Advertisement
Sports Now

Hockey’s Team USA includes two Californians

By Helene Elliott
Sports ColumnistFollow
Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Congratulations to a pair of Southern Californians who were named to Team USA for the upcoming world junior hockey championship, Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Ottawa.

Defenseman Jonathon Blum of Rancho Santa Margarita and the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League and forward Mitch Wahl of Seal Beach and the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL were named to the U.S. team for this prestigious and exciting tournament.

Advertisement

Blum was drafted by Nashville 23rd overall in 2007, the first Californian to be chosen in the first round of the NHL draft. He’s the captain of the Giants, quite an honor.

Wahl was drafted by Calgary last June in the second round and 48th overall.

-- Helene Elliott

Sports Now
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

Advertisement