
Brock Nelson, 19, U. of North Dakota, 1st round (30th overall) by NY Islanders in 2010
Tyler Pitlick, 19, Medicine Hat Tigers, 2nd round (31st overall) by Edmonton in 2010
Jared Knight, 19, London Knights, 2nd round (32nd overall) by Boston in 2010
Connor Brickley, 18, U. of Vermont, 2nd round (50th overall) by Florida in 2010
Phil Lane, 18, Brampton Battalion, 2nd round (52nd overall) by Phoenix in 2010
*Jason Zucker, 18, U. of Denver, 3rd round (59th overall) by Minnesota in 2010
Bryan Rust, 18, U. of Notre Dame, 3rd round (80th overall) by Pittsburgh in 2010
Max Gaede, 18, Sioux City Musketeers, 3rd round (88th overall) by San Jose in 2010
Andrew Yogan, 19, Erie Otters, 4th round (100th overall) by NY Rangers in 2010
Chris Wagner, 19, Colgate U., 5th round (122nd overall) by Anaheim in 2010
Kenny Agostino, 18, Yale U., 5th round (140th overall) by Pittsburgh in 2010
Shane McColgan, 17, Kelowna Rockets, 2011 eligible
Rocco Grimaldi, 17, USA Under-18 Team, 2011 eligible
Shane Prince, 18, Ottawa 67's, 2011 eligible
Brandon Saad, 18, Saginaw Spirit, 2011 eligible
Stefan Noesen, 17, Plymouth Whalers, 2011 eligible
Vincent Trocheck, 17, Saginaw Spirit, 2011 eligible
Nick Shore, 18, U. of Denver, 2011 eligible
Matt Nieto, 18, Boston U., 2011 eligible
Seth Ambroz, 17, Omaha Lancers, 2011 eligible
defensemen
Nick Leddy, 19, Rockford IceHogs, 1st round (16th overall) by Minnesota in 2009
William Wrenn, 19, U. of Denver, 2nd round (43rd overall) by San Jose in 2009
Brian Dumoulin, 19, Boston College, 2nd round (51st overall) by Carolina in 2009
Philip Samuelsson, 19, Boston College, 2nd round (61st overall) by Pittsburgh in 2009
Patrick Wey, 19, Boston College, 4th round (115th overall) by Washington in 2009
*Cam Fowler, 18, Anaheim Ducks, 1st round (12th overall) by Anaheim in 2010
Derek Forbort, 18, U. of North Dakota, 1st round (15th overall) by Los Angeles in 2010
Jarred Tinordi, 18, London Knights, 1st round (22nd overall) by Montreal in 2010
Justin Faulk, 18, U. of Minnesota-Duluth, 2nd round (37th overall) by Carolina in 2010
Jon Merrill, 18, U. of Michigan, 2nd round (38th overall) by New Jersey in 2010
Mark Alt, 19, U. of Minnesota, 2nd round (53rd overall) by Carolina in 2010
Justin Holl, 18, U. of Minnesota, 2nd round (54th overall) by Chicago in 2010
Stephen Johns, 18, U. of Notre Dame, 2nd round (60th overall) by Chicago in 2010
Taylor Aronson, 19, Portland Winterhawks, 3rd round (78th overall) by Nashville in 2010
Austin Levi, 18, Plymouth Whalers, 3rd round (85th overall) by Chicago in 2010
Brandon Archibald, 18, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, 4th round (94th overall) by Columbus in 2010
*John Ramage, 19, U. of Wisonsin, 4th round (103rd overall) by Calgary in 2010
Kevin Gravel, 18, St. Cloud State, 5th round (148th overall) by Los Angeles in 2010
Joe Rogalski, 19, Sarnia Sting, 6th round (152nd overall) by Pittsburgh in 2010
Kevin Lind, 18, U. of Notre Dame, 6th round (177th overall) by Anaheim in 2010
Adam Clendening, 18, Boston U., 2011 eligible
goalies
Brandon Maxwell, 19, Kitchener Rangers, 6th round (154th overall) by Colorado in 2009
*Jack Campbell, 18, Windsor Spitfires, 1st round (11th overall) by Dallas in 2010
Mac Carruth, 18, Portland Winterhawks, 7th round (191st overall) by Chicago in 2010
Michael Houser, 18, London Knights, 2011 eligible
I have to say that I'm thrilled with the depth of talent available. A hell of a lot of Americans have been drafted in the last few years. Cam Fowler will probably not be available for the tournament and we can't complain about that. Canada is without five or more guys every year that make the NHL as teenagers. What would suck would be to lose Kyle Palmieri, Jerry D'Amigo, Jeremy Morin, and Nick Leddy to the AHL. All but the latter were on last year's winner. Hopefully at least one or two of them will be made available by their clubs. Maybe we'll even get lucky and have Fowler. We'll see.
Anyway, here are my picks.
*D'Amigo-*Palmieri-Watson
*Morin-Shore-Brown
*Kreider-Coyle-Saad
Etem-Bjugstad-Grimaldi
*Zucker
*Fowler-Leddy
Forbort-Faulk
Merrill-*Ramage
Tinordi
*Campbell
Houser
If the three AHL forwards are unavailable my next choices would be Shane McColgan, Zach Budish, and Shane Prince. Tyler Maxwell is very interesting too. The only player I cut from last year is Ryan Bourque. He was solid last year but I think there are just too many players who bring more to the equation than he can.
If Fowler and Leddy are out of the mix I'm not sure who I'd go with. Honestly, I don't know enough about our other defensemen to really judge, but I think we'll get by just fine.
Gotta go with Campbell despite his ugly numbers in Windsor this year. He seems like a better-than-his-stats big game goalie anyway. The kid has last year's gold along with golds in the past two Under-18 tournaments. The backup shouldn't be very relevant but I'm going with the highly touted Houser, who is fourth in the O in save percentage.
Coming into this piece my biggest concern was that Shane McColgan would be left off the team after not even being invited to the summer camp in Lake Placid. A kid rated to be a high first round pick who scored a point per game as a true rookie in the WHL absolutely needs to be at that camp. But when writing this post, I had trouble finding a spot for him on the team. There is a lot of talent at USA Hockey's disposal. I'd love to see him in Buffalo but I won't be outraged if he's not there.
Just win.
