USA Hockey Invites Three Rangers Prospects

Gabe Perreault Team USA
Gabe Perreault Team USA | BJORN LARSSON ROSVALL/GettyImages

It is that time of the year as USA Hockey announced its preliminary roster for the 2025 World Under-20 Championships. The 2025 edition will be played in Ottawa starting on December 26th.

Team USA invited 30 of the best young American players to attend its camp which will be held at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth Michigan on December 16th and 17th..

From the Rangers defensemen Drew Fortescue and E. J. Emery and forward Gabe Perreault received invitations to try out for the US team. Fortescue and Perreault were members of last year's gold medal winning team.

Emery was a member of the 2024 Under-18 team that won silver and is looking to move up to the Under-20 squad.

Perreault is leading Boston College in scoring with a 6-14-20 mark (which is also second best among Ranger prospects) and is tied for fifth among the NCAA Division One players. Perreault has played for Team USA on several other teams including the Under-18 team where he was 5-13-18.

Fortescue has been the defensive stopper on the Team USA teams that he has played on. Fortescue was a +34 on his Under-18 team. He will most likely play on the first pair defense with Zeev Buium of Denver Unversity who is the leading defensive scorer among defensemen.

Perreault is most likely going to wind up on his Boston College line with linemates Ryan Leonard and James Hagens. The trio have put up a combined 20-34-54 so it is hard to see anyone breaking up this combination.

E. J. Emery may not have the offensive numbers but on defense he has been excellent. In 15 games. Emery has 18 blocked shots. If he makes the team, one should expect to see Emery as a third pair defender.

As for the rest of this roster, it starts with Perreault's linemates Hagens and Leonard. Leonard who was taken eighth overall in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft is one of the best pure goal scorers on the US squad.

Hagen who is a freshman on the Boston College team, is expected to be one of first players taken in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Hagens broke the Under-18 scoring record going 9-13-22 to help that team win a silver medal and earn the tournament MVP.

Team USA is going to have three very good goalies when the 2025 World Under-20 Championships begin. It starts with returning goalies Trey Augustine of Michigan State who boasts a 9-1 record this season which is good for 12th in the NCAA.

Hampton Slukynsky may only have a 3-2-1 record but his goals against of 1.66 is ninth best in the NCAA. The third member of the goalie corps is Sam Hillebrandt of the Barrie Colts who with 11-7 2.82 goals against is 12th best in the Ontario Hockey League.

Team USA will have ten returning members from last year's gold medal winning team when their preliminary camp opens. Of the 30 players invited to this camp, only five will have to cut to get down to the tournament's roster size of 25.

Team USA will once again be led by David Carlise of the University of Denver. Carlise will be assisted by Steve Miller (Minnesota), Brett Larson (St. Cloud St), Garrett Raboin (Augustana), and David Lassonde (USA Hockey) who will serve as the goaltending coach

After the camp on December 17th, Team USA will play two pre-tournament games against Slovakia and Finland. They will open up the tournament on December 26th against Germany followed by games against Latvia, Finland and on New Years Eve against Canada.

All games, including the pre-tournament ones, will be televised on the NHL Network in the USA.

Schedule