Devils Prospects Participating in World Junior Summer Showcase

The 2017 World Junior Summer Showcase, a tournament which allows junior-level players to prepare for the IIHF World Junior Championship in December-January and show off their skills for executives and coaches from around the NHL, is currently on-going in Plymouth, Michigan.

The tournament consists of four national teams: the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland participating in a combination mini tournament and training camp. The teams practice amongst themselves and play games against each other.

The event has been ongoing at the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth since July 28. It will continue until August 5.

From a Devils standpoint, a handful of their prospects are playing. For Team USA, forward Joey Anderson from the University of Minnesota-Duluth; for Canada, Mikey McLeod from the MIssissauga Steelheads of the OHL; from Finland newly-drafted forward Aarnie Talvitie of Blues Jr. of the Finnish junior league; and from Sweden, forwards Jesper Boqvist of Brynas and Jesper Bratt of AIK.

Between the four teams participating, there will be a total of twelve games played. Eariler today, in fact, Canada defeated Finland in overtime, 6-5, with McLeod scoring the winner in the extra five minute session for the Canadians.

The World Junior Summer Showcase acts in part as a tuneup for the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship which will take place from December 26, 2017 to January 5, 2018 in Buffalo. It also allows some of the players whose draft year is 2018 to show off their skills as potential draft picks for that year and gives those who have been drafted a chance to show their teams what they can do. There are a lot of scouts and executives in attendance, so the players will do what they can to get noticed.

The tournament is currently being shown on television on the NHL Network here in the United States.

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