Right after Christmas, the best under 20-year old hockey players will represent their country in the World Junior Hockey championship tournament. This year, it’ll be hosted in Buffalo, New York and could feature several Dallas Stars prospects.
Jake Oettinger is one of Team USA’s camp invitees at the goaltending position. He’s playing this season at Boston University as part of Hockey East division. To date, he’s rocking a .905% save percentage and a 2.89 goals against average in 15 games this season.
An interesting quirk in Team USA’s roster is that the goaltending position has three goaltenders all from that division. It must be a little strange for Oettinger to suit up next to Joseph Woll (Toronto Maple Leafs prospect), who plays for rival Boston College. Oettinger should make the final roster, as he was one of the goaltenders that backstopped Team USA to a gold medal in last year’s WJC tournament.
Colton Point is another (!) Stars goaltending prospect that could compete in the WJC tournament. He made the short list for Hockey Canada after not making the initial camp roster this summer. He’s had a hot season playing for Colgate this season, with the third-best save percentage (.943) and a sparkling 1.76 goals against average. He’s going to get a good look for the Canadian team and I can’t imagine him not making the final cut for the tournament given his recent play.
Other Stars prospects that have made the initial cut-down rosters for their respective teams include:
*Riley Tufte (Team USA): The versatile forward currently playing for Minnesota-Duluth has scored 6 goals and 9 points in 14 games.
*Fredrik Karlstrom (Sweden): The young forward drafted 90th overall in 2016 by Dallas has played the majority of his teams in the SHL with Linköping HC, recording one goal and three points in 24 games.