INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Twenty members of the U.S. National Under-17 Team players are in Saint John, New Brunswick to compete in the World Under-17 Challenge, their first international tournament play with the NTDP.  

COACHING STAFF AT THE CHALLENGE
Seth Appert (Cottage Grove, Minn.) will lead the U.S. National Under-17 Team along with associate coach Nick Fohr (Grand Forks, N.D.), intern assistant coach Jared Nightingale(Jackson, Mich.) and goaltending coach Thomas Speer (Janesville, Wis.).

WORLD U17 CHALLENGE HISTORY
The U17s have won the World Under-17 Challenge five times since 2001, last winning victory coming in 2017. During that tournament, the U.S. Under-17 Team went 7-0-0-0 in Dawson Creek, British Columbia. The U17s finished in seventh place in its last tournament held in New Brunswick in 1995 with a 2-2-1 overall record. Team USA has finished in the top three 15 times; first place in November 2017, 2014, 2010, 2002 and 2001; second place in November 2014, 2012, 2011, 2008, 2006, 1998 and 1996. Last year the U.S. finished in first place.

ALL-TIME VS CANADA RED
The U.S. and Canada Red have met four previous times at the World U17 Hockey Challenge. The most recent was last year's championship matchup, when Team USA defeated Canada Red, 6-4. Cole Caufield (Stevens Point, Wis.) led the U.S. in the win, netting three goals, and Owen Lindmark (Naperville, Ill.) was named the U.S. Player of the Game.

RACKING UP POINTS
The U.S. National Under-17 Team is lead in points by Thomas Bordeleau (Houston, Texas), who holds 10 in 12 games played. Ty Smilanic (Elizabeth, Colo.) leads the team in goals with seven, and Owen Gallatin (Hugo, Minn.) leads all defensemen in points with seven.

NOTES: All preliminary-round games, as well as quarterfinals and placement games, will be available via live stream on HockeyCanada.ca/WU17 … TSN will broadcast both semifinals, as well as the bronze- and gold-medal games in Canada … the official tournament website found here … The Team USA homepage for the 2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge can be found here … The 2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge includes two groups of four teams. Group A features Canada Black, Canada White, the Czech Republic, and the United States, while Group B includes Canada Red, Finland, Russia, and Sweden ... Follow @USAHockeyNTDP on Twitter for tournament updates and join the conversation on social media by using #WorldU17.