June 9, 2006

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Fourteen players from the gold medal-winning 2006 U.S. National Under-18 Team are among the group of 45 players invited to the 2006 U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid, N.Y., August 5-14. Participating players are candidates for the 2006 U.S. National Junior Team that will compete in the 2007 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, Dec. 26, 2006-Jan. 5, 2007, in Mora and Leksand, Sweden.

The camp will feature practices and eight international scrimmages with a split squad of the best American players under the age of 20 facing off against Sweden and Finland.

Among the 14 players invited from the world champion U.S. National Under-18 Team are forwards Michael Carman (Apple Valley, Minn.), Blake Geoffrion (Brentwood, Tenn.), Patrick Kane (Buffalo, N.Y.), Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.), Ryan Flynn (Lino Lakes, Minn.) and Bill Sweatt (Elburn, Ill.). Joining them will be defensemen Erik Johnson (Bloomington, Minn.), Jamie McBain (Faribault, Minn.), Kevin Montgomery (Rochester, N.Y.), Mike Ratchuk (Buffalo, N.Y.), Brian Strait (Waltham, Mass.) and Chris Summers (Milan, Mich.). Rounding out the group of U.S. National Under-18 teammates are goaltenders Brett Bennett (Williamsville, N.Y.) and Joe Palmer (Yorkville, N.Y.).

All 14 gold medal winners were members of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program in 2005-06. Other NTDP alumni invited to the camp include forwards Nick Foligno (Buffalo, N.Y.), Jim Fraser (Port Huron, Mich.), Nate Gerbe (Oxford, Mich.), Phil Kessel (Madison, Wis.), Jason Lawrence (Saugus, Mass.), Peter Mueller (Bloomington, Minn.), Jack Skille (Madison, Wis.) and Ryan Stoa (Bloomington, Minn.); defensemen Jack Johnson (Faribault, Minn.), Zach Jones (Lisle, Ill.), Kyle Lawson (New Hudson, Mich.) and Mark Mitera (Livonia, Mich.); and goaltender Jeff Frazee (Burnsville, Minn.).

Also highlighting the list of invitees are 11 players returning from the 2006 U.S. National Junior Team. Forwards Gerbe, Kessel, Mueller, Bobby Ryan (Cherry Hill, N.J.) and Skille; defensemen Taylor Chorney (Hastings, Minn.), Erik Johnson, Jack Johnson, Brian Lee (Moorhead, Minn.) and Mitera; and goaltender Frazee all look to have another chance to improve on Team USA's fourth-place finish at last year's IIHF World Junior Championship.

The camp opens on August 4, with the first games set for August 8. All practice sessions are open to the public and tickets to the international games are available through the Olympic Regional Development Authority in Lake Placid.

NOTES: The 2007 U.S. National Junior Team will be coached by Head Coach Ron Rolston (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and assistant coaches Phil Housley (South St. Paul, Minn.) and Nate Leaman (Clifton Park, N.Y.) ... Joining the staff at the National Junior Evaluation Camp will be USA Hockey Level 4 coaches John Harrington (St. Cloud, Minn.) and P.K. O'Handley (Waterloo, Iowa), and Level 5 coach Keith Allain (Centerville, Mass.). Harrington, a member of the "Miracle on Ice" 1980 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team, is currently head coach at St. John's (Minn.) University. O'Handley, who coached the 2006 U.S. Junior Select 18 & Under Team at the Viking Cup last December and January, is currently the head coach of the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League. Allain, who most recently served as an assistant coach of both the 2006 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team and the 2006 U.S. Men's National Team, is the head coach at Yale University of the ECAC Hockey League ... The University of Minnesota of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association has eight invitees, the most of any institution.

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