The members of the U.S. world junior championships team that was finalized Wednesday have known plenty of success.
Eight of the players were on the team that beat Canada in the gold-medal game on Canadian soil last January. Two of those players and four others won the under-18 championships. And coach Keith Allain is behind the bench at the No. 1-ranked college hockey program at Yale.
But Allain, while excited that people think the USA has a chance to repeat in Buffalo, isn’t paying much attention to the “favorite” label.
“Our focus is to come together as a team and to get better each game,” he said in a conference call. “‘Favorites’ is just outside noise as far as I’m concerned.”
After a training camp and two exhibitions, the USA whittled its roster from 29 to 22. In addition to having plenty of international success, the team features a big, mobile defense, solid goaltending, versatility and quickness.
“You’re going to see speed be a trademark in this tournament and one of the components for us was a get a very good skating team,” said team general manager Jim Johannson.
Four of the players — Jerry D’Amigo, Kyle Palmieri, Jeremy Morin and Nick Leddy — have spent time in the NHL or American Hockey League this season.
Key among the returnees is goalie Jack Campbell, who won both the world junior and under-18 tournaments. He replaced a struggling Mike Lee in the gold-medal game at the world juniors and stopped 32 of 34 shots in the 6-5 overtime win against Canada. He ended up being the top American taken— 11th overall by the Dallas Stars— in the June draft.
“The best word I can use to describe him is he’s a winner,” said Allain. “He’s found a way to come up big in big games his whole career. We realize he had a tough start (to his junior hockey season) in Windsor, but he has a great deal of experience and confidence.”
The USA will have plenty of competition at the tournament for the world’s top teen-age players, which runs through Jan. 5.
Finland, the opening opponent on Dec. 26, plays a North American, in-your-face style. Canada has 15 first-round draft picks on its roster and Sweden split games with the USA at a tournament during the summer.
Allain plans to counteract that with the style that has led Yale to the top of the college poll.
“We play an up-tempo game at Yale,” he said. “We like to get all five guys involved in the offense. We’re a quick transition team. We back-pressure the puck hard. You want to suit your team’s style to the strengths of the players and I think there’s a good match there.”
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