Michigan talent World Junior-bound?

USA Hockey today named 29 players to its preliminary roster for the 2010 U.S. National Junior Team that will participate in a three-day pre-tournament training camp Dec. 17-19 in Grand Forks, N.D.

The 2010 U.S. National Junior Team will compete at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, Dec. 26, 2009-Jan. 5, 2010, in Saskatoon and Regina, Sask.

The training camp will be highlighted with an exhibition game against the University of North Dakota men's ice hockey team on Dec. 19. Following the camp, a reduced roster will be play the Czech Republic on Dec. 22 in Regina, Sask., in Team USA's final exhibition game.

"We are very excited about this group of players and their performance leading up to the tournament," said Dean Blais, head coach of the 2010 U.S. National Junior Team. "Selecting our final team from this list will be difficult, and we're looking forward to Grand Forks to help us get a clearer picture on the team's final makeup."

Among those invited to Grand Forks are three returning forwards from the 2009 U.S. National Junior Team, including Tyler Johnson, Danny Kristo and Jordan Schroeder.

Also highlighting the preliminary roster are nine players from the gold medal-winning 2009 U.S. National Under-18 Team, including forwards Ryan Bourque, Chris Brown, Jerry D'Amigo, Jeremy Morin and Jason Zucker, defensemen Cam Fowler (Farmington Hills), Jon Merrill (Brighton) and John Ramage and goalie Jack Campbell (Port Huron).

Two more Michigan natives are forwards AJ Jenks (Wolverine Lake/Plymouth Whalers) and David Wohlberg, a teammate of Brown's at the University of Michigan and a South Lyon native.

For the complete roster, click here.

NOTES: The final 2010 U.S. National Junior Team roster will be selected following Team USA's exhibition game against the Czech Republic ... Schroeder is the only two-time U.S. National Junior Team member (2008 and 2009) on this year's preliminary roster ... Of the 29 invitees, 20 participated in the 2009 National Junior Evaluation Camp this past August ... Full coverage from the camp can be found here … Four invitees are current members of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program, including Campbell, Justin Faulk, Merrill and Zucker ... For a list of the preliminary roster players and their 2009-10 season stats, click here.

Jenks photo courtesy Walt Dmoch