USA Hockey is hosting their annual early selection camp for the World Junior teams in Plymouth, Michigan.  The early games finish up today, and the more serious action starts on Wednesday.  TSN will cover the action, focusing on Team Canada, and in the US, NHL Network is showing six games.

The event starts out with preliminary games, with both USA and Canada split into two squads. Sweden and Finland play a single, large roster.  All teams will make some cuts heading into tomorrow’s round robin of four teams.

We know the maple leaf that matters is the blue one, though, so forget Team Canada.

Tuesday, August 1

Canada Red plays USA White at 4 p.m.

USA Blue plays Canada White at 7 p.m.

Hockeytv.com may have these games if you want to pay for one month subscription.  The one that matters is USA Blue, where Joseph Woll will likely see some action in net and J.D. Greenway is on defence.

Greenway was a late addition to the event as an injury replacement.  I have this image of him sitting in the stands watching his brother, Jordan, and getting called down like he was the next contestant on the Price is Right.  If he makes the cut to the main USA team, he’ll have accomplished something.

Woll, the only WJC experienced goalie here, seems like a lock.

Wednesday, August 2

Canada vs Finland 1 p.m.

USA vs Sweden 4 p.m.

TSN 1 and NHL Network have both of these games live.

Eemeli Räsänen is on the Finnish squad and Timothy Liljegren is on the Swedish team, and both will likely play.  Goaltenders will be announced closer to game time.

Friday, August 4

Sweden vs Canada 1 p.m.

Finland vs USA 4 p.m.

Both networks are covering both games live.

Saturday, August 5

Sweden vs Finland 4 p.m.

USA vs Canada 7 p.m.

NHL Network has both games live, but TSN is only showing the Sweden - Finland game live.  USA - Canada is delayed to 11 p.m. on television.

So far in preliminary action, Liljegren has been impressing with a lot of points.

He had a goal and an assist in the first game on three SOG:

In the second game, he had no points and two SOG.

Woll played half the first game for USA Blue (the highlights above) and had a .923 save percentage.  He only let in one goal.  Keith Petruzzelli, who played the entire second USA Blue game, was the guilty party on most of Sweden’s scoring.  Woll is the known quantity, so who gets played isn’t necessarily about who is better, but rather, who the team wants to look at in action.

Räsänen has two SOG and no points over his first two games, but his work is progressing on playing as big as people think he is.

Maple Leafs Prospects