Mario Lucia, Mike Reilly and Team USA open the their 2013 World Junior Hockey Championship schedule tomorrow morning at 6 am PT/ 9 am ET against Germany. The US had a bye on Day 1 and Germany is licking it’s wounds after a 9-3 spanking at the hands of Team Canada.
The US will dress 13 forwards and six defensemen for their opener, as they still can add one more skater, and likely will ahead of their game against Russia on Friday. The roster limbo revolves around defenseman Connor Murphy and his health, after picking up an injury in pre-tournament action.
Mike Reilly is one of the six defensemen that will play tomorrow morning and likely will start on a defensive pairing with Seth Jones, a projected top-two pick in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. Chris Peters over at the United States of Hockey Blog, has some projected lines for tomorrow morning’s tilt, and has Reilly paired with Jones.
Peters also has Mario Lucia playing on a “third” line alongside Sean Kurlay and Tyler Briggs. Lucia played both in the top-six and as a 13th forward in the Americans two pre-tournament games, and I expect he will see time up and down the line-up.
Again, head over to the USOH blog for a in-depth preview of all things Team USA.
Also the IIHF has a tournament specific website which can be found here.
…AND make sure to follow @chrismpeters, @USAHockeyScores and @IIHFHockey on Twitter for coverage of Team USA.
The game can be seen on TSN in Canada and the NHL Network and NHL.com in the United States.
Enjoy the hockey.
