April 25, 2006
Golden Boys
A look at the U.S. Under-18 World Champions

The U.S. Under-18 team that captured the IIHF World Championship last week featured five future Minnesota Golden Gophers, three future Boston University Terriers and Wisconsin Badgers, and a coveted college recruit leading the way in Patrick Kane.

It was the second straight Under-18 World Championship for Team USA, which was coached by John Hynes. The Americans beat Finland, 3-1, in the gold medal game.

Below is a statistical look at Team USA's performance, along with the college commitments from each player.

No. Name College GP G A PTS PIM PPG SHG GWG Pts/Gm
27 Patrick Kane Undecided 5 7 5 12 2 2 0 2 2.40
4 Jamie McBain Wisconsin 5 2 9 11 0 2 0 0 2.20
6 Erik Johnson Minnesota 5 4 6 10 2 3 0 1 2.00
21 Bill Sweatt Colo. Coll. 5 5 2 7 4 0 0 1 1.40
20 Michael Carman Minnesota 5 3 3 6 10 1 0 0 1.20
10 Rhett Rakhshani Denver 5 4 1 5 2 3 0 1 1.00
18 Blake Geoffrion Wisconsin 5 1 3 4 6 1 0 0 0.80
29 Luke Popko Boston Univ. 5 2 1 3 8 0 0 0 0.60
19 James O'Brien Minnesota 5 3 0 3 6 2 0 0 0.60
12 Ryan Flynn Minnesota 5 2 1 3 4 0 0 0 0.60
22 Mike Ratchuk Mich. State 5 0 2 2 4 0 0 0 0.40
24 Colin Wilson Undecided 5 0 1 1 6 0 0 0 0.20
5 Trent Palm UMD 5 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0.20
23 James vanRiemsdyk UNH 5 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0.20
9 Ryan Hayes Boston Coll. 5 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0.20
30 Joseph Palmer Ohio State 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.33
2 Cade Fairchild Minnesota 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
17 Kevin Montgomery Ohio State 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
16 Chris Summers Michigan 5 0 0 0 23 0 0 0 0.00
3 Nigel Williams Wisconsin 5 0 0 0 18 0 0 0 0.00
7 Brian Strait Boston Univ. 5 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0.00
31 Brett Bennett Boston Univ. 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0.00
  Bench           4        
                       
    GP Min. W L Tie SO GA GAA SV SV %
30 Joseph Palmer 3 187 3 0 0 1 5 1.67 80 0.941
31 Brett Bennett 2 120 2 0 0 1 1 0.50 31 0.969