WJC: 2023 Team USA Roster Talk

[Rabid Ranger]

You're not going to send him and his family to Magnetic Hill? What kind of Monctonion are you? LOL.

I'm coming to you as a 67s fan - any way Tyler Boucher makes the U.S. squad this year (or gets a camp invite?). A friend and I were having a debate. I think he's a guy you want on your team, warts and all, as he's (1) 19 years old, almost 20 in fact, (2) very physical and a punishing bodychecker at this level, (3) knows his way around the o-zone, with a terrific shot. I could see him ride shotgun on the wing with some higher-skilled, more offensively adept guys as he'd be able to clear some space for them on the ice, focus on puck retrieval and net-front presence, and has the ability to finish.

Arguments to the contrary are lack of discipline, inability to translate his overtly physical game to the international game with IIHF refereeing, lack of defensive focus (he wouldn't necessarily be a good checker or shutdown player), or simply that the Americans have better options at the wing position. I'm interested in hearing the views of Americans on here.

I say Boucher gets at least a camp invite for the reasons you describe plus he has a history with USA Hockey. Besides, we always tend to have at least one guy on our international teams that goes full on goon during tournaments and racks up the PIMs. CHL wise, we might have more participation than normal this year. I would bet at least one of the goalies is a CHLer and there's some good forwards/d-men to choose from. I'm interested to see if Musty gets an invite.

 

[David Suzuki]

You're not going to send him and his family to Magnetic Hill? What kind of Monctonion are you? LOL.

I thought about it but I'd rather not bore them to death.

Speaking of, the tidal bore might be worth seeing lol.

 

[stickty111]

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

No Pastujov makes no sense to me. It seems like they didn’t like his defensive game and compete level at the last tournaments, but are we really going to have like 9/10 scoring forwards on this team that are better than him to be able to leave him off? If so, I see why they did it, but I doubt there will be that many. I hope we aren’t going for a team of grinders once again.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

 

[GermanSpitfire]

No Jack Peart or Pastjuov is certainly surprising.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

No Jack Peart or Pastjuov is certainly surprising.

Looks like he's in

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Looks like he's in

Okay - that aligns with more of what I was expecting.

USA hates kids that play in the CHL.

 

[jake1]

Glad to see Blake get a look up front. He is super slippery and deceptive. Not the strongest guy, but with space he's impressive.

 

[Namikaze Minato]

Damn, bummed about Voit and Sasha.

 

[mphmiles]

Damn, bummed about Voit and Sasha.

Stupid that they didn't even get a camp invite.

 

[donjohnson]

Okay - that aligns with more of what I was expecting.

USA hates kids that play in the CHL.

It's so sad that this is the case...happy for Andrew Oke that he has a good shot to make the team from Saginaw but not having Sasha and Ty Voit (at least at camp) is a disgrace.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

That roster isn’t bad then, except for the two CHL scorers that could’ve made it. Now we gotta get the final roster right.

 

[Statsy]

Wow, not bringing back a returnee is a bold move, but to not even invite him to camp seems like malpractice in my books.

As for Voit, he's leading the entire OHL in scoring. What else do you gotta do?

 

[William H Bonney]

Pastujov isn't that surprising to me. He's one dimensional and couldn't keep up with the play 4 months ago, so I don't imagine their confidence in him doing so changed. If he made the team it would likely have been as the 13th forward / PP only guy. Seems like they want others they trust to take a regular shift.

I haven't seen Voit a ton but pretty surprised he's not here. There's a lot of similar players to him and it seems they liked the other guys (i.e. Blake, Brindley) more. I still think you have to evaluate a guy scoring so much in a top junior league rather than not taking a look.

No Schmidt is surprising to me. I'm not a fan of him so I'm not mad about it but I figured that as an '03 who's big and an RHD, he'd have an inside track for a shutdown role. They're going young.

Glad to see Mittelstadt. He's underrated because he stayed in HS too long and it took him a bit to adjust the USHL, but he's a good player, he's having a really good NCAA season, and should go early in the 2023 draft as an overager. I thought he'd get left off due to the locks at LHD and them wanting to see more RHD but he's better than the RHD I thought might get a look.

 

[Canada4Gold]

Not taking Voit or Pastujov is certainly a choice. Doesn't look like a great one either but I guess we'll find out

 

[Halfy]

Excited to watch Lucius and McGroarty at least!

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Give me this team.

Duke-Cooley-Snuggerud
McGroarty-Gauthier-Lucius
Smith-Stramel-Brindley
Connors-Savage-Boucher
Blake

Behrens-Hughes
Buium-Peart
Mittelstadt-Chesley
Hutson

Augustine
Mbereko
Muszelik

Next two forwards for me would be Laba and Lund, but I see Connors being the better option for the last 4th line role. I could see Hreschuk potentially taking a role somewhere towards the bottom of the roster on defense, and I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Casey or Ufko take the spot of Behrens. Our top two goalies is going to be a battle for the net with both having very good seasons, and then the last two options are having bad seasons and are battling to make the team as the third goalie.

 

[BerthMania]

Why Samoskevich and Corronato aren't there?

 

[BondraTime]

Why Samoskevich and Corronato aren't there?

Too old

 

[BerthMania]

Too old

What's the rule? They are in the 2021 draft. Is it being born in 2003 and forward?

 

[duxfan1101]

What's the rule? They are in the 2021 draft. Is it being born in 2003 and forward?

Correct. Their draft year is irrelevant. Only their birth year matters.

So the players drafted at 18 years of age who have birthdays in late September, October, November, or December are only eligible for 1 more WJC after their draft.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

What's USA Hockey thinking not taking Fantilly to camp? Another reason why they won't be supplanting Finland on the World Junior medal table anytime soon

Can someone please exorcize this guy?

 

[Peasy]

What's USA Hockey thinking not taking Fantilly to camp? Another reason why they won't be supplanting Finland on the World Junior medal table anytime soon

 

[Wildabeast]

Pastujov isn't that surprising to me. He's one dimensional and couldn't keep up with the play 4 months ago, so I don't imagine their confidence in him doing so changed. If he made the team it would likely have been as the 13th forward / PP only guy. Seems like they want others they trust to take a regular shift.

I haven't seen Voit a ton but pretty surprised he's not here. There's a lot of similar players to him and it seems they liked the other guys (i.e. Blake, Brindley) more. I still think you have to evaluate a guy scoring so much in a top junior league rather than not taking a look.

No Schmidt is surprising to me. I'm not a fan of him so I'm not mad about it but I figured that as an '03 who's big and an RHD, he'd have an inside track for a shutdown role. They're going young.

Glad to see Mittelstadt. He's underrated because he stayed in HS too long and it took him a bit to adjust the USHL, but he's a good player, hrs having a really good NCAA season, and should go early in the 2023 draft as an overager. I thought he'd get left off due to the locks at LHD and them wanting to see more RHD but he's better than the RHD I thought might get a look.

Watched every gopher game. Mittlestad has most certainly been impressive. Great skater, confident, intelligent. He dropped 55 in 60 last year in the USHL and it was shocking he went undrafted.