Trey Augustine gets USA Hockey World Junior Summer Camp invite

Michigan State hockey star Trey Augustine is going to have a chance to defend his gold medal at the World Juniors after receiving a summer camp invite.

I mean, it’s almost a monthly occurrence at this point that I’ll have another article come out for you guys to read about something cool Trey Augustine has accomplished. Consider this June’s installment.

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

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 at @USAHockeyArena 🇺🇸 #WJSS

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

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) June 20, 2024

Augustine has represented the US on several occasions now so this will not be something 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 all while battling the flu.

Last month, Augustine was named to the USA Hockey men’s national team at the World Championships in Czechia. He saw action in three games at the highest current level of international competition, going 1-1 with a 1.37 goals against average and a .929 save percentage. The World Championship rosters are chalked full of current and former NHL players so this was a major step up in competition for Augustine.

As alluded by Nighty on The Drive With Jack, this lead for Trey Augustine to be offered an ELC from the Red Wings. This was the first report that surfaced that he was even offered the contract by the Wings. Should he have chose to sign it, he would have turned pro and assuringly played next season in either the ECHL for Toledo or the AHL for the Grand Rapids Griffins.

The decision to ultimately turn pro now or come back to East Lansing has always been Trey’s decision to make. Both Nightingale and Wings GM Steve Yzerman seemed fully supportive of what Augustine was going to do regardless. This lead Trey to announce on his instagram back in April that he was coming back next year. Sources close to the program had a strong feeling this was the plan the whole time.

Getting the summer camp invite is just the first step in being back on Team USA this winter for the next World Junior Championships. Even though he has competed in to other World Juniors and now even a Senior World Championship, he still meets the age requirements to be considered junior eligible. Since he did not turn pro, his status remained eligible.

There’s a ways to go before the rosters finalize. The tournament runs Dec. 26 through Jan. 5 in Ottawa, Canada. If everything stays the same, it’s hard to imagine that Trey would not be the starting goalie for the Americans. He has held the starting job before and was the starter for the both semifinals and gold medal game in last year’s tournament.

Judging by the names USA Hockey released today being invited to camp, the American roster should be absolutely loaded and should potentially be 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 expected top NHL draft picks for this years draft taking place next week. Those players include Cole Eiserman, Sam Hillebrandt, Zeev Buium, and Trevor Connelly. Also included is projected top pick of the 2025 draft James Hagens.

The World Junior Summer Showcase will take place in Plymouth, Mich. Other major world junior teams such as Team Canada, Team Finland, and Team Sweden will partake as well. A total of nine games will be played at the showcase taking place from 7/26-8/3.

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