GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Alex Galchenyuk is of Russian decent and spent his childhood living all over North America and Europe while his father, Alexander, played professional hockey.

But when it came time to choose a side for his international career, Galchenyuk didn't need much time to make up his mind.

"I was born in the United States," he said. "I play hockey here. I want to play for the United States."

Galchenyuk, born in Milwaukee during his father's two-season stint with the Milwaukee Admirals of the International Hockey League, has made the staff of USA Hockey very happy with that decision.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound forward -- taken by the Montreal Canadiens with the third pick of the 2012 NHL Draft -- has had a tremendous start to the season. Now in his third season with the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League, Galchenyuk is tied for the OHL lead with 27 goals, and he's second with 61 points.

With a compacted schedule leading up to the start of the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship, U.S. coach Phil Housley said bringing in 27 players for a pre-tournament camp just felt like the right number.

The evaluation camp will run Dec. 16-18 at the MSG Training Center in Greenburgh, N.Y.

"Our first exhibition game is on Dec. 20 [in Helsinki] and we have to travel in between that time, so it doesn't give us a lot of prep time to hold a camp where we're going to have scrimmages," Housley told NHL.com. "We have to kind of break down our team the best we can and get down to that number in a short few days we have."

USA Hockey expects to have its 23-player roster named by Dec. 22. The WJC starts Dec. 26, in Ufa, Russia.

The six returning players for the Canadian National Junior Team have some unfinished business this time around when the 2013 World Junior Championship commences later this month in Ufa, Russia.

It isn't often Hockey Canada has the luxury of fortifying its junior lineup with NHL-caliber talent, but that's precisely the situation coach Steve Spott finds himself following three days of evaluation at Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary this week.

And that's a good thing, considering what's at stake for the 23 players named to the Canadian roster Thursday evening.

This year's team has six returning players from last year's bronze medalists, including defensemen Dougie Hamilton (Boston Bruins) and Scott Harrington (Pittsburgh Penguins), as well as forwards Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets), Ryan Strome (New York Islanders), Boone Jenner (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers).

Canadian National Junior Team coach Steve Spott was certainly busy making his list and checking it twice following the second day of selection camp at the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.

Spott expressed disappointment following his team's 4-1 exhibition loss to the University of Alberta on Wednesday. For some players, Spott said afterward, it was a missed opportunity.

"We're at the process in the evaluation where players are starting to make the decisions for us and I think that was obvious [against Alberta]," Spott told the media. "Players are given an opportunity to shine and I think there were some players, in my mind, that didn't take advantage of a very good opportunity because there are jobs to be had."

If there was one thing that coaches will take away from the opening day of Hockey Canada's National Junior Team selection camp in Calgary on Tuesday, it was that making final decisions won't come easy.

Canada's selection camp, which runs through Thursday at the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park, will help determine the 13 forwards, seven defensemen and three goalies who will represent the country at the 2013 World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia, which runs Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.

Tim Bender, NHL Central Scouting's top-rated German-based skater, is one of 29 players invited to take part in Germany's selection camp for the 2013 World Junior Championship.

The German federation originally announced its roster last week, but made changes Monday.

Germany is back in the top division of the WJC this year after winning the gold medal in the Division I Group A tournament last year. It will play in Pool B this year, along with Russia, Canada, Slovakia and the U.S.

The unenviable task of choosing the top junior-aged players to represent Canada at the 2013 World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia, begins in earnest on Tuesday when the country's National Junior Team selection camp begins in Calgary.

Hockey Canada will have at least 35 players in attendance at the camp, which will run through Thursday at the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park. All invitees will be arriving in Calgary on Monday.

Canada's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins informed the team on Saturday that he would attend camp. His participation was in doubt due to left shoulder discomfort while playing in the American Hockey League. (Photo: Team Canada)

Nashville Predators prospect and camp invitee Colton Sissons of the Kelowna Rockets in the Western Hockey League won't be attending due to an upper-body injury. Despite the fact defenseman Xavier Ouellet of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Blainville-Boisbriand Armada is suffering from an ankle sprain, Hockey Canada chief scout Kevin Prendergast said the 6-foot-1, 190-pound blueliner should be ready to go on Tuesday.

Florida Panthers prospect Jonathan Huberdeau of the Saint John Sea Dogs, meanwhile, could be facing a suspension for his actions on Sunday in a 4-2 loss to the Halifax Mooseheads. According to reports, Huberdeau, who played a role in Canada's bronze medal-winning effort at the 2012 WJC, dragged a linesman to the ice before engaging in a fight with an opposing player late in the third period. The incident is being investigated by the QMJHL. If Huberdeau is given a league suspension, it should not affect his place on this year's National Junior Team.

Canada's camp will have six returning players from last year's team, including defensemen Dougie Hamilton, drafted No. 9 by the Boston Bruins in 2011, and Scott Harrington (Pittsburgh Penguins), and forwards Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets), Ryan Strome (New York Islanders), Boone Jenner (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Huberdeau.

Now that preliminary rosters for all competing teams in the 2013 World Junior Championship have been announced, expect plenty of healthy debate over which players should represent their countries when the two-week tournament commences in Ufa, Russia, on Dec. 26.

Though all countries are required to submit their WJC rosters to the International Ice Hockey Federation on Dec. 25, most will have already announced their 23-player lineup two days earlier.

Preliminary-round games in Group A will be held at the Sports Palace and those in Group B will be staged at Ufa Arena. The Group A field consists of defending gold medalist Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Latvia. In Group B, Canada, Russia, the United States, Slovakia and Germany will battle in preliminary-round action.

In addition to several top returnees and NHL-drafted players being named to selection camp rosters, there are many 2013 draft-eligible prospects in the mix. Here are 13 players who not only have a chance to survive the final cuts, but to hear their name announced in the early rounds of the NHL Draft next June in Newark, N.J.

The Slovak Ice Hockey Association has announced its preliminary 29-man roster of players who will be competing for spots on the National Team that will participate in the 2013 World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia, later this month.

Slovakia head coach Ernest Bokros will have five returnees in the mix, including goalie Richard Sabol, defensemen Peter Bezuska and Peter Ceresnák, and forwards Marko Dano and Richard Mraz. Slovakia suffered an 8-5 loss to Finland in the quarterfinals of the medal round last year.

Slovakia's camp will take place in Bratislava Ice Stadium, the home rink of Slovan Bratislava, beginning Monday. The club has three tune-up games prior to the start of the tournament against a pair of Slovak league teams and against the Czech Republic. The 2013 WJC runs Dec. 26 through Jan. 5 in Russia.

When the United States went about picking its team for the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship, there was a surprise name in the middle of the discussion. It was a big, strong, skilled 17-year-old defenseman a year away from NHL draft consideration.

A year later, that same player now will be no surprise addition to the U.S. WJC team. Seth Jones, 18, will be expected to play a major role as the United States looks to improve on its seventh-place finish in Alberta.

Jones, expected to be one of the top two players picked at the 2013 NHL Draft, was one of 27 players invited by USA Hockey to its selection camp, to be held Dec 16-18 at the New York Rangers' training facility in Greenburgh, N.Y.

Barring injury, Jones has a spot on the team, likely as a top-pair defenseman who will see lots of ice time in all situations.