The 2019 World Junior Summer Showcase began on Friday, and Penguins prospects Calen Addison and Filip Hallander are taking part.
The tournament is an annual week-long exhibition that allows the American, Canadian, Finnish and Swedish junior teams to evaluate players ahead of the main World Junior Championship tournament in December. This year's Summer Showcase is being held at USA Hockey Arena from July 26-Aug. 3 in Plymouth, Michigan.
Team USA will have two teams, USA Blue and USA White, for the first three days of the tournament. The lone game on Friday's opening day of the tournament was a game between the two American squads.
Hallander and the Swedes open the tournament on Saturday with a game against USA Blue. They'll play the USA White team on Sunday, the full Team USA on Wednesday, Canada next Friday, and Finland next Saturday.
Addison and the Canadian team open the tournament on Tuesday against the full Team USA. They'll play Finland on Wednesday, Sweden next Friday, and the full Team USA again next Saturday.
Hallander, 19, is expected to play for Sweden in the World Junior Championship this winter after previously playing in the tournament last season. He was scoreless in five games in last year's tournament.
Addison, 19, also seems to be a lock to make the Canadian roster for the main tournament in December. Addison was one of 34 players who attended Canada's World Junior camp ahead of last year's tournament. He was among the first round of cuts from the camp.
"At the end of the day it's part of the game, and it's happened to a lot of good players over the years,” he said. “For me, it was just special to even be here and get invited as an 18-year-old."
Defenseman Santeri Airola, the latter of the two seventh-round selections by the Penguins this summer, was initially named to Finland's roster for the Summer Showcase, but has since been replaced with undrafted defenseman Santeri Salmela.
