( Photo Credit: Tyler Mignault / QU Chronicle )

By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz

The NCAA winter break annually cedes center stage for college hockey’s top prospects to the World Junior Championships during the holiday season. While that will be the case once again, with Bruins prospect James Hagens headlining a USA roster gunning for a third consecutive gold medal, the World Juniors won’t be the only tournament in the spotlight for college hockey’s best and brightest this year.

Across the Atlantic, the Spengler Cup is an annual hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, it is considered one of the world’s oldest invitational hockey tournaments. For the first time in its 102-year history, a US Collegiate Selects Team of college hockey players selected from across the NCAA will participate in the six-team field, including Bruins prospects Chris Pelosi and Ryan Walsh.

The duo joins a 25-man roster of what is effectively a college All-Star team featuring team captains, top draft picks, coveted undrafted free agents, and Hobey Baker hopefuls. Some of the more prominent names on the roster include TJ Hughes (Michigan), Zam Plante (Minnesota-Duluth), Mac Gadowsky (Penn State), Joey Muldowney (UConn), and Jake Livanavage (North Dakota).

Pelosi earned his place on the Collegiate Selects roster as one of the key cogs of one of the top teams in the nation. He finished the first half of the season as tenth-ranked Quinnipiac’s second-leading goalscorer and point producer, racking up 10-10-20 in 18 games, one of just eight players in the country to have double-digits in both. Pelosi also leads the team in both power play goals and game-winning goals, while also winning exactly 100 faceoffs.

Walsh has led the way as Cornell’s captain at both ends of the ice. He finished the first half as their leading scorer with 3-9-12 in 11 games, and has won 122 of his team-high 223 faceoffs (54.7%), anchoring the nation’s second-best defense from the top line.

With the volume of firepower in the forward group that the Collegiate Selects are bringing to Switzerland, Pelosi and Walsh are likely to assume two-way roles in the bottom six. Hughes, Plante, and Jack Musa (UMass) are among the top scorers in the nation this year and could make up at least two-thirds of the top line. Muldowney was one of the most prolific goal scorers in the country last season and could be a deadly finisher on any unit.

Penn State is bringing four forwards to Switzerland, including three who play on the same line in Happy Valley: Matt DiMarsico, Charlie Cerrato, and JJ Wiebusch. Aiden Fink, a Hobey Baker Award nominee from a year ago, has missed time with injury but could also return for the tournament. It’s natural to assume Collegiate Selects Head Coach Guy Gadowsky, who coached these Nittany Lions to the Frozen Four last spring, will want to play his guys and keep them together.

Both Pelosi and Walsh have enough playmaking and offensive skill to provide the Selects Team with meaningful scoring depth in their bottom six, regardless of who they are playing with. They can also insulate the forward group with solid defense, penalty killing, and a layer of grit, especially in front of goal.

The US Collegiate Selects Team will begin its Spengler Cup campaign on Boxing Day against Team Canada, comprised of non-NHL Canadian players, at 2:15 pm Eastern. Based on their results, they will play three to five games, with the tournament concluding with the championship game on New Year’s Eve. According to College Hockey Inc., every game featuring the US Collegiate Selects team can be streamed on the Spengler Cup’s YouTube channel.