2023 World Junior Summer Showcase Look-Ahead

The 2023 World Junior Summer Showcase is coming to Plymouth, MI. Here's what to expect:

The World Junior Summer Showcase returns to Plymouth, Michigan later this week, with delegations from Finland and Sweden making the trek to USA Hockey Arena to take on the Americans.

The event serves as an evaluation tool for the U.S., Finland, and Sweden in preparation for the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Gothenburg, which will unfold in the coming December and January.

Practices for the three nations will begin on Thursday morning, and games will get started on Saturday, running through the following Friday (August 4th).

Three drafted Red Wings prospects will participate: American goaltender Trey Augustine (whom Detroit took in the 2023 2nd round) and Swedish defensemen Axel Sandin Pellikka (a 2023 first rounder) and Anton Johansson (a 2022 fourth rounder).

The 44 Americans will be divided into a "Blue" and "White" team to create a four-team field, with Augustine handling the "White" team's netminding duties. The American coach will be David Carle, full-time head coach of the University of Denver Pioneers, who will also lead Team USA to Gothenburg in December.

In addition to those Red Wing draft choices, some prominent draft eligibles will take the ice in Plymouth, including Cole Eiserman—a Newbury, MA-born '06 committed to play his college hockey at the University of Minnesota who is expected to hear his name called early in the 2024 Draft—and James Hagens from Hauppauge, NY, who should be one of the top prospects at the 2025 Draft.  

Eiserman's 69 goals for the National Team Development Program was the second best goal-scoring season in NTDP history, behind only Cole Caufield's 72 in 2018-19, while Hagens' 21 points at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge last fall was a tournament record.

All practices from Plymouth will be free and open to the public, while game tickets are available on the USA Hockey website or at the box office in Plymouth.