Jayson asked: >I have heard that the USA WOrld Jr Team will be finalized this Friday, >is there any truth to this? Not according to the Minnesota Daily article I posted 12/1: > > 2 freshmen will miss Classic > > At least two Gophers will miss the Mariucci Classic on Dec. 29-30 > while competing for the U.S. National Junior Team in Massachusetts. > Gophers freshmen Erik Rasmussen and Reggie Berg have already made > the team, which will be playing at the end of December in the World > Junior Championships. > > Wyatt Smith, Casey Hankinson and Jason Godbout will also go with the > U.S. team for a mini-tryout, and could also miss the Classic if they > make the roster. The junior team's final squad will be announced > after two games on Dec. 21 and 23. Info about the Junior team is also buried in Jeff Weiss' CCHA notes: >FOUR PLAYERS INVITED TO U.S. NATIONAL JUNIOR TEAM TRAINING CAMP -- Current CCHA >players Marc Magliarditi (WMU), Chris Bogas (MSU), Matt Herr (Michigan) and >Mike York are four of 26 people named to the United States National Junior >Training Camp roster. Of the 26 invitees, 22 will be selected for the national >team which will compete in the World Junior Championships from December 26 - >January 4 in Massachusetts. Bowling Green recruit Peter Ratchuk is one of nine >defensemen invited, while Falcon signee Adam Edinger is one of 15 forwards >invited. > Jayson further wrote: >Which brings me to another question: > >Why on earth would Jack Parker name only 10 players early on and then >go ahead and name the rest later? This is, IMHO, not good practice. Sounds like maybe he wanted a chance to evaluate the players at a later date, to see how they look in mid-season form. Jason Godbout, for example, was unable to participate in the Olympic Festival camp because of recovery from heart surgery. Pam Sweeney Go Gophers! HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.