Why follow World Juniors?

On Wednesday, the final roster for the U.S. team in the World Junior Championships was named. Here is why you might want to follow the tournament, which starts Sunday in Buffalo, N.Y.:

* The Minnesota angle: There are five Minnesotans on the team: forwards Nick Bjugstad of Blaine and Brock Nelson of Warroad, and defensemen Justin Faulk of South St. Paul, Derek Forbort of Duluth and Nick Leddy of Eden Prairie. ... There is also a player for Shattuck-St. Mary's in the World Juniors. He is senior Nicholas Weberg, but he is from Oslo, Norway, and is playing for his native country. He is only 5-7, 156 but through mid-Dec. had 21 goals and 23 assists for 44 points.

* The WCHA twist: Four of those Minnesotans play on WCHA teams. Bjugstad plays for the Gophers, Nelson and Forbort for North Dakota -- a team the Gophers play in mid-January -- and Faulk for UMD. There are also two other WCHA forwards on the roster, Drew Shore and Jason Zucker, both of Denver. So WCHA fans have plenty of players to watch.

Oh, almost forgot. There are two more WCHA players on Canada's team. They are forward Jaden Schwartz of Colorado College and defenseman Dylan Olsen of UMD.

* The Gophers slant: Bjugstad not only made the team, he is playing center. That's where he started for the Gophers but then was switched to right wing, taking Zach Budish's spot on the second line. Sometimes in the past, U players came back worn out from all the hockey they played in the World Juniors.

But in Bjugstad's case, he probably will benefit from the extra ice time. He missed about a month of this season with mono. He has only two goals -- one an empty-netter -- and two assists in 13 games. He missed five games.

The Gophers coaches thought it might be easier for him to move to a wing, where he would have less defensive responsibility and could use his size (6-4, 204) in the corners.

Also on the U.S. team is ex-Gophers defenseman Nick Leddy. He played at Minnesota last season as a freshman, then signed last summer with the Chicago Blackhawks. Now he plays for the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL.

Leddy should get a lot of ice time.

* The Wild watch: Haula is a Wild draft pick. He was taken in the seventh round in the 2009 NHL draft. Another Wild pick is Zucker of Las Vegas. He is off to a great start with DU after the Wild picked him in the second round in 2010. Zucker has 14 goals and seven assists for 21 points in 20 games for the Pioneers. He is second on the team in points, four behind Shore, and tied with him for the team lead in goals.

* The Final Four link: Yale coach Keith Allain is coaching the U.S. team. And his team, the Elis, are rated No. 1 in the nation and have a 11-1 record. Last season Yale beat North Dakota 3-2 in the Northeast Regional before losing 9-7 to eventuall NCAA champion Boston College in the regional final. So maybe Yale will be at the Xcel in April for the Frozen Four.

GOPHERS 20th IN PAIRWISE

Usually a team has to be in the PairWise's top 12-13 to make the field, so the Gophers, 9-7-2, still have some work to do.

If the NCAA tournament was starting today, only four WCHA would make it as at-large teams: UMD, No. 2 in the PairWise ratings behind Yale; North Dakota, tied for third, and Denver and Nebraska Omaha, tied for sixth.

Union, the Gophers' next foe on Dec. 31, would be a bubble team at No. 14.