On Saturday, the USA announced the 23-man roster that it will take to the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which runs this year from Aug. 11 to 16 in Brno, Czechia and Trenčín, Slovakia.
While the Americans often dominate the annual IIHF U-18 World Championship in the spring, they have only won the Hlinka Gretzky Cup once – back in 2003 – and haven’t reached the final since 2016. They have, however, reached the semifinals each of the past two years.
The USA does not bring its National Development Team to the annual summer event, instead choosing other players.
Clark Donatelli, who coached the US team at the summer U-18 tournament back in 2016, explained at the time: “In the National Development Team, they pick guys to commit for two years and a lot can change in those two years. Some guys grow and develop at different rates and you see guys that might get overlooked one year and the next year they’re real good players. If they were to pick that national team now they’d probably take some of the guys from this team.”
This year’s US team does not include anybody projected to be a first-round pick in next year’s NHL Entry Draft, but it includes four players from the Western Hockey League, one from the Ontario Hockey League.
Before the start of the tournament on Monday, the USA plays an exhibition game against co-host Czechia on Saturday in Brno.
Click here for the complete tournament schedule.
Goaltenders: Aidan Hese, Sioux Falls Power; Brady Knowling, U.S. National Under-17 Team (USHL); Kaenan Smith, Sioux Falls Power.
Defensemen: Nathan Bienstock, NJ Rockets; Nick Bogas, Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL); Levi Harper, Shattuck-St. Mary’s; Will McLaughlin, Drumheller Dragons (AJHL); Kade Meyer, Little Caesars; Zaide Penner, Northstar Christian; Alofa Tunoa Ta’amu, Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL).
Forwards: Noah Davidson, Shattuck-St. Mary’s; Nolan Duskocy, BK Selects; Brody Gillespie, Spokane Chiefs (WHL); Shaeffer, Gordon-Carroll, Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL); Caden Harvey, Penguins Elite; Jack Hextall, Youngstown Phantoms (USHL); Nikita Klepov, Sioux City Musketeers (USHL); Luke Puchner, Shattuck-St. Mary’s; Brooks Rogowski, Oshawa Generals (OHL); Joseph Salandra, Brunswick School; Kalder Varga, Kelowna Rockets (WHL); Jaxon Williams, Carolina Jr. Hurricanes; Blake Zielinski, Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL).
Head Coach: Kevin Porter. Associate Coach: Ben Syer. Assistant Coaches: Cody Chupp, Joe Howe. General Manager: Rod Braceful.
Photo © Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images.
