Future Badgers Named to National Teams
April 06, 2007 | Men's Hockey
A pair of incoming freshmen who will join the Wisconsin men's hockey team this fall have been named to their respective national teams for the 2007 IIHF World Under-18 Championship. The event will be held in Tampere and Rauma, Finland from April 11 through April 22.
Forward Kyle Turris (New Westminster, B.C.) was named to the Canadian team on Thursday, while defenseman Ryan McDonagh (Arden Hills, Minn.) was named to Team USA on Wednesday.
Turris, a 6-0 and 165-pound forward, skates for the Burnaby Express of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). Turris led the Express with 66 goals and 121 points in 53 games played during this past season, ranking second in the league in total points and leading the league with a 2.3 points-per-game average. He added 12 goals and 26 points in 14 playoff games to tie for the league lead. Listed No. 5 on the NHL Central Scouting 's Midterm Rankings for North America, Turris was named MVP of the inaugural World Junior A Challenge last fall after leading the tournament in scoring with five goals and 11 points in four games. He scored the first four goals in Canada West's 6-2 victory over Russia, before helping the team to the gold medal.
In 2005-06, Turris posted 36 goals and 72 points in 57 games in helping Burnaby win the BCHL, and the 2006 Canadian Junior A Championship, the RBC Royal Bank Cup, where he led all scorers with seven goals and 13 points in six games. He was also the a member of Canada 's gold medal winning team at the 2006 Under-18 Junior World Cup last summer, and skated for Canada's Team Pacific at the 2006 Under-17 World Championship.
McDonagh, a 6-1 and 195-pound defenseman, skated Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Minn., and was named Minnesota' 'Mr. Hockey' in March. The Mr. Hockey award is given to the outstanding senior boys high school hockey player in the state of Minnesota. Ranked 12th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting in its midterm report, McDonagh finished 2006-07 with 14 goals and 40 points.
The left-handed shot helped Cretin-Derham Hall to the 2006 Minnesota State High School Championship and earned all-tournament team honors along the way. A 2006 first-team all-state selection, he was also named first-team all-metro and first-team all-conference. A member of the silver medal winning U.S. Under-18 Select Team at the 2006 Under-18 Junior World Cup last summer in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, he collected 14 goals and 45 points during the 31 games in his high school team's state title run in 2006. In 2004-05, McDonagh collected 12 goals and 30 points in 28 games on the blue line for Cretin-Derham Hall. He was also a member of the 2005 United States Under-17 Select Team that took first place at the 2005 Five Nations Cup in Huttwil, Switzerland held in August of 2005.
Team USA has won the last two gold medals at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship.
