USA Hockey invites 40 skaters to Junior Camp – FoxNews.com
The first stage to finalizing the U.S. roster for the 2012 World Junior Championship was made by USA Hockey on Thursday with the release of the 40 skaters invited to the National Junior Evaluation Camp this August in Lake Placid, N.Y. Among the players set to attend the camp, which will be held at Lake Placid’s Olympic Center from Aug. 6-13, are seven returnees from last year’s team that won the bronze medal in Buffalo. Defensemen Justin Faulk, Derek Forbort and Jonathan Merrill received invitations, as well as forwards Nick Bjugstad, Charlie Coyle, Emerson Etem and Jason Zucker. […] Fourteen NHL teams will have at least one prospect at the camp, topped by three from the Chicago Blackhawks […]. The Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings will have two players there each. […][…] Defensemen: Adam Clendening, Boston University (2011 draft eligible); Brian Cooper, Fargo, USHL (2012 draft eligible); Justin Faulk, Minnesota-Duluth (Hurricanes); Derek Forbort, North Dakota (Kings); Kevin Gravel, St. Cloud State (Kings); Justin Holl, Minnesota (Blackhawks); Stephen Johns, Notre Dame (Blackhawks); Seth Jones, USNTDP, USHL (2013 draft eligible); Austin Levi, Plymouth, OHL (Hurricanes); Jonathon Merrill, Michigan, (Devils); Connor Murphy, USNTDP, USHL (2011 draft eligible); Jamieson Oleksiak, Northeastern, (2011 draft eligible); Robbie Russo, USNTDP, USHL (2011 draft eligible); Jared Tinordi, London, OHL (Canadiens).
There’s more to the article, including the list of invited forwards, but it’s not Kings-related, so what do I care? Gravel and Forbort will both be sophomores this fall. (Interesting trivia I discovered while compiling the Lombardi draft history post: the picks Lombardi acquired in trading Jason Labarbera and Ryan Munce yielded Gravel and Jean-Francois Berube. Not bad.)
(More trivia: Gravel pronounces his name gra-VELL.)