Amherst native Ryan Leonard was named to the preliminary roster for the 2023 U.S. National Junior Team on Monday along with UMass freshman Kenny Connors and sophomore Ryan Ufko.
The 32-player pool will gather for a training camp Dec. 12-17 in Pontiac, Mich., where the final 23-man roster for the 2023 World Junior Championships will be selected. That tournament will take place Dec. 26, 2022-Jan. 5, 2023, in Moncton, New Brunswick, and Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Leonard, a Boston College commit that played two seasons at Pope Francis before joining the U.S. National Team Development program, is one of the U-18 team’s leading scorers with 22 goals and is third on the team with 33 points. He competed in the U-18 world championships last year as an underage player.
Leonard is one of three candidates from Massachusetts, the third-most represented state behind Minnesota (five) and Michigan (four).
Connors leads the Minutemen with seven goals and 16 points this season. The forward from Glen Mills, Pa., is a two-time Hockey East Rookie of the Week and was named the league’s Rookie of the Month for October.
Ufko is UMass’ No. 1 assist man with 10. All three of his goals are on the power play.
Both Connors and Ufko attended USA Hockey’s National Junior Evaluation camp over the summer.
UMass has sent a representative to four of the past five tournaments.
Thirty one of the 32 players in the pool are part of or committed to college hockey programs.