Well, here goes...I'm basing my picks on personal opinion, what has been said
 in the media from the Olympic Trials, and some information gleaned from this
 list over tthe past year.
 
 ****GOAL: I agree completely with Mike M in that Stauber is "IT". There is
 only ONE catch to this, he had knee surgery last April and may or may not be
 up to the challenge physically. He DID NOT attend the "semi-pro" tryouts
 that were held in Lake Placid in May. Peterson must think very highly of him to
 invite him to the final camp. If Stauber is not well enough to make the team,
 the defense that they would need would be awesome and it's just not there
 this year.  Stauber's last year at Minnesota was incredible and he was able to
 stop some incredible shots. If Stauber is healthy,(and stays healthy) it won't
 matter who the back-up goalie is, I don't think he'll log much ice time.
 
 ****DEFENSE:  Keith Carney from Maine, Bret Hedican from St. Cloud State,
 Scott Lachance from Boston University, and Dave Tretowicz from Clarkson were
 all solid standouts from last season and the Olympic Trials in June.  I also
 believe that Lance Pitlick has the size and thunderous checking that Team USA
 will need.  Tom Pederson is small but very talented on the power play and
 penalty kill and could turn out to be a seventh "D" for the special teams.
 He is also very good at rushing the puck. Doug Zmolek was intentionally left
 off the list as he consistently plays under his potential. (The travesty of
 being drafted #1 by the North Stars just out of high school.)
 
 ****FORWARDS:  Jim Dowd from Lake Superior State, David Emma and Steve Heinze
 from Boston College, Shawn McEachern and Keith Tkachuk from Boston University,
 Mike Lappin from St Lawrence, John Weisbrod and Peter Ciavaglia from Harvard,
 Jim Johansson from the IHL (and previous Olympian), and Ben Hankinson, Craig
 Johnson and Trent Klatt from Minnesota.   I think that Emma and McEachern are
 the only ones with a definite LOCK on making the team.  I haven't taken into
 consideration who has played what postion as that is usually easily changed.
 These players are the most talented that I have seen lately, so I may have
 left some very talented players off this list.  I did not put Lane MacDonald
 on this list as I think that his injury makes it too questionable to play at
 this point.
 
 Also I would like to point out that there are 13 players from Minnesota out of
 the 50 at the tryouts and not 12 as listed by Mike.  David Jensen is also from
 Minnesota although he lives elsewhere now and has also recently played in Italy
 
 I hope some other folks are brave enough to post their picks.  Who knows?
 YOU could be right!!
 
 Carol
 U of M
 GO Gophers!!!