Helenius expected to headline youngsters likely to play at 2025 IIHF tournament in Ottawa later this month
While the Buffalo Sabres await the announcement of how many of their players will participate in the upcoming Four Nations Face-Off Tournament on Wednesday, the club learned on Monday some of their draftees who could be heading to Ottawa for the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships.
Team Canada announced the roster for their World Junior selection camp and Sabres goalie prospect Scott Ratzlaff was one of four netminders chosen.
The 19-year-old is not putting up great numbers for the rebuilding Seattle Thunderbirds squad this season (7-8-2, 3.68 GAA, .889 save percentage), but he was impressive at Sabres training camp in September and was the third goalie for Team Canada at the last WJC in Sweden. Ratzlaff will be in competition with 2023 draftee Carson Bjarnason, 2024 draftee Carter George and underager Jack Ivankovic.
Team USA also announced their roster for their selection camp and 2024 Sabres second-round pick Adam Kleber and third-rounder Brodie Ziemer were named. The 6’5”, 210 lb. Kleber has one assist in 13 games as a freshman at Minnesota-Duluth, and Ziemer has eight points (5 goals, 3 assists) in 16 games at the University of Minnesota. Kleber is considered in the mix for a bottom pairing role for the US, while Ziemer looks to be a lock to make the talented American forward corps.
The European countries have not announced their preliminary rosters yet, but it is expected that 2024 first-rounder Konsta Helenius, and 2023 draftees Anton Wahlberg, Maxim Strbak and Norwin Panocha will be on the rosters for Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, and Germany, as all three were on their countries 2024 WJC squads.
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