A (re)introduction to USA Hockey’s NTDP
By @MichaelCaples –
PLYMOUTH – There’s a new team in town.
Well, really, they’re only moving 20 miles down M-14, but still, they’re going to be new to some.
With USA Hockey purchasing Compuware Arena in Plymouth last season, the national organization has selected a new home for their National Team Development Program on a much bigger stage.
Since it began in 1996, the NTDP has been playing at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. A tremendous facility, yes, but one with a capacity of only 1,200 fans and limited resources available, as USA Hockey was a tenant, not an owner.
Now, with their own building (which is undergoing massive renovations), the NTDP is ready for a bigger stage.
“We’re like kids in a candy shop,” said Danton Cole, a Pontiac native and one of two NTDP head coaches. “You come in, and with everything being right here, and everything that’s going on, I think one of our bigger hopes is that the exposure to lots of hockey people will be greater here. It will be more well-known here. In Ann Arbor, UM dwarfs everything there. It’s a big university. Hopefully here we’ll be a little bit more standalone and a little bit more noticeable.
“I think hopefully people will understand what’s gone through here, the hundreds of hockey players that have played in the NHL that have gone through here, the hundreds of fine young men that go out and represent our country and go on and do great things. Hopefully that part, it will be better for minor hockey and for the growth of hockey if we have a more visible platform for people to see it.”
Every year, the NTDP produces (high) first-round NHL draft picks. They train future all-stars. They create the foundation for Olympic, World Junior and World Championship teams. Yet they still remain one of the best-kept secrets in hockey – for now.
“The culture that’s been established – that’s from the early players and administrators and players that have come through here – has really been unique,” Cole said. “I think when we get the players physiologically it’s a great time to do the type of training that we do. From an off-ice standpoint, from the weights and the culture of training and work ethic that we put in – and we stole a lot of that from a lot of countries from around the world that had a lot of success – that’s a good foundation.”
Every year, the NTDP brings together some of the best U17 players in the country to form their NTDP Under-17 Team. That squad competes in the United States Hockey League – the only Tier I junior league in the country. There, the NTDP squad competes against elite and older competition, as the league is comprised of future college hockey stars. Notable USHL alums include Justin Abdelkader, Erik Condra, Torey Krug, Alec Martinez, David Moss, T.J. Oshie, Max Pacioretty, Joe Pavelski and Jeff Petry. The U17s also take part in international competitions, as well.
In their second year of the program, the U17s graduate to the NTDP Under-18 Team. The U18 squad continues to compete in the USHL, but they also incorporate college hockey teams into their schedule. The U18s routinely play against notable schools like Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, Minnesota, North Dakota and more. The Under-18 Team also represents USA Hockey at the IIHF Under-18 World Championship, one of the most prestigious tournaments in minor hockey, as the conclusion of their two-year program.
You can see the U17 and U18 schedules for the inaugural season in Plymouth here.
“I loved being a part of it,” said Tyler Motte, a NTDP alum and University of Michigan junior. “I think it really sprung my development. Obviously everyone from the United States wants to be a part of the program and that organization, and it was an honor at the time. It really, like I said, sprung my development. You go to work every day with some of the best in the country, and it really, you can’t get worse. You can get better every day, and you get what you want out of it. For me, it was showing up to the rink every day, with Darryl Nelson doing workouts, coaches on the ice, school off the ice was a big thing too – it was a great time and I really enjoyed it.”
Fans attending NTDP games this year will primarily see USHL contests. Teams belonging to the USHL are filled with Michigan natives and future Michigan college hockey players. The NTDP also has an in-state rival in the Muskegon Lumberjacks, who have recently produced the likes of Michigan State’s Matt Berry, Matt DeBlouw, Travis Walsh and Villiam Haag; Penn State’s Zach Saar; Notre Dame’s Connor Hurley; Boston College’s Adam Gilmour; Minnesota’s Michael Brodzinski and more.
