Nicholas Boka (left) and Colin White are members of the U-17 USA Hockey National Team. While Boka is from a nearby town, White moved from Hanover, Mass., to Ann Arbor, Mich., to take part in the rigorous training program.
Photo by Scott Mapes
The speed of the game is dizzying.
Boston University commit Jack Eichel, his white USA jersey flying in the breeze, gets his stick on the puck. He quickly moves left, then right past an older Adrian College opponent. He shoots. That shot is saved, but within a second or two, the rebound turns into a goal by teammate Alex Tuch.
The red light underneath a row of blue USA Hockey world championship banners lights up at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. Eichel hugs his linemates.
It is on this same patch of ice in the same arena that nearly half of the 2014 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team‘s players once played in those same USA Hockey colors. Patrick Kane, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, played here as a high school athlete from 2004 through 2006. So did Toronto Maple Leafs and Olympic teammates James van Reimsdyk and Phil Kessel. Detroit Red Wings and Olympic goaltender Jimmy Howard also played at The Cube.
It is here, about a mile and a half from Michigan Stadium (college football‘s "Big House"), that two teams of high schoolers are being molded into future Olympic and National Hockey League stars in USA Hockey‘s National Team Development Program (NTDP).
When the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team begins play at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games on Feb. 13 against Slovakia, nine of the players will be USA Hockey NTDP alumni.
U-18 head coach Danton Cole
Photo by Tom Sorensen/USA Hockey
"One of the big missions of this program when they started it, 18 or 19 years ago … was to do that," said Danton Cole, head coach of the U.S. National Under-18 Team. "That‘s kind of slowly but steadily building up to the point now where about half the (Olympic) team is guys who have come through here…
"We‘re very prideful of that. It‘s great to see that it is working long-term."
When Howard returned to Ann Arbor on New Year’s Day as goaltender for the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL Winter Classic game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium, it stoked a few memories. He spent his senior year of high school in the NTDP in 2001 and ‘02.
"Back when I played with the U.S. program, my senior year in high school, it was 9-11. It was a little bit of a rallying cry for us heading over to the Under-18s," Howard said.
After the NHL Winter Classic ended, Howard skated back onto the ice surface in front of 105,000 spectators as he was introduced as making his first Olympic team. The announcement produced a roar from the crowd, which included tens of thousands of Red Wings fans.
"Any time you‘re wearing the USA sweater, it‘s such a tremendous honor," he said. "The respect that comes with it is second to none."
It was a moment that was also special for Van Riemsdyk, a Maple Leafs forward who played for two seasons in the NTDP from 2005 to 2007 and graduated from
Pioneer (Ann Arbor, Mich.). He moved to Ann Arbor from New Jersey.
"Since I came to Ann Arbor, something I’ve always wanted to do is be able to play at the Olympics," he said. "It’s a huge thrill for me and I’m very excited about it."
Coming to Ann Arbor is a part of the experience. Not every member of the program grew up in Michigan, and that means many had to choose to leave their hometown high schools behind to chase the hockey dream. Leaving the familiarity of family and home isn't easy for some, but the rewards are easy to see.
The Olympic numbers provide a big piece of the motivation for current players in the NTDP.
"It just shows how good of a track record the national program has," Eichel says about this year's Olympic team. "It just shows that guys had success after coming through here. The identity of the guys that come through here, they're all hard-working. It just shows how successful the national development program has been in past years."
Video by Christoper Magnuson/Edited by Bryce Escobar/Cover photo by Scott Mapes
