After winning the 2025 World Junior A Challenge with Team USA in December, Green Bay Gamblers forward Gunnar Conboy will represent the United States at the Under-17 Five Nations Tournament this week in Plymouth, Michigan.

Conboy will get the opportunity to help lead Team USA to another trophy this season after being a part of the U.S. Junior Select Team that went 4-0-0-1 and claimed a 5-1 victory in the championship game to win its second straight World Junior A Challenge in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

Conboy, who joined Gamblers head coach Patrick McCadden and teammates Landon Hafele and Mace’o Phillips on the U.S. Junior Select squad, said he couldn’t believe it when he got the call that he would be representing his country on an international stage.

“Obviously, I had Mace’o Phillips and Landon Hafele on there so that helped me a lot too because I was a younger guy on the team and I was pretty nervous,” Conboy said. “But to be able to represent the U.S. is just like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was awesome.”

Conboy was chosen as the captain of the U.S. national team at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge last summer but suffered an ankle injury that took him out of the tournament.

Since joining the Gamblers in September, Conboy has totaled nine goals and two assists for 11 points in 21 games played.

Conboy said that even though he was injured to begin the season, he tried to focus as much as he could on doing anything to improve his game off the ice.

“I had surgery a couple days later [after the injury] and I couldn’t skate for like four months,” he said. “I think the biggest thing was just like staying positive and just being as ready as I can when I can actually come back and skate. I did a lot of upper body stuff, and it was a lot of film. I went to a lot of the preseason games and studied a little bit just to see how everything was going on the ice for the team.”

The Lakeville, Minnesota, native grew up in the shadow of his father Tim, who was drafted by the San Jose Sharks and played three seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes.

His dad helped him find his stride playing for Lakeville North High School, the alma mater of current NHL players Jake Oettinger, Charlie Lindgren and Ryan Poehling, where he scored 13 goals and dished out nine assists as a freshman.

The next season, Conboy accumulated a team-high 44 points off 24 goals and 20 assists as the team’s captain, in addition to playing for Team MAP South in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League, where he tallied 15 points in 21 contests.

Conboy said having someone like his dad who has been involved in nearly every level of hockey has been super helpful.

“He kind of guides me in the right direction everything hockey wise and I think it’s just kind of a big part of the reason why I’m here,” he said. We’ve always kind of done video [breakdowns] since I was younger, like we’ll watch my shifts. He’s never really too hard on me. He just kind of lets me do my thing and helps me if I need it.”

Conboy’s play at Lakeville North caught the eye of McCadden, who signed him to a tender agreement for the 2025-26 USHL season. The tender process allows teams to sign up to two 2009 birth year players in exchange for their first and second-round picks in the USHL Phase I Draft.

McCadden said he was thrilled to welcome Conboy to the Gamblers when he inked his agreement on March 26, 2025.

 “Gunnar embodies everything we want a Green Bay Gambler to be in the way he plays and carries himself both on and off the ice,” McCadden said. “He is a big strong power forward who can skate and score goals. His unique blend of size, speed, and scoring ability made him a premier target for us to tender. On top of this, his leadership qualities became immediately apparent throughout the recruiting process.”

Just before the start of the season, Conboy officially committed to the University of Minnesota, joining teammates Gavin Katz and Phillips who are tabbed to become future Gophers.

Conboy said he was never going to turn down an offer from U of M.

“I mean, Minnesota was kind of always my dream school just since I was a little kid,” he said. “Growing up, playing in Minnesota, going to the Gophers games, I looked up to those guys. Obviously, like that was my dream school.”

Conboy, who has helped Green Bay to the second-best record in the USHL so far this season at 26-11-3-1, said that it took him a little bit of time to get used to the league’s pro-style gameplay.

“I think the biggest thing was the speed at the start,” he said. “It was kind of a tough adjustment at the start of the season like when I started playing. I would say that’s the biggest thing and kind of just getting used to knowing how much time and space you have.”

Just under two months after his USHL debut, Conboy had the chance to face off against his longtime mentor after his dad became the Des Moines Buccaneers’ skills coach prior to the season.

Although the Gamblers fell to the Buccaneers in the first matchup on Jan. 3 that ended the squad’s 14 game-winning streak, Conboy and Green Bay earned their revenge the next night with a 2-1 victory.

Conboy said it felt really good to get revenge on his father’s team on the second night of the series.

“We’ve kind of always talked about it since I was little, just like playing against each other because he was my coach for a long time when I was little,” he said. “I mean, to be able to play against him, it was pretty fun.”

After that matchup, Conboy went on a three-game point streak in the middle of January against the U.S. National Team Development Program and the Muskegon Lumberjacks, scoring two goals and adding an assist.

The 6-foot-3 left-handed forward, who described himself as being a physical power forward, said he doesn’t try to worry about scoring or racking up points, but instead is focused on puck possession.

“When I’m in the offensive zone, I just try to put myself in a good spot to create scoring chances and to make plays,” he said. “Obviously, I’m a younger guy on the team. So, I think the biggest thing for me is just having good energy on the bench during games and trying to be as vocal as I can be as a younger guy.”

Conboy will hit the ice for Team USA on Tuesday when the under-17 squad faces off against Switzerland at 5 p.m. The U.S. is scheduled to play Finland on Wednesday before meeting Czechia on Friday and Sweden on Saturday.