NTDP Under-17 Team to play at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s on Sept. 20

By @MichaelCaples –

On Sept. 20, some of the nation’s top young players will be competing on the campus of Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.

The U.S. National Team Development Program’s Under-17 Team will be taking on the LaSalle Vipers (a Jr. B program in Canada’s Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League) at the home of the Orchard Lake United youth program.

“It’s an exciting thing for Orchard Lake as it would be for any youth association to host our national team,” said Bob Mancini, a USA Hockey ADM regional manager and coach in the Orchard Lake United program. “I think it’s a great thing for the players because, besides just playing youth hockey, mentoring is important, having goals is important. I think whenever we can have our youth see players like the players with the national team play the game the right way, I think it’s really important in their development.”

Puck drop is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. at the St. Mary’s Athletic Complex; tickets are $10 per person (children under the age of 5 get in free).

There are four Michigan natives on the Under-17 Team roster this year: Will Lockwood (Bloomfield Hills), Keeghan Howdeshell (Brighton), Keenan Suthers (Macomb) and Max Jones (Rochester). Other Michigan names to know include University of Michigan commits Nick Pastujov, James Sanchez, Luke Martin and Griffin Luce.

It will be the second time the NTDP will come through the Orchard Lake St. Mary’s building – in 2012, the Under-18 Team hosted the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms for their first game of the season. After seeing a good turnout for that game, Mancini expects OLSM to be a popular event once again.

“It’s open to the community, and I am thinking that a large majority of our teams and kids will be there,” Mancini said. “My specific team, a 12U pee wee team, we’re making it a team outing and we’re going to go as a group. I’m hoping and guessing that many of our teams and many of our teams are going to do that.”

The Orchard Lake United program – one of the first USA Hockey approved ‘Model Association’ programs – plans to use some of the proceeds of the event to fund scholarships for their youth players. Mancini also hopes that his players watch the talented U17 players and learn something from the experience.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing for the Orchard Lake organization, I think it’s a wonderful thing to reemphasize the fact that Orchard Lake is a model association, and as such we’re constantly trying to do the right things,” Mancini said. “I look at this more as a celebration of youth hockey. It’s good for the NTDP to do this anywhere, this is good for Michigan hockey. Whenever our youth can see the best players in the nation at this age, how they handle themselves, how they work hard, how the game is played, I think it’s a fantastic thing.”