Edina’s Freddie Schneider, Benjamin Geiger of Northfield among six Minnesotans selected for USA Hockey under-17 national team

Six Minnesota hockey players will head to Plymouth, Mich., to join U.S. Hockey’s National Team Development Program as a part of the Under-17 National Team.

The contingent of Minnesotans — all players born in 2009 — includes All-Minnesota forward Freddie Schneider from Edina and two other players who represented their high schools this winter.

Minnesotans routinely make up the biggest slice of the two-year residency program in Detroit’s western suburbs. Of the team’s 23 players, a half-dozen hail from Minnesota, with Massachusetts the next closest state with three. Eight Minnesotans joined the program last year.

This winter, Schneider recorded 14 goals and 30 assists for the Hornets, Class 2A’s third-place finisher. Future U.S. teammate, defenseman Benjamin Geiger, joined Schneider at Xcel Energy Center for the state tournament. His Northfield squad finished fifth in Class 1A, with Geiger putting up 22 goals and 39 assists.

Hill-Murray defenseman Carson Scott also will join the residency program. The 6-3 blue liner had two goals and 10 assists for the Pioneers.

Beck Thoreson, another physical 6-3 defenseman, joins from Moorhead’s state championship Bantam AA squad. Luverne’s Easton Johnson played on the blue line for Sioux Falls Power 16U AAA, across the South Dakota border.

Meanwhile, Andover’s Nolan Fitzhenry competed for Shattuck-St. Mary’s 16U AAA team. The forward recorded 87 points in 54 games for the Faribault boarding school’s hockey development program. Fitzhenry will be joined at the national development program by two Shattuck-St. Mary’s teammates: forward Braden Horton, of Pennsylvania, and defenseman Diego Gutierrez, of Texas.

Ten Minnesotans made the initial cut for March’s 46-player evaluation camp, where the team was selected. The under-17 team competes in the United States Hockey League, the only Tier I junior hockey league in the U.S., and in international tournaments.