COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - USA Hockey today named the 29 players who make up the preliminary roster for the 2012 U.S. National Junior Team. The group will gather for a camp in Camrose, Alta., on Dec. 17, with the final 22-player U.S. National Junior Team roster expected to be named Dec. 22.

"We're very excited to see what this group of players brings to camp," said Jim Johannson, general manager of the 2012 U.S. National Junior Team and also the assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey. "The talent and skill that all of these players bring will make trimming the roster tough, but we look forward to the process."

The camp will include exhibition games against Russia (Dec. 20), Switzerland (Dec. 21) and Slovakia (Dec. 23).

The 2012 U.S. National Junior Team will compete at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, Dec. 26, 2010-Jan. 5, 2011, in Calgary and Edmonton, Alta. Team USA will look to earn its third straight medal after capturing the bronze medal at the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship in Buffalo, N.Y., and the gold medal at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship in Saskatoon, Sask.

Among those invited to the camp are eight returning players from the bronze medal-winning 2011 U.S. National Junior Team, including goaltender Jack Campbell (Port Huron, Mich./Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds); defensemen Justin Faulk (South St. Paul, Minn./Univeristy of Minnesota Duluth/Carolina Hurricanes), Derek Forbort (Duluth, Minn./Univ. of North Dakota) and Jon Merrill (Brighton, Mich./Univ. of Michigan); and forwards Nick Bjugstad (Blaine, Minn./Univ. of Minnesota), Charlie Coyle (East Weymouth, Mass./Boston Univ.), Emerson Etem (Long Beach, Calif./Medicine Hat Tigers) and Jason Zucker (Las Vegas, Nev./Univ. of Denver).

Both Campbell and Zucker were also members of the gold medal-winning 2010 U.S. National Junior Team.

For the complete roster, click here.

NOTES: Andy Iles (Ithaca, N.Y./Cornell Univ.) has been named the U.S. National Junior Team's emergency goaltender. He will not attend Team USA's pre-tournament camp ... Justin Faulk, who is currently playing for the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, was named to the U.S. National Junior Team preliminary roster pending release by the Hurricanes ... Dean Blais, head men's ice hockey coach at the University of Nebraska Omaha, will serve as head coach of the 2012 U.S. National Junior Team. He will be assisted by Scott Sandelin, head men's ice hockey coach at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Tom Ward, head ice hockey coach of the Shattuck-St. Mary's School's boys' prep team; and Joe Exter, assistant men's ice hockey coach at Ohio State University ... Jim Johannson, USA Hockey's assistant executive director of hockey operations, is serving as the general manager of Team USA for the third consecutive year. Tim Taylor (Guilford, Conn.), former U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team head coach and longtime Yale University men's ice hockey team head coach, is also serving his third straight year as Team USA's director of player personnel ... From Aug. 6-13, 45 of the top U.S. under-20 players took part in USA Hockey's National Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid, N.Y. For the full roster and camp coverage, click here.

Team USA 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship Pre-Tournament Schedule
Dec. 17-23 • Alberta, Canada