PLYMOUTH - Whalers Tom Wilson and Rickard Rakell may be battling a couple of teammates during the 2013 World Junior Championships.

Stefan Noesen and Ryan Hartman have received an invitation to try out for Team USA.  USA Hockey made the announcement earlier today.

The preliminary roster for Team USA can be seen here.

Here's the release from USA Hockey:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - USA Hockey today unveiled its preliminary roster for the 2013 U.S. National Junior Team. The 27 players will attend training camp Dec. 16-18 at the New York Rangers' Madison Square Garden Training Center in Tarrytown, N.Y. An additional camp will follow in Helsinki, Finland, with the final 23-man roster announcement scheduled for Dec. 23.

The 2013 U.S. National Junior Team will compete at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship Dec. 26, 2012-Jan. 5, 2013, in Ufa, Russia.

"We have a young, but talented group of players," said Jim Johannson, general manager of the 2013 U.S. National Junior Team and also the assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey. "There will be some tough choices to get to the final roster, but that's certainly a good problem to have."

See the rest of the release.

Chris Peters of The United States of Hockey blog has analysis.

The Ontario Hockey League also has a release.