Although the Boston University men’s hockey team will not return to action until the first weekend of the new year, some Terriers will be wearing the jersey of their respective country over the break.
Freshman forward Brady Tkachuk, sophomores goaltender Jake Oettinger and forward Patrick Harper will represent Team USA in the World Junior Championship which begins play Tuesday, Dec. 26.
Harper leads BU with 21 points, tied for first in assists with 13 and tied for second in goals with 8. Tkachuk leads Terrier freshmen in points and assists with 14 and 10 respectively Oettinger has started 17 games for BU and has a .902 save percentage.
Both Harper and Oettinger skated on the gold medal-winning 2017 U.S. National Junior Team that bested Team Canada 5-4 in a shootout.
Skating for Team Canada is sophomore defenseman Dante Fabbro. Fabbro leads the Terriers with 40 blocked shots and he has 12 points. Fabbro represented Canada in last year’s tournament–in which he took home a silver medal.
Playing for Finland is freshman defenseman Kasper Kotkansalo. Kotkansalo has two goals and three assists on the season.
These will not be the only Terriers playing in international tournaments over their break. Senior defenseman and captain Brandon Hickey was selected to represent team Canada in the Spengler Cup.
Hickey has three goals and two assists for the Terriers.
Final 2018 U.S. National Junior Team roster announced: https://t.co/Tfzvn7dWUH#USAWJC 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/RxLhSkUe1Q
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) December 23, 2017
Excited to see these current NCAA players represent 🇨🇦 over the holidays @NCAACanada pic.twitter.com/6p4RmeOVKM
— College Hockey Inc. (@collegehockey) December 21, 2017