GRAND FORKS – Finland has the gold medal from last season.
Canada has the home-ice advantage.
If the United States is going to make a run at its third gold medal at the World Junior Championship in six years, it will rely on its forwards.
University of North Dakota freshman Nick Schmaltz is one of the key pieces up front that will lead the Americans in the world under-20 hockey tournament, which begins this afternoon.
The Americans take on the defending champion Finns at 2 p.m. today in Montreal’s Bell Centre. It then has preliminary round games on Sunday and Monday against Germany and Slovakia before a New Year’s Eve showdown with Canada.
For the Americans to compete, they need their loaded forward group to produce. The headliners will be Boston University’s Jack Eichel, the likely No. 2 overall pick in the NHL Draft in June, and uncommitted prospect Auston Matthews of Scottsdale, Ariz., the front-runner to go No. 1 overall in 2016.
There are also four forwards who have already gone in the first round of the NHL Draft, including Schmaltz.
The product of Verona, Wis., is a skilled setup man, who averaged a point per game for UND during the first semester (3 goals, 12 assists, 15 points in 15 games).
“It’s a big honor,” Schmaltz said of being selected to the team. “There are a lot of great players out there. I know a lot of the guys on the team. A lot of them are my age and I grew up playing against them. It’s going to be fun playing with them now.”
With Schmaltz suiting up for the Americans, UND has now had representatives in the World Juniors in 11 of the last 13 years with seven players winning gold medals. The most recent was Rocco Grimaldi.
“What an unbelievable developmental opportunity,” UND coach Dave Hakstol said. “It’s a great life experience for Nick.”
Schmaltz left for the World Junior camp during finals week at UND. Hakstol said that Schmaltz’s professors arranged so he could take finals early.
Schmaltz is not expected to miss any regular-season games. He will be out for the exhibition contest on Jan. 3 against the U.S. Under-18 team.
When UND returns to regular-season action on Jan. 9 against Minnesota-Duluth, Hakstol expects Schmaltz to be in the lineup.
“They come back tired, beat up and eventually better players,” Hakstol said. “You can’t go through that experience without learning something and improving through different stresses, pressures and successes that you go through during that tournament.
