To date, six AAPG alumni have been drafted by the Minnesota Wild, including Louie Belpedio (Skokie, Ill.), Jordan Greenway (Canton, N.Y.) and Luke Kunin (Chesterfield, Mo.), who all skated for the Wild this past season. In total, 23 Minnesota natives have participated in an All-American Prospects Game. Six of those Minnesotans went on to become first-round NHL selections, including Eden Prairie's Casey Mittelstadt (2017, Buffalo Sabres, 8th overall), Edina's Kieffer Bellows (2016, N.Y. Islanders, 19th overall), Burnsville's Brock Boeser (2014, Vancouver Canucks, 23rd overall), Ham Lake's Riley Tufte (2016, Dallas Stars, 25th overall) and Lakeville natives Ryan Poehling (2017, Montreal Canadiens, 25th overall) and Jake Oettinger (2017, Dallas Stars, 26th overall).
Minnesota leads all states with 10 players, including Kaden Bohlsen (Willmar), Ben Brinkman (Edina), Ryder Donovan (Duluth), Ethan Frisch (Moorhead), Drew Helleson (Farmington), Aaron Huglen (Roseau), Trevor Janicke (Maple Grove), Michael Koster (Chaska) Garrett Pinoniemi (Delano) and Graint Silianoff (Edina).
Collectively, 17 states are represented on the roster, including Alaska, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Thirty-one players have ties to the United States Hockey League, the top junior league in the U.S., including 19 players associated with USA Hockey's National Team Development Program in Plymouth, Mich.
Players selected to compete in the USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game were chosen by USA Hockey in conjunction with NHL Central Scouting. To date, 155 players who have participated in the event have gone on to be selected in the NHL Draft, including 36 first-round selections and 46 players who have already made NHL debuts.
Previous host sites for the USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game include Buffalo, New York (2012, 2014, 2015, 2017), Pittsburgh (2013) and Philadelphia (2016).
Related:
- Wild to host 2018 All-American Prospects Game