Photo by Michael Caples/MiHockey

Wrapping up the 2018 World Junior Summer Showcase

By @MichaelCaples –

While the Hlinka Gretzky Cup is officially starting today, the other major international summer showcase has come to a close.

The 2018 World Junior Summer Showcase – held in Kamloops, B.C. this year after we were so spoiled with it being in Plymouth the last few off-seasons – wrapped up on Saturday. The final game didn’t go how the Americans would have liked, as Team USA fell to Canada 6-5.

The good news, however, is that the U.S. still won five of its seven games at the showcase (the other loss coming to Sweden when Team USA was still playing with split squads). Coach Mike Hastings – the man tasked with leading Team USA’s World Junior squad this upcoming season – said he liked what he saw.

“We really showed ourselves this week,” said Hastings, the Minnesota State University bench boss, in a release. “This is a talented group that was able to face adversity head on, and that says a lot about the character within the room. We’re excited to see the players here, as well as some who weren’t, play their best hockey this fall to earn the chance to represent our country and compete for gold in December.”

Two of the top performers Quinn Hughes and Josh Norris – University of Michigan teammates, USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program alums and expected returnees from last year’s World Junior team. The two combined for one of the top plays of the showcase, when Hughes set up Norris for the game-winner in overtime against Sweden.

 

Here is a look at how some of the Michigan-centric names fared at the tournament, including the addition of two under-aged players who will be skating for the NTDP Under-18 Team this season in Jack Hughes and Spencer Knight.

 

Quinn Hughes
4 games, 1 goal, 5 assists, 6 points, 24 penalty minutes

 

Josh Norris

5 games, 2 goals, 3 assists, 5 points, 2 penalty minutes

 

Paul Cotter

5 games, 3 goals, 3 points, 16 penalty minutes

 

Jason Robertson

5 games, 2 goals, 2 assists, 4 points, 6 penalty minutes

 

Logan Cockerill

5 games, 1 assist, 1 point, 0 penalty minutes

 

Sasha Chmelevski

5 games, 2 goals, 1 assist, 3 points, 2 penalty minutes

 

Ivan Lodnia

2 games, 2 goals, 1 assist, 3 points, no penalty minutes

 

Brandon Kruse

2 games, 0 points, 4 penalty minutes

 

Johnny Gruden

2 games, no stat line

 

Tommy Miller

2 games, no stat line

 

Alec Regula

2 games, 4 penalty minutes

 

Keith Petruzzelli

2 games, 85 minutes, 5.65 goals-against average, 0.855 save percentage

 

Mattias Samuelsson

5 games, 0 goals, 1 assist, 0 penalty minutes

 

Jack Hughes

5 games, 1 goal, 2 assists, 14 penalty minutes

 

Spencer Knight

2 games, 89 minutes, 3.37 goals-against average, 0.865 save percentage

 

Cole Coskey

2 games, 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points, 2 penalty minutes

 

Kyle Keyser

2 games, 90 minutes, 2.00 goals-against average, 0.914 save percentage