July 31: Day Three

The second day of game action at the 2018 World Junior Summer Showcase gets underway here in Kamloops, B.C. Starting the day's competition will be Sweden vs. Finland at 1 p.m. local time followed by a pair of split-squad games between Canada and the United States. USA Blue and Canada White will meet in the first tilt at 4 p.m. local time with USA White and Canada Red closing the day's action with a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.

YESTERDAY'S GAMES
Five different U.S. players scored and Cayden Primeau (Voorhees, N.J.) made 16 saves as USA White topped Finland, 5-2, in the second game of the day here at the 2018 World Junior Summer Showcase. In the day’s first game, Paul Cotter (Canton, Mich.) scored and Keith Petruzzelli (Wilbraham, Mass.) made 32 saves but USA Blue fell to Sweden, 3-1. For both recaps, click here.

ROSTER TIDBIT: FOUR NCAA CHAMPION DULUTH BULLDOGS
Among the U.S. players and staff here in Kamloops, B.C., are four members of the 2018 NCAA National Championship-winning University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. Leading the way is U.S. assistant coach Scott Sandelin (Hibbing, Minn.), who has now led the Bulldogs to two national titles after also doing so in 2011, while all three skaters -- Matt Anderson (Shakopee, Minn.), Mikey Anderson (Roseville, Minn.) and Dylan Samberg (Hermantown, Minn.) were freshmen defensemen last year. Mikey and Dylan are two of the potential six players from last year's bronze medal-winning 2018 U.S. National Junior Team eligible for the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship.

CAMP TIDBIT: 12 WITH HLINKA TIES
Twelve U.S. players here at the 2018 World Junior Summer Showcase have skated for the U.S. Under-18 Men's Select Team that competes in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup, including two who did so a year ago. Now rebranded as the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, the tournament is an under-18 men's competition that will include teams from Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. The U.S., which has earned three top-three finishes in the last five years, will travel to Edmonton & Red Deer, Alberta, for the 2018 event, which will take place in North America for the first time since 1996. For more information on the U.S. Under-18 Men's Select Team, including NHL Network's broadcast coverage of the event, click here.