Trey Augustine receives an invitation to the USA Hockey World Junior summer camp

Michigan State hockey star Trey Augustine will get a chance to defend his gold medal at the World Juniors after receiving an invitation to summer camp.

I mean, it’s almost a monthly occurrence at this point that I have another article coming out for you guys about something cool that Trey Augustine has accomplished. Consider the June episode.

Yesterday, Adam Nightingale confirmed on Jack Ebling’s show that Augustine was one of four Spartan hockey players who turned down NHL Entry Level contracts to return to MSU next year. On Thursday, Trey earned another honor: He was invited to USA Hockey’s World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth next month.

This will put him on the short list of candidates vying for the starting goalie job for Team USA at the World Juniors in Ottawa this winter.

46 players have been invited to the 2024 World Junior Summer Showcase on @USAHockeyArena 🇺🇸 #WJSS

Details → https://t.co/D7t246WV2W pic.twitter.com/wREFsqMuGK

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) June 20, 2024

Augustine has represented the US several times now, so this won’t be new for him. He played for the Americans at the 2022 and 2023 U18 World Championships in Germany and Switzerland, respectively. On the junior hockey stage, Trey played for Team USA in 2023, winning bronze at the games in Halifax, Canada.

This past season he won gold for America as the starting goaltender in Sweden, going 4-0 while battling the flu.

Last month, Augustine was named to the US national hockey team at the World Championships in the Czech Republic. He saw action in three games at the top current level of international competition, going 1–1 with a 1.37 goals against average and a .929 save percentage. The World Cup rosters are full of current and former NHL players, so this was a big step forward in the league for Augustine.

As alluded to by Nighty in The Drive With Jack, this led to Trey Augustine being offered an ELC from the Red Wings. This was the first report to surface that he was even offered the contract by the Wings. If he had chosen to sign it, he would have turned pro and undoubtedly played in the ECHL for Toledo or the AHL for the Grand Rapids Griffins next season.

The decision to ultimately turn pro or return to East Lansing has always been Trey’s. Both Nightingale and Wings GM Steve Yzerman seemed fully supportive of what Augustinus was going to do anyway. This prompted Trey to announce on his Instagram in April that he would be returning next year. Sources close to the program had a strong feeling all along that this was the plan.

Receiving the summer camp invite is just the first step to rejoining Team USA for the next World Junior Championships this winter. Although he has competed in other World Junior Championships and now even a Senior World Championship, he still meets the age requirements to qualify as a junior. Because he didn’t turn pro, his eligibility status remained.

There is still a way to go before the schedules are finalized. The tournament runs from December 26 to January 5 in Ottawa, Canada. All things being the same, it’s hard to imagine Trey not being the starting goalie for the Americans. He has held the starting job before and was the starter for both the semifinals and gold medal game of last year’s tournament.

Based on the names USA Hockey released today invited to camp, the U.S. roster should be absolutely loaded and possibly the favorites to repeat as champions. Names currently invited to camp include former notable NHL draft picks Gabe Perreault, Ryan Leonard, Oliver Moore, Quentin Musty, Beckett Hendrickson and more.

There is also a strong contingent of projected top NHL picks for this year’s draft taking place next week. These players include Cole Eiserman, Sam Hillebrandt, Zeev Buium and Trevor Connelly. Also included is projected 2025 top draft pick James Hagens.

The World Junior Summer Showcase takes place in Plymouth, Michigan. Other major junior teams in the world, such as Team Canada, Team Finland and Team Sweden, will also participate. A total of nine matches will be played during the showcase that takes place from 7/26 to 8/3.

Good luck to Trey Augustine and all the participants. I can’t wait for this year’s tournament.