Montreal Canadiens forwards Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Brendan Gallagher chose not to represent their country at the World Championships this spring. But, a couple of young players in the Habs system will be heading to the prestigious tournament.
Jordan Harris and Sean Farrell have accepted invitations from USA Hockey to join the American team. The pair of youngsters will gain some valuable experience playing against professionals in the annual event.
Both players have had pretty eventful seasons already, but will continue their seasons after deadline with some playoff disappointment in their own leagues.
Farrell played this season at Harvard. It was his first college campaign and he was terrific. The Habs fourth round pick from the 2020 NHL Draft burst onto the college scene with ten goals and 28 points in 24 games.
Harvard surprised Quinnipiac in the ECAC Playoffs, with Farrell setting up the play that resulted in the overtime winner in the championship game. That sent Harvard to the NCAA Championship, but they fell 4-3 to Minnesota State in the first round of that national tournament.
Harris played the season at Northeastern, and they finished atop the Hockey East Conference in the regular season. Northeastern lost in the semi-finals of the conference playoffs but based on their regular season title, were invited to the NCAA Championship tournament. They also lost in the opening round, dropping a 2-1 decision in overtime.
Farrell hasn’t played since Harvard was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on March 24th, but Harris chose to sign an entry-level contract with the Canadiens and continued his season at the National Hockey League level. He played ten games with the Habs late in the season and scored a goal in the final game of the year.
It was the Canadiens final game of the year, but it won’t be Harris or Farrell’s last game of the season.
Farrell, 20 and Harris, 21, will be two of the youngest players on the United States roster at the upcoming World Championships. Admittedly, it is not the most star-studded World Championships roster we have seen out of USA, but that means both Harris and Farrell will have a chance to play a big role on this team.
Introducing the 2022 U.S. Men's National Team roster! #MensWorlds 🇺🇸
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) May 5, 2022
Details → https://t.co/HnD0wTpw5E pic.twitter.com/UuwCPOFb3R
It won’t be the first time Farrell represents his country. He played at the Olympics this season, scoring six points in four games for USA. The World Championships is a pretty big stage for a 20 year old, but it won’t seem nearly as big for someone who recently led their country in scoring at the Olympics.
Harris hasn’t played at the Olympics, but he did play in a World Juniors in 2020. He is just 21, but he could carve out a big role on this team considering Seth Jones is the only real big name on the blue line.
The World Championships begin next Friday, May 13th in Finland and will finish on May 29th.
Want your voice heard? Join the A Winning Habit team!