University of Maine freshman right wing Greg Moore said he knew after tryouts this summer that he wasn’t a lock for the U.S. National Junior team that would play in the World Junior Championships in Nova Scotia from Dec. 26-Jan. 5.

But the Lisbon native was chosen to the 22-man roster along with Black Bear teammate Jimmy Howard.

“I’m very happy for Greg. He really deserved it. I’m excited to go, also,” said goalie Howard. “There will be a lot of talented guys on the team. Hopefully, we’ll come together and do something great up there.”

Moore has four goals and four assists in 10 games for the Bears. He plays on the power play and kills penalties in addition to playing a regular shift.

Howard is 7-1 with an exceptional 1.33 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage. He has the third lowest GAA in the country.

Howard was the Hockey East Rookie and Goalie of the Month and was the Commissioners’ Rookie of the Month. The latter award was chosen by the six league commissioners.

“I’m happy for them. It is very well-deserved. They’ve both been in those situations before so they’re going to be comfortable. And they’re both playing very well right now,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead.

Howard and Moore helped lead the U.S. to the gold medal in the World Under-19 Championships in Slovakia last May.

“I pretty much knew there were five returning forwards [from last year’s World Junior team] and through the talent I knew of in my age group, I knew I’d be on the bubble for making the team. I was just hoping [I’d be chosen] the whole time,” said Moore.

“They [members of the coaching staff] told me they were excited for me at tryouts. They told me to play hard at Maine,” added Moore. “I knew they were going to scout the games.”

Howard and Moore will miss four Maine games.