Harris Announces 19-Athlete Traveling Roster for Men’s Junior World Cup

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After a thrilling shootout victory back in August to claim bronze, the Junior U.S. Men’s National Team captured their second medal in event history and first since 2008 at the Junior Pan American Championship (JPAC). Although falling just short of directly qualifying for the 2021 FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup (JWC), the team was the first reserve should a nation pull out.

Less than a month later, USA secured their spot after an announcement came from the International Hockey Federation (FIH) that  Hockey Australia and Hockey New Zealand will no longer be able to participate due to COVID-related international travel restrictions put in place by their respective governments. With preparation underway and the JWC set to take place November 24 through December 5, U.S. U-21 Men’s National Team Head Coach Pat Harris has established the 19-athlete traveling roster to compete in Bhubaneswar, India.

“With the majority of the Junior Pan American Championship team returning, a few additions have been made,” said Harris. “I think there is a nice balance between young talent and experience, and I believe with this group we can continue to develop a competitive international playing standard.”

All eligible athlete who went to the JPAC and a handful of others who attended the Young Men’s National Championship and various trainings from July to October evaluated for the final selection. Thirteen athletes who represented USA at the JPAC have been named with a mix of other junior talent. Shomik Chakraborty (Washington, D.C.) and Phil Schofield (Moorpark, Calif.) will bring their experience in goal, with the support from defensive-man Samuel Zuzick (Moorpark, Calif.), and Jatin Sharma (South San Francisco, Calif.), USA’s top goal scorer of the JPAC.

Congratulations to the following athletes who have been named to the 19-athlete traveling roster for the men’s JWC:

Leo Baumgardner (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), Shomik Chakraborty (Washington, D.C.), Luca Civetta (Key Biscayne, Fla.), Corey Dykema (Newport News, Va.), Mehtab Grewal (Somis, Calif.), Jaden Henry-Brooks (Moorpark, Calif.), Gurcharan Johal (Phoenix, Ariz.), Wyatt Katz (Santa Rosa Valley, Calif.), Tyler Kim (Arlington, Mass.), Tymen Kloen (Amsterdam, Netherlands), Henzor Motta (San Juan, Puerto Rico), Willem Pouw (Santa Rosa Valley, Calif.), Finlay Qualie (Castle Cary, United Kingdom), Dean Schiller (Alexandria, Va.), Phil Schofield (Moorpark, Calif.), Jatin Sharma (South San Francisco, Calif.), Amrinderpal Singh (Eastvale, Calif.), Damien Tarala (Norwalk, Conn.), Samuel Zuzick (Moorpark, Calif.)

The non-traveling reserves, who are requested to be on standby, are Nico Diaz (Key Biscayne, Fla.), Gavin Chung (Glen Ridge, N.J.), Shiven Patel (Los Altos, Calif.), Noah Reynolds (Moorpark, Calif.) and Amar Singh (Santa Clara, Calif.).

The Junior USMNT will take part in a pre-tournament camp from November 6 to 15 in Moorpark, Calif. The following day they will depart from Los Angeles to make the trip to Bhubaneswar, India.

Although the official schedule has not yet been released, all matches of the Junior World Cup will be streamed live on Watch.Hockey.

Due to the initial COVID-19 postponement, the age restrictions for the Junior Pan American Championship shifted to reflect originally eligible athletes. For the Junior World Cup, only athletes born in 2000 or later are eligible to compete and this eliminated Christian DeAngelis, Jack Gallucci and Amardeep Khokhar from the original JPAC roster.

For more information regarding the 2021 men’s FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup, visit the event page.

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