Earlier this morning, Miami’s Austin Czarnik was named to the final Team USA World Junior Championship roster. Team USA will compete in the IIHF U-20 Championship in Calgary, Alberta starting on December 26.

Czarnik’s 1-1-2 performance in Team USA’s 7-3 victory over Switzerland in exhibition play likely earned him a spot on the final roster.

The United States will face Denmark, Finland, the Czech Republic and Canada in group play and hope to medal for what would be an unprecedented third consecutive year in program history.

Last season, the U.S. entered the tournament as the defending gold medalists but were unable to reclaim gold on U.S. soil. That honor went to the Russians who mounted an unbelievable third period comeback to defeat Canada 5-3. The Russians erased a 3-0 deficit after two periods to score 5 in the third to win gold. Blame Canada, indeed.

Good luck to Austin and Team USA!

Notes

The Edmonton Journal has more on Austin’s game.