Minnesota Wild: USA Junior Evaluation Camp Wrap-Up
USA Hockey’s National Junior Evaluation Camp completed this past weekend after a long week of practices and scrimmages. The five Wild players who participated not only played well but made strong cases to make their respective country’s rosters for the World Junior Championship in December.
USA Hockey’s National Junior Evaluation Camp came to an end this last weekend with the US defeating Canada in the final scrimmage 5-1 on Saturday night. It was a long week for the all the players hoping to make the US national team and the national teams of Canada, Sweden, and Finland. The Minnesota Wild had five players who played solid during the camp and look to have made great cases to make their country’s teams.
So looking back at the week that was a great spot of hockey in the middle of an otherwise boring summer, here’s how the different Wild players preformed in Plymouth.
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Luke Kunin– The Wild’s first round draft pick in Buffalo had solid camp. He started on Team Blue during split squad games and tallied a shorthanded goal in an 8-1 route Team Blue put on Finland. After that his scoring went quiet as Kunin did not generate any further points. Still he played solid hockey and made an iron clad case to make the team to head to Montreal in December.
Nick Boka – The University of Michigan sophomore and Plymouth native, Boka had what can be call a good camp. He put up 3 shots, but wasn’t able to produce any points. Still Boka did what he needed to do by playing his defensive first game. But with so many different defenders looking for a slot on the final roster he might not be a complete shoe in. Still Boka’s talent and defensive instincts will more than likely get his name called to Montreal.
Jack Sadek – The young man from Lakeville had 4 shots on goal for the tournament and showed strong defense. The Gopher defender showed excellent puck movement, but like his fellow Wild prospect and Big Ten comrade Boka could find himself on the bubble for the final roster. Like Boka expect that Sadek has a strong chance to make the cut in the end though.
Joel Eriksson-Ek – The Wild’s 2015 first round draft pick was the lone Wild player who was outside of Team USA to attend the camp. His performance was a lot like Kunin’s as he tallied only one goal early in his first tilt against Team White. After that though he still played very well showcasing the more physical part of his game and ending up in the sin bin a few times as a result. Wild fans should still be very optimistic for Eriksson-Ek’s future and know that his growth is proceeding as he is certainly not playing as an undersized youngster anymore.
Jordan Greenway – The former Shattuck player and Boston University Sophomore had a monster tournament and was arguably the second best player on the USA’s roster. Greenway finished with 3 goals and an assist, and showed an excellent scoring touch throughout the tournament. The only player who scored more consistently than Greenway was Kieffer Bellows. Greenway is a lock to make the team, so look for him to do great things for the US in Montreal.
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The players have done all they can to make the respective teams. In the case of the Wild players trying to make the US team there will be a further evaluation of them as they split up to their respective NCAA programs and how they perform. Bottom line though the five Wild player’s performance only continued the narrative that the future is bright and the Wild have some excellent young talent just waiting for their time.