USHL Waterloo Black Hawks

Hawks Send Delegation to Canada, O'Handley, Klein, and Drury Represent U.S.

Published on November 17, 2017 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Waterloo Black Hawks News Release


Waterloo, Iowa- The Waterloo Black Hawks will be contributing at several levels when the United States Junior Select Team takes the ice for the World Junior A Challenge during December in Truro, Nova Scotia.

Black Hawks Head Coach P.K. O'Handley, trainer Todd Klein, and forward Jack Drury will each be traveling to the maritime region for the event, USA Hockey announced on Friday. The World Junior A Challenge has been held each winter since 2006. The United States made its initial entry 2007 and has won a medal every year since. Last season, the U.S. squad won gold for the seventh time.

O'Handley was the first coach to bring a U.S. team to the event, claiming bronze in 2007. He returned at the helm of a gold-medal effort in 2010. In USHL play, O'Handley has celebrated unparalleled success with a league-record 652 regular season victories. Currently in his 16th year with the Black Hawks, he has led Waterloo to two Anderson Cup regular season championships, one Clark Cup playoff title, and five appearances in the Clark Cup final series.

Klein is the longest-tenured member of the Black Hawks staff, having provided care from the bench for the team since1996/97. In 2016, he was honored with the organization's Karen Wente Distinguished Service Award. A member of the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers Society and National Athletic Trainers Association, Klein has accompanied teams to the World Junior A Challenge six prior times.

Drury is back in international competition for the second time this year. In August, he served as Captain of the U.S. team which participated in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup Tournament. Thus far in 2017/18, he has recorded a goal and six assists in 12 regular season games. Last year, Drury had 12 points in 44 appearances. The Harvard recruit was graded as a "B" prospect on the most recent NHL Central Scouting Players to Watch list.

The 2017 U.S. Junior Select Team is composed entirely of players from the United States Hockey League.

In Truro, the U.S. will compete against two squads of Canadian players, as well as teams from Czech Republic, Russia, and Switzerland. Each entry will play two games during the preliminary round, which seeds all six entries for the medal round. The event will be conducted from December 10th through 16th.

Check out the Waterloo Black Hawks Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



United States Hockey League Stories from November 17, 2017


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central