Team USA World Juniors Preview

Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images

By: Clare McManus

After losing in the finals at last year’s tournament, team USA is ready to come back and compete for a gold medal. They also hope to continue their four year medal streak, winning bronze in 2016 and 2018, gold in 2017, and silver in 2019.

This year, team USA will be competing in group B with Canada, Russia, Germany and Czech Republic. Team USA will have to compete hard in robin-round play because all teams in group B are loaded with talent. The United States will also be without two superstar players they had last year. Jack Hughes and Joel Farabee will both miss the tournament as they remain with their NHL clubs. Hughes with the NJ Devils and Farabee with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Team USA has built yet another stacked offensive team, with a lot of skill and depth throughout. With Oliver Wahlstrom, Alex Turcotte, Cole Caulfield, Arthur Kaliyev, Bobby Brink, Nick Robertson, Trevor Zegras, John Beecher and more, the United States has plenty of options for wing and center pairings. The US also have players Jack Drury and Shane Pinto to bring skill and physicality to their bottom-six. 

Although the United States has a great group of forwards, they also have an incredibly talented defensive core. K’Andre Miller and Mattias Samuelsson will be returning again in hopes of capturing gold. Both players Miller and Samuelsson will bring lots of size and physical play, with Miller standing at 6’5 and Samuelsson at 6’4. Ty Emberson will also play for the USA and will be a key role on the penalty kill. Alex Regula and Cam York will bring offensive skill to the US blue line with Regula posting 26 points in 25 games with the London Knights(OHL) and Cam York with 9 points in 14 games with the University of Michigan(NCAA). Other defenseman included Zac Jones, Jordan Harris, and Spencer Stastney.

Goaltending for the United States should be very good with superstar Spencer Knight, then other consistent goalies Dustin Wolf and Isaiah Saville.

How will team USA do this year? 

Projected Roster:

Zegras-Turcotte-Wahlstrom

Robertson-Beecher-Caufield

Brink-Pinto-Kaliyev

Drury-Hall-Pivonka

           Ford

York-Miller

Samulsson-Jones

Harris-Emberson

      Stastney

Knight-Wolf-Saville