As if we needed anymore evidence that the young guys on the No. 5 Boston University men’s hockey team are crazy talented.
On Monday, USA Hockey announced the preliminary roster for the 2017 United States National Junior Team. Seven of the 27 athletes are current Terriers. Freshman defenseman Chad Krys and sophomore blue-liner Charlie McAvoy got the invite after leading last year’s U.S. NJT squad to a bronze medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.
Along with Krys and McAvoy, freshman goaltender Jake Oettinger, sophomore forward Jordan Greenway, and freshman forwards Pat Harper, Clayton Keller and Kieffer Bellows made the first cut.
Four of the 27 players will be cut before this year’s IIHF WJC starts Dec. 26 in Canada. The final roster cuts are expected to be made Dec. 24.
Playing for the U.S. National Team is nothing new for most of the Terriers named to the preliminary roster. McAvoy, Oettinger, Keller, and Krys won gold with Team USA at the 2015 IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship, while Bellows joined Oettinger, Keller, and Krys to snatch bronze in the same tournament last year.
Training camp will be from Dec. 16-20 at HarborCenter in Buffalo, New York, then Dec. 20-24 in Ontario. There will also be two pre-tournament games on the 21st and 23rd.
Not to be outdone, freshman defenseman Dante Fabbro was named to the Canadian WJC selection camp. He joins North Dakota’s Tyler Jost as the only NCAA athletes to make the cut. Camp will be held from Dec. 10th to the 14th.
As a reminder, the Terriers host Yale University on Dec. 13th, then take on Union College Jan. 5th.
For the complete schedule for this year’s tournament, click here.
Great news look forward to watching the tournament. I have always thought that kids who play in this tournament always come back better players. Go USA ?? sorry Dante best of luck silver’s not bad
I love watching it too … but am SO much more into the tournament when BU Hockey is well represented … and this will be one of those years! Go USA, Go BU!
Ok guys here is the question. With all these players 7 or 8 why would we Sked a game/Union the night of the finals of the WJC? A Thur night a night we never play a game on
I do think there is a precedent for playing mid-week games during winter break. I agree that Union is going to be an extremely difficult game without those 7-8 guys … especially since Union has the #4 ranked offense in the nation. Of course if USA gets eliminated early (though that is not at all what I want to see), perhaps we get some guys back early. Anyway, it’s only that one game. What I am most concerned about is not how we do against Union that night … but that all WJC Terriers stay healthy throughout the tournament.
If all the BU players make the squad (plus Fabro for Team Canada) and USA is in the January 5 final, BU would be down to 11 forwards and 5 defense for the Union game, provided everyone is healthy.