Gophers freshman forward Leon Bristedt was selected to Sweden's National Junior Team preliminary roster on Monday.

The Stockholm, Sweden, native joins Minnesota teammates Hudson Fasching and Ryan Collins in the quest to compete in the upcoming International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Toronto and Montreal Dec. 26-Jan. 5.

Bristedt is one of 26 Swedish standouts that will compete for a roster spot, but his international experience will play in his favor. He's played with the national team since he was 16 and tallied three goals and an assist in five games at the 2013 IIHF U-18 World Junior Championships. In 2012, he collected three assists in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial and led all players with seven goals and an assist at the World Hockey Challenge.

In 12 games with the Gophers this season, he has two goals and two assists and has played most nights on the top two lines.

Fasching and Collins were selected for the U.S. National Junior Team preliminary roster, last week. Fasching played on the team last year under Gophers coach Don Lucia. Burnsville native Mark Osiecki will coach this year's team.

The U.S. and Sweden are scheduled to play a pre-tournament game on Dec. 23 in Kingston, Ontario.

• The Gophers dropped to No. 7 in the USCHO poll on Monday and have fallen in the rankings after each of their last three weeks of competition.

They blew by Michigan State 5-0 in their Big Ten opener on Friday, but lost a shootout that officially ended in a 3-3 tie with the unranked Spartans on Saturday night.

North Dakota remains at No. 1, Boston University climbed to No. 2, Minnesota State fell a spot to No. 3, Michigan Tech is No. 4 and Harvard jumped four spots into the Top 5.

Minnesota-Duluth fell to No. 9, but has three first-place votes. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 2 in the Pairwise rankings, and Minnesota State is No. 1 after nearly half of the college hockey season.

Penn State and Michigan received Top 20 votes after the Nittany Lions swept Wisconsin in Madison and the Wolverines scored eight goals against Ohio State. Complete USCHO poll and Top 20 results from last weekend.