USA World U18 Championships Roster Announced

USA Hockey announced on Tuesday their roster for the upcoming IIHF men’s World U18 Championships, this year held in Slovakia.

As is usually the case, the majority of the roster comes from this year’s NTDP U18 team, with a few exceptions sprinkled in.

This year, the only player from outside the NTDP program will be St. Cloud State freshman Ryan Poehling. This tournament will be one final showcase for Poehling before heading to the NHL Draft. After putting up respectable but modest numbers as a freshman playing much older competition in college hockey, playing against his peer group will give him the opportunity to show NHL teams that type of scoring he might be capable of at the next level.

A pair of forwards, Oliver Wahlstrom(Harvard) and Joel Farabee(Boston University) were called up from the NTDP U17 team to play in this tournament as well. Farabee has been a pleasant surprise as the breakout offensive force on the U17s, and Wahlstrom has some incredible individual skill. Hopefully they’ll bring some much-needed offensive punch to a group that lacks a lot of high-end forwards.

The complete roster can be found here.

Team USA opens the tournament on April 13th against Belarus, and quarterfinal play begins a week later on April 20th.