The World Junior Summer Showcase takes place in Plymouth, Michigan at USA Hockey Arena from July 26th to August 4th. The ticketed event will place two Canadian teams vs. USA Blue, USA White, Finland and Sweden.
Red Wings prospects Jesse Kiiskinen (Finland), Trey Augustine, John Whipple and Max Plante (Team USA) will all be taking part in the Showcase, and yesterday, Team USA posted a Q and A with GM John Vanbiesbrouck about the purpose of the event.
As the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton explains, given the fact that so many NCAA-playing prospects come into the event for Team USA, and players for Finland and Sweden will be playing games for their club and pro teams come mid-September, this is a necessary “first tune-up” for the World Junior Championship:
The WJSS is an annual summer tune-up for the December/January World Junior (this year’s will be held in Ottawa). The pandemic shook up the event’s timing and format for several years, but, by now, the event is back in its usual rhythm, and Hockey Canada has decided to rejoin the proceedings for the first time since the onset of COVID. Canada will join two U.S. teams (designated as “Blue” and “White”), Sweden, and Finland. Since the WJC is an under 20 tournament, this event is mostly composed of players from the 2023 and 2024 draft classes, but there are a few prominent 2025 draft eligibles, most notably prospective number one overall pick James Hagens (a slick but diminutive forward from Long Island, slated to begin his NCAA career at Boston College in the fall). The event allows the teams and coaching staffs to gather as one before they reconvene (in reduced numbers) in December. The event is at once educational and evaluative: inform players of the desired style of play and assess which will be the right ones to bring to the real deal.
Continued; Stockton notes that while Axel Sandin Pellikka isn’t in Plymouth this and next week, he’s going to be participating at the WJC for Sweden.
