Team USA will head via charter bus to Duluth, Minn., tomorrow morning and have the first practice of its week-long pre-camp on the AMSOIL Arena ice there tomorrow afternoon. AMSOIL Arena is home to the University of Minnesota Duluth hockey program so it will be familiar territory to UMD Bulldogs Max Plante and Adam Kleber, two of the nine players that have a chance to return after helping lead the U.S. to gold at last year’s World Juniors.
The roster currently stands at 30 players, with the final group of 25 who will represent the U.S. in the tournament set to be announced by Dec. 24.
Team USA will play two pre-tournament games in Duluth in preparation for the World Junior Championship – Dec. 21 vs. Germany at 4 p.m. CT and Dec. 23 vs. Finland at 6 p.m. CT. Both games will be available on USAHockeyTV.com.
The IIHF World Junior Championship gets started in full force on Dec. 26 with Team USA opening play against Germany at 5 p.m. CT that day at Grand Casino Arena in Saint Paul, Minn. Tickets for all games are available at WorldJuniorsMN26.com.