USA Hockey Goaltending

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Seven goaltenders have been invited to the 2014 U.S. National Junior Goaltender Evaluation Camp, June 9-11, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The invitees will audition for a spot on the U.S. National Junior Team that will compete at the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, Dec. 26, 2014 - Jan. 5, 2015, in Montreal and Toronto, Canada.

Among the invitees is Thatcher Demko (San Diego, Calif./Boston College), who represented Team USA at the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship in Malmo, Sweden. Demko also helped the U.S. to a silver-medal finish at the 2013 IIHF Men's Under-18 World Championship in Sochi, Russia.

Also attending the camp are Edwin Minney (Wind Gap, Pa.) and Alex Nedeljkovic (Parma, Ohio), who backstopped Team USA to a record eighth gold medal at the 2014 IIHF Men's Under-18 World Championship in Lappeenranta, Finland.

Brendan Burke (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Brandon Halverson (Traverse City, Mich.), Evan Cowley (Evergreen, Colo.) and Devin Williams (Saginaw, Mich.) were also selected to attend the camp.

The three-day event will feature on-ice sessions led by Mike Ayers, the goaltending coach for the 2015 U.S. National Junior Team, and Kevin Reiter, the goaltending coach of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program and coordinator of the Warren Strelow Goaltending Mentor Program.

Notes: Mark Osiecki is head coach of the 2015 U.S. National Junior Team. He is currently an assistant coach for the American Hockey League's Rockford IceHogs ... The assistant coaches for Team USA are Don Granato (U.S. National Under-17 Team), Kevin Patrick (University of Vermont) and Ayers (Boston College) ... Adam Nightingale (Michigan State University) is the video coordinator ... Jim Johannson, USA Hockey's assistant executive director of hockey operations, is serving as the general manager of Team USA for the sixth consecutive year ... Don Waddell (Pittsburgh Penguins), international consultant for USA Hockey, assists Johannson in evaluating and selecting players for the 2015 U.S. National Junior Team ... USA Hockey's international council, chaired by Gavin Regan, vice president of USA Hockey, has oversight responsibilities for all U.S. national teams ... Team USA will compete in a group with Canada, Finland, Germany and Slovakia at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship … Approximately 45 players will attend the 2014 U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid, N.Y., Aug. 2-9. Invitees to the camp and a complete schedule will be announced later this month.