Three New England players were named to the 2019 U.S. Junior Select Team that will compete in the 2019 World Junior A Challenge in December in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.
On Tuesday afternoon, USA Hockey announced its 21-man roster that will compete in the five-team tournament, which is Dec. 7-15. In addition to the Americans, the other four teams in the event are Canada East, Canada West, Czech Republic and Russia.
The U.S. entry will be led by Tri-City Storm head coach Anthony Noreen. Assistant coaches are Omaha Lancers head coach David Wilkie, Waterloo Black Hawks associate head coach Shane Fukushima and Sioux City Musketeers associate head coach Mark Abalan.
Chicago Steel forwards Sean Farrell (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (East Greenwich, R.I.), and Cedar Rapids RoughRiders defenseman Ben Meehan (Walpole, Mass.) are the three New Englanders on the roster.
Farrell is a late ’01 who played two seasons with USA Hockey’s NTDP before joining the Steel. The USHL’s leading scorer has seven goals and 16 assists for 23 points in 16 games. Farrell, who played a season of prep hockey at St. Mark’s, will be going to Harvard next fall.
Fontaine is in his second season with the Steel after playing prep hockey at Moses Brown and Lawrence Academy. The Northeastern commit has eight goals and six assists in 16 games. Fontaine was the third leading scorer in the USHL Clark Cup Playoffs last spring with six goals and six assists in nine games.
Meehan is a former three-year standout at Dexter Southfield. In his first season in the USHL, he leads the junior circuit in goals and is second in points among defensemen. The UMass Lowell commit has six goals and nine assists in 16 games.
Three players committed to local schools, but hailing from outside of the region also made the U.S. team: Harvard commits Trevor Kuntar of the Youngstown Phantoms and Alex Laferriere of the Des Moines Buccaneers, and UMass recruit Josh Lopina of the Lincoln Stars.
Kuntar is the second leading scorer in the USHL with 10 goals and 11 assists in 16 games. In his third junior season, the Buffalo Junior Sabres product has seen his production take off.
Laferriere is in his first season of junior hockey after being the second leading scorer in prep hockey with Kent School last winter. He put up 19 goals and 34 assists in 27 games as the Lions cruised to a NEPSAC Martin/Earl Large School Tournament Championship. This season, Laferriere has eight goals and 10 assists in 16 games, which puts him a tie for fourth in the USHL scoring race.
Lopina is in his second season with Lincoln after playing youth hockey for the Chicago Mission. He has four goals and nine assists in 16 games.