“[The USHL] has been a tremendous partner for the NTDP and USA Hockey,” said Scott Monaghan, the NTDP’s senior director of operations. “They are the goal for elite hockey players in our country, and I think our goal is to showcase the league here. To show Metro Detroit that the USHL is the best junior hockey in North America, that they can see great players every night. Not just within our program, but within the teams that are coming in. Kyle Connors and Joe Pavelskis, all guys who have gone through the league that are going on to good careers and blending that in to what we’re doing with the branding and the building is important to us, too.
“We want to show a little bit of the history of the USHL and it does have a great neat history to it that goes way, way back to a semi-pro league and kind of get that out in front of people and try to get that into people’s minds and make that a goal for good young hockey players – ‘Hey, I want to play in the USHL.’”
The jump to the USHL is quite the experience for the Under-17 players, as well. For Keeghan Howdeshell, a Brighton native and Compuware product, it took a few months for him to adjust to a new league and new opponents. He said that despite knowing some players in the age group in front him, there were still some growing pains to work out.
“My first year, I was nervous going into it,” said Howdeshell, a Ferris State commit. “I had a few friends on the U18s like Brendan Warren and Nick Boka, who played at Compuware with me, and they kind of gave me a guideline through what was going to happen. Now that the first year’s done, I realize what they’re saying, that every day is kind of like a tryout. Ice time is earned. Every day you have to grind, for school, for going to the rink every day, games, travel, every weekend on the road, on the bus, playing against older guys. In the first year, that was definitely a challenge. And probably just getting to know everything about the league, the USHL, it was hard to get used to, coming from a AAA team to a USHL team is a big jump.”
The NTDP coaches and staff want it that way, however. Nothing worth having comes easy, right? Monaghan describes the NTDP as a “character-based” training ground, and Cole echoes the sentiment.
“I think another thing that’s underestimated a little bit is the environment that we put our young men in here, in terms of not always succeeding,” the former Grand Rapids Griffins and Alabama Huntsville head coach said. “I think at this age, 15-to-18 age group, a lot of times they put together really good teams and they put them in situations where they win 90, 95 percent of their games every year, and I think what we’ve found is that’s not the best training. That doesn’t toughen you up the best. It’s to be challenged.
“We play in a great league with both of our age groups with the USHL, which is extremely challenging all the time, our international competition is outstanding, and our collegiate competition in the second year is tremendous. We’re able to expose the guys to a lot of different challenges and adversity, and they have to fight through that and learn what it takes to be not only a good hockey player, but a good teammate and a good representative of your country.”
It all works towards the overall goal of developing players that will lead USA Hockey both in international competition and in the NHL. Recent examples of success include names like Dylan Larkin and Jack Eichel, while established products include Ryan Kesler, Patrick Kane, Jack Johnson and Ryan Suter. The quality of player coming out of the NTDP expects to only get better as it continues to establish itself.
“We’re blessed – we have real talented athletes here, and they’re going to go on and do well,” Cole said. “I think my ’94 class, there are already 14 guys who have signed NHL deals, and they’ve only been out three years. I think eight of them have already played in the NHL. It’s not just the classes that come through that we get to work with, it’s the guys who have been here before. I’ll watch games with my daughters, we’ll be watching NHL games and there is not a team where there’s not two, three, sometimes four or five guys where it’s, that guy came through the program, he was in Ann Arbor, and now we’ll be able to say, that young man came through Plymouth and look where he’s playing.
“…It is a point of pride, but not just in the program but from a USA Hockey standpoint. My timeline goes back pretty far, in the 70s when I started playing, there weren’t very many Americans playing in the National Hockey League. You could probably count them on one hand. Some of the founders of this program and guys who really did some grunt work with USA Hockey, Lou Vairo and Art Berglund, Lou Nanne, you talk to those guys and their starting point, it’s amazing to see where we’ve come and a big part of what we’re trying to do is make it even better for the American hockey player.”