As expected, Gophers freshman winger Nick Bjugstad was one of the 27 players named to the preliminary roster for the U.S. team which will compete in the 2011 World Junior Championships in Buffalo and Niagara, N.Y., from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.
Also named to the U.S. team was ex-Gopher defenseman Nick Leddy, who is now playing for the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. In 18 games, Leddy has two goals and seven assists for the IceHogs and is a minus-7.
They will report to the pretournament camp which starts Dec. 17 in Troy, N.Y. Keith Allain, coach of No. 1-rated Yale (10-1-0), will be the head coach of the team. Among his assistants are Phil Housley, the coach of the Stillwater High School team, and Mark Osiecki, the coach of Ohio State. Osiecki is from Burnsville and was a Wisconsin assistant last season.
The U.S. team will have a game against Rensselaer Polytechnial Institute on Dec. 19, then play the Czech Republic on Dec. 21 and Noway on Dec. 23. The roster will be cut by five before the Norway game.
The U.S. is the defending champion in the World Juniors; former Gophers center Jordan Schroeder played on that team.
Bjugstad is one of 24 players on the preliminary roster who participated in an evaulation camp in late July and early August in Lake Placid, N.Y. He was the leading scorer there with seven goals in three scrimmages and two games against Sweden and two against Finland.
Erik Haula, the Gophers freshman center, played for the Finns in those games and will likely be named to the Finnish team for the World Juniors.
Besides Bjugstad (Blaine) and Leddy (Eden Prairie), three other Minnesotans are also on the U.S. roster: defensemen Justin Faulk (South St. Paul) of UMD and Derek Forbort (Duluth) of North Dakota, and forward Brock Nelson (Warroad) of North Dakota.
