Yamamoto Invited To Team USA Camp

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Spokane Chiefs, in conjunction with USA Hockey, announced today that forward Kailer Yamamoto has been invited to the USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp, July 30-Aug. 7 at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan. Yamamoto is one of 42 players invited, including 24 forwards, to compete for a spot on the U.S. National Junior Team that will compete in the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto, Canada.

Yamamoto, a Spokane native, is a two-year Western Hockey League veteran with the Chiefs, scoring 42 goals and 86 assists for 128 points in 125 games. In last year’s sophomore campaign,

Yamamoto racked up 71 points (19 goals) and a +20 rating in 57 games. He was named the WHL Player of the Week once and held off the scoresheet just 15 times all season. He added a goal and four assists in the Chiefs’ six playoff games.

This will not be the first experience with Team USA for the playmaking forward; He played for Team USA at the 2016 IIHF U18 World Championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota, helping the Americans to a bronze medal with seven goals and 13 points in seven games (3rd among all players). Yamamoto also competed with Team USA at the 2015 Under-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup tournament, leading all players with four goals and three assists in four games, and in the 2014 U17 Five Nations Tournament as Team USA took second place.

With a September 29, 1998 birthdate, Yamamoto will be eligible for the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

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Ticket packages for the Spokane Chiefs’ 2016-17 regular season – including Bud Light Opening Night on October 1 – are on sale now! With packages starting as low as $70, there’s a plan for any budget. Visit the Chiefs’ Ticket Office in person at the southeast corner of Spokane Arena, click here or call 509-535-PUCK for more information.