After years of donning black and gold for the DICK'S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Penguins Elite, two local products may have the chance to wear red, white and blue on an international stage.
Forward Logan Cooley of West Mifflin and goaltender Aidan Campbell of Cranberry Township were among the 44 players invited to the 2021 World Junior Summer Showcase, set for July 24-31 at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich.
Two Penguins Elite Alumni Invited to World Junior Summer Showcase
Logan Cooley and Aidan Campbell will be looking to represent Team USA at the World Junior Championship
The camp, which will also include teams from Finland and Sweden, will serve as an evaluation for athletes looking to make their respective national teams for the 2022 World Junior Championship, set for Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta.
"It's a great honor, because it's the highest stage for their birth year - the '02s and below," said Brian Mueller, executive director of hockey operations at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. He coached both kids when they played for his 16U Penguins Elite team.
"They're being recognized as some of the top kids in the country to try out for it, and it's just a great honor any time you put the USA Hockey jersey on."
Both kids are terrific stories.
Cooley, 17, is the youngest player invited and the only one born in the year 2004 to attend the camp, "which is unbelievable," Mueller said. "He's the only '04 in the United States that has been invited."
What makes Cooley's journey even more special is that he was actually one of the original Little Penguins who took part in Sidney Crosby's Learn to Play program when it was first established back in 2008. He then came up with the Penguins Elite, spending five seasons there before joining the U.S. National Team Development Program.
"Logan was part of the very first Little Penguins program, and we are proud of the success that he's had to date," said Rich Hixon, the Penguins' senior vice president of facilities, who helped oversee the growth of the team's youth hockey initiatives. "Being invited to compete in the 2021 World Junior Summer Showcase is another significant accomplishment in his hockey journey."
Cooley just finished his first season with the USNTDP, where he started with the Under-17 Team, but eventually got moved up to the Under-18 Team, scoring 20 goals and 46 points in 47 games split between the squads.
Cooley then earned the chance to represent Team USA at the World Under-18 Championship in April and did extremely well, which led to this opportunity at the World Junior Summer Showcase.
"His hockey IQ and his playmaking ability was always off the charts, and he really grew physically and mentally this year," Mueller said of Cooley, who is committed to playing college hockey at Notre Dame. "He put some added weight on that really helped his game."
Campbell, 18, also played his youth hockey for the Penguins Elite - backstopping the U16 team to a USA Hockey National Championship in 2019.
"He was very instrumental in us making that run," Mueller said. "He played in the title game and played very well. Just progressed. Took some time, didn't rush it. Now, he plays for the Erie Otters."
Penguins Elite truly is developing elite homegrown talent, with Mueller and the rest of the coaches using both Campbell and Cooley as inspiration for current youth players in the program.
"Aidan Campbell is a prime example," Mueller said. "He was invited to the national camp for the U-17 team, but didn't make it. But he stayed with it, and now, he's got a chance to play on the World Junior team.
"Logan Cooley did get invited to the national camp and made it, and then this year, just kind of blossomed. It's great to see them getting recognition and having the chance to go represent Team USA in the World Junior Championship."
They're the latest amazing stories to come out of the Penguins Elite program, which recently sent six teams to the USA Hockey National Championships and had six players selected in the 2021 USHL Draft.
It's all the result of the program's emphasis on helping these kids become well-rounded people that are given the best opportunity to maximize their potential and hopefully further their hockey careers beyond Penguins Elite.
"I think our process and our focus and player development is second to none," Mueller said. "It's great to see us being in the hunt for national championships and pushing players onto the next level. That's really a result of (Penguins president and CEO) David Morehouse, and his vision of trying to be the best development program."
