Five Players and Coach St. Clair Headed to Top Prospects
January 20, 2024 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Minnesota Wilderness News Release
Five Minnesota Wilderness players will get a special opportunity to display their skills in front of college and pro scouts next month when they play at the NAHL's Top Prospects Tournament.
The league this week released its rosters for the event set for February 5 and 6 at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in suburban Pittsburgh, PA. The event will feature teams representing each of the NAHL's four divisions, plus Silver Selects and Gold Selects squads.
Forwards Peteris Purmalis, Alessandro Lurati, and Adam Johnson will join defenseman and team captain Gustavs Ozolins on the Midwest Division team. Wilderness head coach Colten St. Clair will serve as an assistant coach on Team Midwest.
"Those guys would be the first to say it takes a village to help them get to that spot, but all those guys have earned it," said St. Clair. "I'm really excited for those guys to get that opportunity."
Defenseman Brandt Dubey has also been named to the Gold Selects team-which is made up of players selected in conjunction with the NHL Central Scouting Department.
Eligibility to the tournament's four division and Silver Selects teams is limited to players who have not yet secured a NCAA commitment. The number of players teams are allowed to send is based on their team's winning percentage as of Jan. 7. The better the winning percentage a team has within its division, the more players a team can send.
Each team will play two games in the 2-day event.
Below is a brief biography of the Wilderness players selected to the tournament:
Forwards
Name DOB Hometown Jr. hockey experience 2023-24 stats
Adam Johnson 5/22/2003 Monticello, MN 3rd season 26 gp, 9g, 4a, 13 pts
Alessandro Lurati 6/23/2004 Sarengo, SUI 4th season 9 gp, 4g, 7a, 11 pts
Peteris Purmalis 1/7/2003 Liepaja, LAT 5th season 39 gp, 15g, 21a, 36 pts
Defensemen
Name DOB Hometown Jr. hockey experience 2023-24 stats
Brandt Dubey 5/22/2003 Orchard Park, NY Rookie 38 gp, 0g, 3a 3 pts
Gustavs Ozolins 6/19/2003 Riga, LAT 5th Season 34 gp, 2g, 15a, 17 pts
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