USA World Juniors Tournament News & Notes

From: DenverPioneers.com

The U.S. will be defending its 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship gold medal, having defeated Canada, 6-5, in overtime, to claim the title last year in Saskatoon, Sask. For a full tournament schedule and ticket information, visit BuffaloWorldJuniors.com
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The U.S. preliminary roster includes 18 first or second-round National Hockey League Draft picks, including nine first-rounders. Additionally, six players are NHL draft eligible in 2011.
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A total of 13 states are represented on the U.S. preliminary roster, with Minnesota and Massachusetts leading the way with five players each. New York and California are right behind with four players apiece, Drew Shore is Colorado's lone representative.
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Since 2000, Team USA has a .642 winning percentage (42-3-5-19-5/W-OTW-OTL-L-T) in the IIHF World Junior Championship and has medaled on three occasions, including gold in both 2004 and 2010.
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Keith Allain, head coach at #1 ranked Yale University, is the head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team. He will be assisted by Mark Osiecki, head men's ice hockey coach at Ohio State; Phil Housley, head coach at Stillwater (Minn.) high school; and Joe Exter, goaltending coach at USA Hockey's National Team Development Program.

7 comments:

Brendan Loy said...

Unrelated, but I thought you might be interested in this:

In front of their largest home crowd since Joe Scott’s very first game as head coach in 2007, the Denver Pioneers (2-6) edged Cal State Northridge (2-6) on Saturday, 66-63, to earn their much-needed second win of the season before heading into a brutal stretch against two WCC powers. ...

The unusually large crowd for a DU basketball game [was] drawn in part by a promotion that saw hundreds of local elementary school students given free tickets and honored on the court at halftime ...

Attendance in the 7,200-seat Magness Arena was announced at 5,450 — a level virtually unheard-of for a basketball game (as opposed to DU hockey games, which routinely draw larger crowds). And unlike some well-attended games, such as this season’s previous high-attendance game against Colorado State (4,851), the crowd Saturday was almost exclusively pro-DU. As a result, while it might be an exaggeration to call the atmosphere electric, it was certainly livelier than a typical Pioneers game — especially in the first half. (The slow pace of the game, the conclusion of the halftime festivities, and perhaps the approach of bedtime for the elementary-school set did conspire to reduce the crowd substantially by the end.)

In any case, the only other games during Scott’s tenure at which DU drew more than 5,000 fans to a basketball game were his very first two games, against Wyoming and Colorado in 2007, which had attendance figures of 5,667 and 5,035, respectively. The following year’s highest-attended game was as Colorado State, 3,692; last season, it was Florida Atlantic, 4,117.


In the photos I've posted, the crowd doesn't look anywhere near 5,450, but they were taken later in the game. As I mentioned, the numbers seemed to diminish substantially after halftime. It definitely looked and felt like a much bigger crowd than usual, though, especially in the first half.

Twister said...

Does the NHL Network televise the World Juniors?

Anonymous said...

Anyone know the result of Bennett's MRI?

dggoddard said...

The NHL Network televised all US games plus several other games last year. Expect the same this year. Press Release will probably be released in a week or so.

dggoddard said...

Mike Chambers has the Bennett info and will post it this afternoon.

Fingers crossed.

Anonymous said...

So funny Zucker and Shore on the team Zucker WCHA rookie of the week. LOL CC Schwartz not even invited to the camp and no ink at all we got the better player

dggoddard said...

Well, Schwartz is Canadian so that might explain, why he's not on the USA roster. :-)

Certainly fair to debate who is the better player. Schwartz is a gifted playmaker, while Zucker is a rare bird, a grinder who can score.

Lets hope they are both great and stay at their schools for another year or so.