Joins national Junior team competing in world championships
Staff report • December 23, 2009, 10:25 pm
For the second time this year, Jerry D'Amigo has been selected to represent the United States in premier international hockey competition.
D'Amigo, 18-year-old Binghamton resident and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute freshman, has earned one of 22 roster spots on the U.S. National Junior Team that will compete in the Dec. 26-Jan. 5 Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships in Saskatchewan.
Team USA's opening game is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday against Slovakia, with the last of its four preliminary-round games to be played Dec. 31 against Canada. Quarterfinals and semifinals are to be played Jan. 2-3, with the gold- and bronze-medal games on Jan. 5.
NHL Network will provide live coverage of all Team USA games.
"He was excited. He's really blessed and honored to be able to (represent the U.S.) again," said Pete D'Amigo, Jerry's father. He said Jerry does not have cellular telephone service at the tournament venue, but that'd he'd been in touch with his family via e-mail.
Last season, D'Amigo was second on the U.S. Under-18 Team in scoring with 23 goals and a team-best 33 assists for 56 points in 53 games. He had six power-play goals and five game-winners. He was also assessed 61 penalty minutes. He registered a team-high 13 points (four goals, nine assists) during the World Championships last April in Fargo, N.D., in which the club earned the gold medal.
In June, he was selected in the sixth round of the NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"He's very honored to wear the USA sweater," the elder D'Amigo said.
D'Amigo is the third-leading scorer for RPI (9-9-1) with five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 18 games played. He has a pair of power-play goals and three game-winning goals, and stands second in ECAC Hockey -- fifth nationally -- in game-winning goals. He is second among rookies in the league (17th nationally) with an average of 0.78 points per game.
"Jerry is an elite player and a first-class kid," said RPI coach Seth Appert. "Any team, whether ourselves, the U.S. program or in Binghamton when he used to play there, would be very fortunate to have him representing them both as a player and as a person.
D'Amigo last played for RPI on Dec. 9 against Union, then spent several days in Binghamton with his family before returning for two days of RPI practice.
He was among 29 players named to Team USA's preliminary roster for Dec. 17-19 pre-tournament camp, capped by an exhibition against the University of South Dakota, in Grand Fork, N.D. The team, reduced to 24 players after that exhibition, bused to Saskatchewan and Tuesday played a final exhibition against the Czech Republic.
Pete D'Amigo said that his son was held out of the Czech Republic game-- "He was kind of told not to worry; they wanted to take a look at other guys."
On Wednesday, he was informed he's made the 22-man roster.
RPI coach Appert said of D'Amigo's on-ice ability, "His versatility is unique in our sport. He's skilled enough and intelligent enough to play on first line, but intense and physical enough to play on our checking line."
Appert said he began recruiting D'Amigo when D'Amigo was a 10th-grader playing with the Binghamton Junior Senators, and was well aware of the young man's ability before he arrived on the Troy campus. Nonetheless, he said D'Amigo has only further impressed coaches with his first-semester play.
"No. 1, just how intelligent a player he is in all situations offensively, defensively and systematically," Appert said. "No. 2, how much ice time he can handle. You never know with an 18-year-old freshman, but his ability to handle so much ice time has made him very valuable to us."
Appert added, "He's a great player, a better young man, and we're thrilled he's out there with the national team representing RPI."
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Binghamton's D'Amigo skates for U.S. again | pressconnects.com | Press & Sun-Bulletin
Binghamton's D'Amigo skates for U.S. again
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