Four Wolverines Heading to World Junior Championship
12/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Four players from the University of Michigan ice hockey team have been selected by their respective nations to play in the upcoming 2008 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship. Freshman forwards Max Pacioretty(New Canaan, Conn.) and Matt Rust(West Bloomfield, Mich.) and sophomore defenseman Chris Summers(Milan, Mich.) will suit up for Team USA. Meanwhile, freshman forward Carl Hagelin(Sodertalje, Sweden) was tabbed by the Swedish national team.
The 2008 World Junior Championship will take place Dec. 26, 2007, through Jan. 5, 2008, in Liberec and Pardubice, Czech Republic. The world's top players born in 1988 or later will represent their respective national teams.
Pacioretty will be taking part in his first official international event as a member of Team USA. He participated in the U.S. World Junior Evaluation Camp this past August. Sixteen games into his U-M career, Pacioretty has five goals and 10 assists to rank fourth on the Wolverines in scoring. A stalwart at the left wing position on Michigan's top line, he posted a 3-9-12 line during a nine-game point spree over October and November. Pacioretty was recently named the CCHA Rookie of the Month for November.
Rust is making his first appearance on the U.S. World Junior Team. However, as a member of the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2005-06 and 2006-07, he played for Team USA at the 2007 IIHF World Under-18 Championship last spring and helped the Americans to a silver medal, tallying a 2-2-4 line. Centering U-M's second line, Rust has five goals and five assists in 15 games. He has a pair of two-goal games -- vs. Minnesota on Oct. 13 and vs. Boston University on Oct. 26. Rust had a goal and an assist vs. Ohio State on Dec. 1. Rust attended the U.S. World Junior Evaluation Camp in August with Pacioretty and Summers.
Summers will also be appearing in his first World Junior Championship for Team USA, but, like Rust, Summers was a two-year member of the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2004-05 and 2005-06. Summers helped the American squad win the gold medal at the 2006 IIHF World Under-18 Championship. Skating as a forward, he tallied one goal in the tournament -- the game-winner in the gold medal game. In his sophomore season for U-M, Summers has four assists in 16 games while accumulating 16 penalty minutes. He has a plus/minus rating of +9. Summers attended the U.S. World Junior Evaluation Camp in August with Pacioretty and Rust.
Hagelin has some previous experience with Sweden's national teams. Most recently, he skated with Team Sweden in exhibition play at the U.S. World Junior Evaluation Camp in August. Earlier in 2007, he played for Swedish Under-19 Teams in the Five Nations Tournament in Switzerland and the Grand Prix Tournament in Russia. In 12 international contests he has a goal and four assists. Hagelin, U-M's first Swedish player, has played mostly as a left wing for the Wolverines but has also seen time at center. He has five goals, including two game-winners, and five assists in 16 games.
Michigan has had 25 players named to the U.S. World Junior Championship team a total of 38 times, beginning in 1980. Dating back to the 1999 tournament, at least one Wolverine has been on the U.S. roster each year.
Hagelin, Pacioretty, Rust and Summers will remain with the Wolverines through this weekend's series against Bowling Green (Dec. 7-8). They will miss U-M's two contests during the Great Lakes Invitational (Dec. 28-29).
USA Hockey Release (12/4/07)
Contact: Matt Trevor (734) 763-4423
