Sending you to visit a friend

(USA Hockey)

Day 2 of the USA Evaluation camp ended with a split decision with Team White shutting down Finland 5-2 and Team Blue falling to Sweden 4-3. Another Islander prospect played well as Taylor Cammarata (2013 3rd) had a 1-2-3 effort including the game winning goal. The Islander prospects have looked good so far although yesterday's hero Ville Pokka of Finland was ejected in the 2nd period for a "check from behind" in the game against Team White.

Not sure whether Pokka will have to sit out a game as he normally would have if theses games counted. In any event I was not able to check out the games on Monday so I will invite you to check out Chris Peter's United States of Hockey as he is in Lake Placid and his evaluations of the USA prospect are unbiased and normally very dead on.

Here is the link for Team White's game

And here is the one for Team Blue right here

Chris wrote something at the end of both of his posts that really needs to be made clear:

Something to note about the cuts that will come down tomorrow. If a guy gets cut, it doesn’t mean he can’t make the World Junior team. Cuts at this stage are purely to get this camp down to a smaller, more manageable number for evaluation.

Because this is an evaluation camp, USA Hockey may keep players that have only been OK so far in Lake Placid, but that they’re less familiar with. They need to get a better book on them in international play, so that could help a guy stay even if he’s not been the best.

By and large, the players that are getting cut either underperformed or were simply out-performed by another guy at their position. It’s always an interesting dynamic to see who goes and who stays, but it doesn’t always mean the end for certain guys. It’s just a step.

Seeya Wednesday