USA Hockey News Feed: July 28

Forty-four of the top U.S. players under the age of 20, including 29 first- or second-round NHL draft selections, will descend on Lake Placid, N.Y., beginning this Friday (July 30) for the 2010 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp.

The camp, which will continue through Aug. 7, includes practices, intrasquad scrimmages and international competition between teams from the United States, Finland and Sweden. The 44 U.S. players will be auditioning for a spot on the U.S. National Junior Team that will take part in the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, Dec. 26, 2010-Jan. 5, 2011, in Buffalo, N.Y.

FASTHockey will webcast five international games (see schedule later in this release) from the camp. Games will be available on a pay-per-view basis at USAHockey.FASTHockey.com. FASTHockey uses a unique game-credit system for viewing games, offering discounts to customers who watch multiple games. Users who want to watch one or more games must first sign up for a free account at USAHockey.FASTHockey.com. Users may then buy game credits - a single game ranges from $6.99 (when one game credit is purchased) to $4.99 (when 100 game credits are purchased). Game credits can be used to watch live games or on-demand archives and never expire.

In addition, USAHockey.com will provide exclusive coverage of the camp, including live stats of the international games, camp statistics, videos, photos and feature stories. The USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp homepage can be found here.

NOTES: The U.S. roster will be trimmed Monday (Aug. 2) in preparation for the international games against Finland and Sweden ... The 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships will take place Dec. 26 - Jan. 5 at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, N.Y., and Niagara University's Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, N.Y. Additional information including a full preliminary-round tournament schedule and ticket details can be found at BuffaloWorldJuniors.com ...The 2011 U.S. National Junior Team will be selected in late December following a pre-tournament camp that will begin in mid-December ... Keith Allain, head men's ice hockey coach at Yale University, will serve as head coach of the 2011 U.S. National Junior Team. Allain will be assisted by Mark Osiecki (Burnsville, Minn.), head men's ice hockey coach at The Ohio State University; Phil Housley (South St. Paul, Minn.), head boy's ice hockey coach at Stillwater (Minn.) high school; and Joe Exter (Saline, Mich.), USA Hockey's national goaltending coach ... Mark Carlson, head coach and general manager of the United States Hockey League's Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, and Greg Brown, assistant men's ice hockey coach at Boston College, will also participate in Lake Placid as camp coaches ... Jim Johannson is serving as the general manager of the U.S. National Junior Team for the second consecutive year. Meanwhile, Tim Taylor (Guilford, Conn.), former U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team head coach and longtime Yale University men's ice hockey team head coach, is also serving his second straight year as Team USA's director of player personnel.

Ten members of the gold medal-winning 2010 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team highlight the 2010-11 U.S. National Sled Hockey Team roster, which was announced today by USA Hockey.

The roster was selected following tryouts in Rochester, N.Y., last weekend. The 16-member team will represent the United States at various international exhibitions and International Paralympic Committee-sanctioned events throughout the season.

"Every year the quality of players who participate in our national team tryouts improves," said Ray Maluta, head coach of the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team since 2008 and head coach of the 2010 Paralympic squad. "We've got a great mixture of youth and experience on this roster, and I'm looking forward to keeping our momentum going throughout the year."

Among the returnees from the 2010 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team are goalie Steve Cash (Overland, Mo.); defensemen Taylor Chace (Hampton Falls, N.H.), Jimmy Connelly (Galloway, N.J.), Nikko Landeros (Berthoud, Colo.) and Josh Pauls (South Plainfield, N.J.); and forwards Tim Jones (Mt. Ephraim, N.J.), Taylor Lipsett (Mesquite, Texas), Adam Page (Lancaster, N.Y.), Alexi Salamone (Grand Island, N.Y.) and Greg Shaw (Park City, Utah).

Joining the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team roster for the first time are four members of the 2009-10 U.S. National Junior Sled Hockey Team, including defenseman Tyler Carron (Berthoud, Colo.) and forwards Daniel McCoy (Cheswick, Pa.), Danny McDevitt (Abington, Pa.) and Kevin McKee (Davenport, Iowa).

Rounding out the squad are newcomers goalie Jen Yung Lee (San Antonio, Texas) and forward Rico Roman (San Antonio, Texas).

NOTES: Nine states are represented among the 16 members of the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team ... A full 2010-11 schedule will be released later this summer ... Both head coach Ray Maluta and assistant coach Bill Corbo, Jr., are returning to the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team for the third straight season ... The U.S. has won the last four IPC-sanctioned tournaments dating back to the 2009 IPC World Sledge Hockey Championship in Ostrava, Czech Republic ... Goalie Steve Cash was named USA Hockey's 2010 Disabled Athlete of the Year and received a 2010 ESPY Award as the Best Male Athlete with a Disability following his 2010 Paralympic Winter Games performance in which he did not allow a goal in five outings.