Casey Mittelstadt and Ryan Lindgren named to US 2018 WJC Preliminary roster

Minnesota freshman forward Casey Mittelstadt and sophomore defenseman Ryan Lindgren are among the 28 players named Monday (December 5, 2017) to the United States' 2018 World Juniors preliminary roster.

Featuring the best players in the world under 20, the 2018 World Juniors take place December 26, 2017-January 5th, 2018 in Buffalo, New York.

BLOG: Commits Jake Boltmann and Mike Koster win gold at U-17 5 Nations

I quickly mentioned this tidbit in yesterday's "Welcome Back" article among several other news and notes that occurred during my month away from the blog. At the same time, it is a big enough deal to get a separate post rather than be buried near the bottom of an unrelated article. 

Last week, Minnesota commits Jake Boltmann (Edina, MN) and Mike Koster (Chaska, MN) went to Ostrava, Czech Republic for the summer's U-17 Five Nations Tournament and came back with a gold medal.

The international tournament, made up of players born in 2001, was between the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia and Czech Republic. The Americans went 4-0 in the tournament, defeating the host country 5-3 in the final game Sunday en route to taking gold for the sixth time in seven years. 

Boltmann and Koster, both defensemen, helped bolster a blue line that gave up a total of five goals in four games.