Christmas is only a few days away, which means the start of the IIHF World Junior Championship comes right around the corner as well.
The U.S. club opened its two-game exhibition schedule on Thursday night with a 3-2 win over Russia in Kamloops, British Columbia, and will face the Czech Republic Saturday before naming the final roster and opening tournament play next Wednesday against Slovakia.
Boston College’s Oliver Wahlstrom (Quincy, Mass.) and Boston University’s Joel Farabee (Cicero, N.Y.) each had two points in the third period as the Americans overcame a two-goal deficit to win the exhibition opener. Wahlstrom scored the tying goal at the 9:12 mark, and both assisted on a Jack Hughes game-winner with 29 seconds left in regulation.
In goal, Northeastern’s Cayden Primeau (Voorhes, N.J.) played in relief of Darien, Conn., native Spencer Knight and stopped all eight shots he faced to earn the win.
The preliminary roster is chock full of players with regional ties, including three from Massachusetts and two each from Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York.
Joining Wahlstrom are two collegiate players each from BU (forwards Farabee and Logan Cockerill), Northeastern (Primeau and forward Tyler Madden), Providence (forward Jay O’Brien [Hingham, Mass.] and defenseman Michael Callahan [Franklin, Mass.]), and Yale (defensemen Phil Kemp [Greenwich, Conn.] and Jack St. Ivany).
Also on the roster are U.S. Under-18 and future BC goaltender Knight, Harvard forward Jack Drury, and Western Michigan defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (Voorhees, N.J.).
This week, head coach Mike Hastings (Minnesota State) discussed his U.S. team and some of its players from our region in advance of the tournament:
Based on the first few days of practice, what do you think fans can expect overall from this team competing at World Juniors?
We’re going to give fans a little bit of everything. We’ll be strong in the back with some great goaltending options. Our defense, it’s a mix because we have size but we also have some real puck-movers who contribute on the offensive. Our forwards, there’s a lot of speed and skill. You add all of that up and the hope is that we’ll be a sound defensive team with a great transition game.
How do the several pairs of players from the same school help to more quickly form chemistry that is so important in a short tournament?
I think any time you have chemistry from start of the season to this midway point, so to speak, that’s a good thing to have. When they get to this point there’s a familiarity there’s a positive and with this group that you’re talking about I think it’s helped them adjust in a real short period of time to acclimating themselves and not being nervous and I’ve really seen a positive with that.
Providence coach Nate Leaman recently mentioned that the USA Hockey staff was clear about looking for a group of reliable, “defensive defensemen” for the preliminary roster. Why was that a major focus?
When you’re coaching and you get to a tournament like this you have a tendency to want dependable, reliable, something that is consistent. Somebody that you can count on no matter what. So when you talk about the idea of a defensive defenseman, they take care of their end first, they help you get out of their end in a hurry so you’re not spending a lot of d-zone time which helps your transition and I think that’s a real important piece for us to be a good offensive team.
What are the greatest attributes you’ve noticed in the forward group? It seems like there’s a good mix of some size and skill, including six guys from New England colleges.
I’d say our speed and our skill. We want to be in your face in a hurry, make quick passes and so forth. Actually, if you look at our positional groups, I’d say our defensive corps are the biggest, which I have no problem with. It’s evident we’ve got a chance to have some chemistry with players on the same team right now and we’ll see if we can avoid having to reinvent the wheel.
Even though Jay O’Brien missed time with an injury and Oliver Wahlstrom hasn’t put up the type of numbers many expected at BC, they have had plenty of exposure and were still selected. What strengths made each of them important to have on the preliminary roster?
First of all, they both had strong summer camps for us, which is part of the evaluation process. The other thing I’ll say from the start is that there’s two different stories at play with these two young men.
When you talk about Oliver, he has history. If there’s one thing in our game that I think comes at a premium it’s goal scoring and he has a history of doing that – and doing so at the international level. With Jay O’Brien, I think it’s exciting because here’s a player who’s trying to write his own history at a level above prep school. So when you look at him, he’s battled some adversity the beginning of this season, and when I talked to Nate (Leaman) he felt that Jay was trending in a good direction and I think we’ve seen that here at camp.
What other players from New England schools have impressed you so far?
I don’t know if there’s any one player in particular, to be honest with you. To me, it’s more the league as a whole. You have Boston University and Boston College, you could say they aren’t playing to the level of success they’ve seen in the past. In saying that, UMass has done well, Northeastern has done well, so you’re still seeing success within the league and I think that’s been most impressive to me.
All three goaltenders have local ties as Knight is from Connecticut, Cayden Primeau goes to Northeastern and is from Voorhees, N.J., and Kyle Keyser is a Bruins draftee. What stands out about that group, and how do you plan on making the playing time decisions at least at the outset?
If there’s one position I feel good about right now, it’s our goaltending. We have three guys that I think all have a chance to be our number one. Who will that be? We’re hoping the players will give us that answer with their level of play. Spencer is great structurally and positionally, Cayden has a tremendous season last year, has international success and is off to a strong start again and then Kyle is a tremendous competitor. They all have winning qualities and we’re excited to have them here.
What has it been like having Dartmouth’s David Lassonde and Northeastern’s Jerry Keefe working with you on the staff?
There’s two little pieces to that. With Lassonde, there’s a lot of respect because he’s been around the game and been successful for a long period of time. That equates to a professionalism that I respect at a tremendous level. Coach Keefe is an interesting one for me because I coached Jerry (with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers). So, it’s fun in the sense that when he elaborates on the challenges of a college coach, the plus and minuses of a student-athlete and so forth, I try to remind him that he was that guy for me once.
I feel blessed that I’ve surrounded people around me that understand what’s important in what we’re doing and I’m fortunate USA Hockey was on board with the staff we have here.
Even though Hockey East has had a couple “down” years in terms of non-conference records, etc., the league is still sending a large group to this tournament each year. From your national perspective, what still makes the league and New England teams in general so strong?
I think one of the reason is the amount of good hockey players that come from that part of the country. Combined with the success of the programs, and their ability to not only recruit out east but now getting into Minnesota, Michigan, California and the footprint they have in parts of Canada, they’ve become a global league among the college leagues.
In terms of team play, I think they continue to be a strong league because the top keeps pulling the bottom up. You see this season, where BU and BC are maybe not what they’re used to being, but UMass or Northeastern – they’re starting to make that league deeper on a consistent basis.
Mattias Samuelsson has stepped right in and played big minutes at Western Michigan this year. How has he looked so far in camp?
Mattias was someone that quietly impressed us at camp this summer and someone who we were eager to see how his season would play out. To say we’re pleased is an understatement. I think, to have a true freshman playing top pairing minutes in the NCHC says a lot not just about his potential, but where he’s at today and the player he is today.
