In 1991, Japan hosted a hockey tournament called the Phoenix Cup. Since then, the tournament has gone through many iterations as well as many different names. Today, the tournament is known as the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and hosts some of the world’s best hockey players under the age of 18.
Every year since 2018, the Hlinka Gretzky Cup has selected the top U-18 prospects to be invited to their development camps ahead of their tournament. This year, the American development camp will be held at the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, starting July 28th and ending on August 3rd.
There are 16 different players that have been invited to the camp this year with affiliations in the USHL. Below is a list of all USHLers going to the U.S. Hlinka Gretzky Cup Camp at the end of the month:
Nathan Bienstock (17) – Defense, from the Green Bay Gamblers
Nick Bogas (17) – Defense, from the Waterloo Black Hawks
Henry Chmiel (17) – Defense, from the Des Moines Buccaneers
Nicholas Desiderio (17) – Defense, from the Dubuque Fighting Saints
Kaiden Donia (17) – Defense, from the Lincoln Stars
Aidan Hesse (17) – Goalie, from the Sioux Falls Power
Jack Hextall (17) – Center, from the Youngstown Phantoms
Nikita Klepov (17) – Forward, Sioux City Musketeers
Brady Knowling (17) – Goalie, from the USNTDP Juniors
Kade Meyer (16) – Defense, from the USNTDP Juniors
Nicklas Nelson (16) – Defense, from the Sioux Falls Stampede
Zaide Penner (17) – Defense, from the Fargo Force
Luke Puchner (17) – Forward, from the Lincoln Stars
Kaenan Smith (17) – Goalie, from the Sioux Falls Power
Cooper Soller (16) – Forward, from the Sioux Falls Stampede
Blake Zielinski (17) Forward, from the Des Moines Buccaneers