Mears/EJ to voice Team USA's run for gold

Former Islander radio voice Steve Mears will have the play-by-play of all Team USA games in the World Junior Tourney, which begins next week in Ufa, Russia.  Mears will be paired with NHL Network/NHL.com's EJ Hradek.  Rob Simpson will be the rink side reporter.

More details from Ken Schott (Daily Gazette, Schenectady NY) here: http://www.dailygazette.com/weblogs/schott/2012/dec/17/nhl-network-to-televise-all-usa-games-from-world-j/

and from NHL Network here: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=647851

There are no Islander prospects on the Team USA preliminary roster, but there are some familiar names to New York fans, including Stefan Matteau (1st round pick of NJ and son of Stephan), as well as Ranger first round picks JT MIller and Brady Skjei.  Steve Zipay noted today that Miller may end up being the team's captain, while Skjei, a defenseman, may not make the final roster (which also includes Union College [ Let's go U!] defenseman Shayne Gotisbehere).

Two pre-tourney games will also be shown on NHL Network  (Thursday at 12:30pm and Saturday at 6 AM, both with repeats in prime-time).

Islander prospects Griffin Reinhart and Ryan Strome (the OHL's leading scorer) are both on the Canadian squad-- all Canadian preliminary games will also be on NHL Network in the US; the US faces Canada on Sunday December 30th.  The game will air live at 4:30 AM, with a repeat in prime-time.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick