Five New Englanders made the Hlinka Gretzky Cup roster that was announced Monday by USA Hockey.
Eight more with connections to this region will trek overseas for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
The players will compete in the tournament Aug. 1-6 in Breclav, Czechia, and Trencin, Slovakia.
USA Hockey held a camp in recent days in Plymouth, Mich., where 39 players from around the United States battled for spots on the Under-18 Select Team.
The two local forwards selected were JJ Monteiro (Hudson, Mass.) and Callum Hughes (Westwood, Mass.). Monteiro, a Providence College commit posted 111 points in 70 games for Mount St. Charles' 16U team this past winter. Hughes, also on the Mount St. Charles 16U team, notched 14 goals and 58 points in 45 games. Hughes is committed to BU.
Will Felicio (Holden, Mass.) and Owen Keefe (Saugus, Mass.), two defensemen from New England, made the team. Felicio recently committed to the University of Denver. Prior to that, he finished a standout season with the USHL's Madison Capitols, posting four goals and 28 points in 55 games.
Keefe also spent the last season in the USHL but with the Muskegon Lumberjacks. He scored four goals and added nine assists in 59 games. The Boston University commit notched a hat trick in Saturday's scrimmage at the camp.
Thatcher Bernstein (Boston, Mass.) was the lone local goalie to make the team. He posted a 2.24 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage as a sophomore at Nobles in 2022-23.
Both Bernstein and Keefe were invited to try out for the United States National Team Development Program in 2022.
As for connections to the region, another Mount St. Charles alum made the team in forward Chase Stefanek. Other future BU Terriers included forwards John McNelis and Will Zellers.
Along with Monteiro, Providence College has two more commits going to the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in forward Trevor Connelly and defender Alex Bales, who has been a standout at Kent for the past two seasons.
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Defenseman Tory Pitner made the team. The South Kent alum who finished the 2022-23 season with the USHL's Youngstown Phantoms is committed to UMass. Forwards Grant Young and Eero Butella made the team, too. Young is committed to Harvard, while Butella is a Northeastern commit.
Here is the full roster.
Forwards
- Eero Butella
- Trevor Connelly
- Colin Frank
- Callum Hughes
- Ryker Lee
- John McNelis
- JJ Monteiro
- Aidan Park
- AJ Spellacy
- Chase Stefanek
- Mac Swanson
- Grant Young
- Will Zellers
Defensemen
- Alex Bales
- Will Felicio
- Tanner Henricks
- Owen Keefe
- Adam Kleber
- Finn McLaughlin
- Tory Pitner
Goaltenders
- Thatcher Bernstein
- Kam Hendrickson
- Caleb Heil
