CAMROSE, Alta. - Jason Zucker (Las Vegas, Nev./Univ. of Denver) was named captain of the 2012 U.S. National Junior Team, and will be joined by alternate captains Emerson Etem (Long Beach, Calif./Medicine Hat Tigers) and Jarred Tinordi (Millersville, Md./London Knights).

Zucker will be playing in his third International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, having skated with the gold medal-winning 2010 U.S. National Junior Team in Regina and Saskatoon, Sask., and with the bronze medal-winning U.S. squad last year in Niagara and Buffalo, N.Y.

Etem also earned a bronze medal with Team USA last year, while Tinordi will be making his first U.S. National Junior Team appearance.

For the complete U.S. roster, click here.

The 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship will take place from Dec. 26, 2011-Jan. 5, 2012, in Edmonton and Calgary, Alta. Team USA will play its first preliminary-round game on Monday (Dec. 26) against Denmark. The game will be televised live on NHL Network U.S., and will start at 8 p.m. EST.

NOTES: The U.S. National Junior Team is currently in the midst of a pre-tournament camp taking place in Alberta, Canada. Team USA has already taken part in two exhibition games, and will play its final pre-tournament game tonight (Dec. 23) against Slovakia in Three Hills, Alta. ... Dean Blais, head men's ice hockey coach at the University of Nebraska Omaha, is serving as head coach of the 2012 U.S. National Junior Team. He is assisted by Scott Sandelin, head men's ice hockey coach at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Tom Ward, head ice hockey coach of the Shattuck-St. Mary's School's boys' prep team; and Joe Exter, assistant men's ice hockey coach at Ohio State University ... Jim Johannson, USA Hockey's assistant executive director of hockey operations, is serving as the general manager of Team USA for the third consecutive year. Tim Taylor (Guilford, Conn.), former U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team head coach and longtime Yale University men's ice hockey team head coach, is also serving his third straight year as Team USA's director of player personnel ... The U.S. National Junior Team blog will provide daily updates with game recaps, photos and multimedia content. The blog can be found here ... Use the hashtag #USAWJC to join the conversation on Twitter.

*All games in Edmonton will be played at Rexall Place. All games in Calgary will be played at Scotiabank Saddledome.
^Pre-tournament game