One year ago, John Ramage was an unheralded freshman defenseman at Wisconsin. Even as the Badger men’s hockey team gained notoriety, it was Ramage’s defensive partner, Brendan Smith, that got the attention on the blue line.

But while Smith was on his way to a remarkable offensive season, Ramage got his own chance to do something noteworthy – play for Team USA at the IIHF World U20 Championship.

The World Junior Championship, as it is colloquially called, pits the top 10 under-20 national teams in the world against each other. Last season, Ramage, along with UW teammate Jake Gardiner and former Badger Derek Stepan, won the gold medal over Canada on Canadian soil.

This season, Ramage could get the chance to repeat as champion in Buffalo. Yesterday, he was announced as one of 29 players named to the U.S. preliminary roster for the 2011 WJC.

“It’s definitely an honor, and I’m very excited,” Ramage said.

In a way, the 2010 WJC was the St. Louis native’s coming out party. Ramage made the roster largely at the insistence of then-UW assistant coach Mark Osiecki, who was an assistant for Team USA as well. The move didn’t sit well with some fans, who questioned the decision, citing favoritism.

All Ramage did in response was play terrific defense as the Americans won the gold, posting a plus-5 rating and assisting on John Carlson’s game-winning goal in the final.

In his short time at UW, Ramage has established himself as one of the league’s steadiest stay-at-home defensemen. At six-feet tall and 201 lbs., the 19-year-old knows how to use his body to his advantage, something Team USA relished.

“I think what helped John in this case, is the fact it was played on a small sheet of ice,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said. “That helps John – he’s not quite the open ice skater that maybe a Jake Gardiner is. But he’s such a competitor that he becomes effective on a small sheet of ice, because you’re going to bump into more people.

“They needed his type of defenseman to shut down the other team’s best players, to block shots, to bring that physical element on a small sheet.”

The performance got Team USA noticed. Stepan made such an impression on NHL scouts that, when combined with his season at Wisconsin, the New York Rangers, who drafted him, pushed hard for him to leave for the pros, which he did.

In Ramage’s case, it got him drafted, as he was taken in the fourth round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the Calgary Flames.

For Eaves, it was clear the showing at the WJC got his defenseman noticed.

“No question. I think that that’s a world stage,” he said of Ramage. “The National Hockey League is certainly going to be there and with the success of the team and the way that he played, were all contributors to him being drafted.”

Eaves noted all three of his gold medal-winning players returned displaying a lot of confidence.

That confidence was on display as Ramage helped anchor a talented Badgers defensive corps all the way to the national title game. Even as a freshman, Eaves and his staff trusted Ramage to be the defensive anchor to protect Smith’s overwhelming offensive tendencies.

“Obviously experience, winning games, winning championships… is huge for your confidence,” Gardiner said.

The two big stages Ramage performed on last year have only helped him grow. Right now, he’s third on the team in plus/minus with a plus-9 rating, and Gardiner is the only defenseman with a better number.

And while he’s only one-for-two in championship games in 2010, there was a lot to take away from both experiences.

“Being with the world juniors and being able to win it, [knowing] what it took to win,” Ramage said. “And also with going to the NCAA title, going that far and seeing how close it could slip out of your grasp, it gave me two aspects that I really, just take those both and move on with those.”

So while it currently looks like the chances of the Badgers making a repeat appearance in the title game are slim, Ramage could get the chance to add to his gold medal collection.

Team USA will whittle its roster size down to 22 before the tournament and of the 10 defensemen on the roster, maybe only seven will be kept, if not just six.

But it speaks volumes that Ramage was one of eight eligible players from last year’s championship squad to be invited back for a chance to compete this December.

“There’s not too many guys that have done that,” Eaves said. “It speaks to how they felt about John’s contributions last year.”

And given a chance to don the red, white and blue again, there’s no question Ramage would jump at it.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Ramage said. “Luckily I got to do it last year, hopefully I can do it again this year.”