After a day of practice yesterday, the U.S. resumes game play against Canada today at 4pmET. It will be the first game for Canada in the tournament, and the game can be viewed live on HockeyTV.
Mattias Samuelsson (Voorhees, N.J./BUF, '19, 2nd rd., 32nd overall) will enter his sophomore campaign at Western Michigan University with an 'A' on his jersey. While it is not common for sophomore's to wear letters, Samuelsson is well-versed in captaincy roles, notably wearing the 'C' for the gold medal-winning 2016 U.S. Youth Olympic Ice Hockey Team and silver medal-entry at the 2018 IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championship.
Samuelsson is the third member of his family to be coached by Broncos head coach Andy Murray, as his brother, Lukas, is a junior with the Broncos and their father, Kjell, played under Murray when he was an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers. A native of Tingsryd, Sweden, Kjell won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992, just one year after helping Sweden capture the 1991 IIHF Men's World Championship.
Yesterday morning, the U.S. roster for the 2019 World Junior Summer Showcase was trimmed to 31 players, bringing the U.S. squad from two teams to one. The 31 players consists of 18 forwards, 10 defensemen and three goaltenders. Among the remaining U.S. players are 11 first-round NHL Draft picks, including two top-10 selections in forwards Alex Turcotte (LAK, 2019, 5th overall) and Trevor Zegras (ANA, 2019, 9th overall).