JANESVILLE, Wisconsin -- A line of people queued up more than an hour before puck drop outside the Janesville Ice Arena and would eventually stand three-to-four deep at the glass behind the net on one end of the ice Friday night. It was a couple hundred more people than would usually take in a Janesville Jets NAHL game, especially as the season winds down with the team is out of playoff contention. There was a palpable buzz around the team and the rink for what would have been an otherwise unremarkable game on the final home weekend for the Jets.

Annelies Bergmann, an incredibly talented goaltender from Detroit, is set to make American junior hockey history next week.

So what happens after an NHL team drafts a player?

MONCTON, New Brunswick – Adam Gajan wasn’t supposed to be here. When Team Slovakia announced their preliminary roster for the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship, the 18-year-old from Poprad was not one of the three goaltenders listed.