Three players born in 2005 from New England will represent their country at the 2022 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, it was announced Wednesday afternoon. Avon Old Farms and Junior Bulldogs center Joe Connor (Amherst, N.H.), Sioux Falls Stampede right wing Will McDonough (Duxbury, Mass.), and Brunswick and Mid Fairfield defenseman Lucas St. Louis (Old Greenwich, Conn.) were...
Three players born in 2005 from New England will represent their country at the 2022 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, it was announced Wednesday afternoon.
Avon Old Farms and Junior Bulldogs center Joe Connor (Amherst, N.H.), Sioux Falls Stampede right wing Will McDonough (Duxbury, Mass.), and Brunswick and Mid Fairfield defenseman Lucas St. Louis (Old Greenwich, Conn.) were three of the 24 players who made the U.S. Under-18 Men’s Select Team that will travel to Red Deer, Alberta, July 31-August 6.
The trio were selected based on their performance at the USA Hockey Select 17 Player Development Camp, the two-day Hlinka-Gretzky Cup Camp that followed, and their overall body of work.
Tri-City Storm head coach Anthony Noreen will be the American bench boss. Assisting him will be recently named UMass assistant coach Tommy Upton, Des Moines Buccaneers head coach Matt Curley and Green Bay head coach Michael Leone. The general manager is Marc Boxer of USA Hockey while Chicago Black Hawks amateur scout Rod Braceful and Sioux Falls Stampede general manager Tony Gasparini are part of the player personnel staff.
Also making the U.S. squad for the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup were seven players committed to Division 1 colleges in New England. Mount Saint Charles defenseman Michael Hagens, a Harvard commit, was one of them. Joining him up were Providence commit and Tri-City Storm right wing Tanner Adams, UMass commit and Dubuque Fighting Saints right wing Mikey Burchill, fellow Minuteman commit and Buffalo Junior Sabres left wing Ryan Smith, and Dartmouth recruit/Long Island Gulls left wing Griffin Erdman. On the back end, Boston University commit Gavin McCarthy of the Muskegon Lumberjacks and Vermont commit Charlie Kinsman of the Buffalo Junior Sabres will help defend the blue line.
The biggest shock as far as who didn’t make the team out of the Hlinka-Gretzky Camp was Eden Prairie High School defenseman Ryan Koering, a Colorado College commit. Local goaltenders Thomas Kiesewetter (Plymouth, Mass.) and Sam Scopa (Lexington, Mass.) earned an opportunity at the Hlinka-Gretzky Camp, but were ultimately passed up by USA Hockey staff.
The Americans will play Germany, Finland and Czechia in their three preliminary round games beginning on July 31. The semifinals and final are set for August 5 and 6. All games will be played at the Peavey Mart Centrium, the home rink of the Western Hockey League’s Red Deer Rebels.
