A little after 24 hours after the Los Angeles Kings made the last pick of the 2012 NHL Draft, scouting for the 2013 NHL Draft began.
USA Hockey’s Annual Select 17 Player Development Camp, which saw 201 players take the ice during the six day event, serves two purposes: a tryout and scouting. The primary is for USA Hockey to select their Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament team which takes place in August in Central Europe. The other is for scouts to take a look at the top first-year eligible Americans not from the National Team Development Program on the ice together for the first time.
The camp saw many of the top 2013 draft eligible players play well this week and make the cut for the Ivan Hlinka team.
Green Bay Gamblers’ forward Matt Weis led the camp in scoring with three goals and five assists in five games. Equally as impressive was Sarnia Sting defenseman Anthony DeAngelo’s performance in his team’s six games. DeAngelo had three goals and two assists all while helping lead the Gold team win the Select 17 championship on Friday. Weis and DeAngelo will both represent the United States for the first and second time, respectively, in International competition.
Weis and DeAngelo were not the only well-known 1995 birth years to have an impact at the camp. Quebec Remparts forward Adam Erne tied for the lead in goals with four and also added an assist en route to making the US team. Erie Otters goalie Devin Williams was outstanding throughout camp posting a 1.61 GAA and a .947 SV%—both camp bests.
Shortly after the camp was completed, players were notified they would be making the trip to the Czech Republic.
Last year’s Ivan Hlinka team struggled with a 1-2-0-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record and took fifth place. While the success of the team was a disappointment, the talent on the team was not. Of the 19 draft eligible players on last year’s team, nine were selected in last weekend’s draft including Alex Galchenyuk who went third overall and Cristoval Nieves and Sam Kurker who went in the second round.
2012 USA Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament Roster
Forwards
Trevor Moore (Tri-City Storm), Jimmy Lodge (Saginaw Spirit), Andrew Oglevie (Cedar Rapids RoughRiders), Karson Kuhlman (Esko HS/Dubuque Fighting Saints), Jason Cotton (Colorado Thunderbirds U16), Justin Bailey (Long Island Royals U16/Indiana Ice), Vinni Lettieri (Minnetonka HS/Lincoln Stars), Sean Malone (Nichols School), Drew Melanson (Delbarton School), Gabe Guertler (Fargo Force), Adam Erne (Quebec Remparts), Matt Weis (Corpus Christi IceRays/Green Bay Gamblers), Corey Ronan (St. Sebastian’s School)
Defensemen
Tommy Vannelli (Minnetonka HS), R.J. Gicewicz (Nichols School), Parker Reno (Edina HS), Michael Downing (Dubuque Fighting Saints), Teemu Kivihalme (Burnsville HS), Anthony DeAngelo (Sarnia Sting), Connor Clifton (New Jersey Hitmen)
Goaltenders
Thatcher Demko (LA Kings U16/Omaha Lancers) and Devin Williams (Metro Jets/Erie Otters)