USHL U.S. National Team

Tomorrow's Stars Get a Lesson in Life, Hockey at USA Hockey Development Program

Published on October 6, 2003 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


by Caitlin Lazaro
USA Hockey, Brian Fishman Intern What do you get when you combine 46 of the country's best hockey players between the ages of 16 and 18 with a coaching staff steeped in Olympic, NHL, and NCAA experience, and a facility that boasts professional-quality amenities? USA Hockey's National Team Development Program, of course.

In 1996 USA Hockey launched the National Team Development Program, or NTDP, which is based in Ann Arbor, Mich. The continuing goal of the program is to prepare student-athletes under the age of 18 for U.S. national team experiences, as well as success in their future hockey careers. Its efforts focus on high-caliber on-ice participation and on creating well-rounded individuals off the ice. Success is gauged, not by wins and losses, but by the development of skills and acquisition of experience versus older competitors.

Each season the NTDP is split into two squads: the U.S. National Under-18 Team and the U.S. National Under-17 Team. Some players transition between the two squads throughout the season, while others remain with the team to which they were initially assigned.

Mike Brennan and Brandon Scero are two players who have returned to Ann Arbor this fall for their second season with the NTDP. Both played for the Under-17 Team that earned a gold medal at the 2002 Under-17 Four Nations Cup in Ann Arbor last season. Brennan, who captained that squad, says expectations for both his play, as well as that of his team, are high.

"We take representing your country seriously. We'll work toward winning the gold at the World Under-18 Championship," says Brennan.

The Under-18 Team plays a schedule heavy with college competition, as well as games against North American Hockey League and international squads, including the Under-18 Five Nations Tournament and the International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-18 Championship.

Scero and Brennan agree that college opponents afford them the opportunity to step up their play. "It's difficult because we're 17-year-olds playing against 20- to 25-year-olds," says Scero.

"Coaches want us to get a feel for how it is to play in college," adds Brennan. "This is the level you want to play at. The goal is to play in college."

The underlying theme throughout the program is that developing players takes more than simply developing skills. Many of the players enter the program as 15- or 16-year-olds with a dream of one day playing in the National Hockey League. Under-18 Head Coach Moe Mantha's focus is on helping them to develop not only as hockey players, but also as young men.

"If they make it to the NHL -- great," says Mantha. But that is not the coach's job. His job, as he describes it, is to "help young men identify themselves as hockey players in life. Our role is to teach the kids how to prepare for the challenge, not necessarily to win, but to learn to deal with the competition."

The rewards reaped by the participants are obvious. Since the introduction of the program in 1996, 125 alums have gone on to play Division I college hockey, and 76 have been drafted by NHL teams. In the 2003 Entry Draft 15 players were chosen, including a record four in the first round. Among them was recent NTDP graduate Ryan Suter, who was selected seventh overall by the Nashville Predators, which made him both the first American and first defenseman taken.

The rewards for the coaching staff, while a bit less apparent, are equally satisfying. Mantha cites the ability to watch players grow as people and as hockey players when he thinks of his current position as the best experience in his coaching career. "The reward is seeing the players come in as skinny kids, and leave with the maturity and ability to support themselves and each other," says Mantha, who played 12 years in the NHL.

Head Coach of the Under-17 Team, David Quinn, stresses the role of practice, and the players' ability to understand its importance. "Everything in practice has to be game-like. We have to keep that same tempo. The task we face in international competition is something we have to prepare for every day. It's not a switch you can turn on and off. We have to approach everything with the same intensity."

Though fundamentally the goals of physical, emotional, social and cognitive development are the same at all levels, Quinn's goal for his players is threefold. They must first understand the importance of practice, and then, in practice, understand the importance of passing the puck, and playing without it. The ultimate goal is to develop players who can move the puck up the ice as a unit.

"These kids haven't typically put a lot of thought into practice, but now they have to understand that practice isn't playtime. To get better you have to take practice seriously," says Quinn, who played three seasons for Boston University and played 79 games between the American and International Hockey Leagues. Two-time Olympian Shelley Looney brought a great deal of international experience to the program when she joined the NTDP coaching staff this season. Looney earned a gold and silver medal, respectively, in her 1998 and 2002 Olympic appearances.

Under-17 team member Mark Mitera is particularly enthusiastic about the level of play, and the amount of development that takes place. "The coaches measure your performance by how you play, not if you win or lose. That helps you focus on your development." It also eases the pressure normally associated with winning and places the emphasis on skill development, a luxury most elite programs don't have. Through practices and games the focus remains on player development, even if the outcome is not a victory.

The elevated level of play is crucial to the development of each player. "It's a lot different because every kid was the top on [his] team. Now you have to realize you're not going to be the best guy, you have to find your role," says Scero.

Bringing together the best 16- to 18-year-old players means that each player will need to discover the best aspect of his game in order to make a contribution.

"What has happened to them so far in their hockey lives, will never happen to them again," says Quinn, referring to their leading roles, style of play and the techniques implemented by previous coaches.

Perhaps one of the most difficult changes for the players is the challenge of being in a new environment. Players live with billet families that have opened their homes to the players who have left their homes at crucial ages to play for the NTDP. It is a transition that the NTDP attempts to make as smooth as possible.

"We try to set them up with a similar situation to their home lives," says Mantha.

The priority for the NTDP is to get the players acquainted, and comfortable, with their new families and new peers at school and on the team. "First we take care of the home situation and school. The hockey will take care of itself," says Mantha.

Hockey remains the one constant in the lives of the new players, and may help to make the transition easier, even though the shape of hockey changes drastically from the ways that they knew. Suddenly hockey transforms from an after-school activity, to the biggest part of their daily lives.

"The kids come to the rink after school, around 1:30," Mantha explains. "They have a study hall where mentors and tutors are available until 2:30. The teams are on the ice for about an hour and a half, then we begin our dry-land practice, which involves lifting and plyometrics. We focus practice on building mental and physical toughness."

Mitera, who is adjusting to the new playing style well, having recorded an assist in the season opener, describes hockey as being "almost like a job," now that it requires his undivided attention seven days a week, but he sees the benefits both on and off the ice.

"Spending so much time with hockey helps you to manage your time," he says. "You only have so many hours to do your homework, eat, practice, study, and go to bed so you can get up and do it all again tomorrow."

Making the adjustment easier for the newcomers is the support they receive from the second-year players. Knowing the kind of problems that the Under-17 players may face makes it easy for Scero and Brennan to be understanding and patient with the newest NTDP members.

"We try to make it comfortable for them," says Scero. "We take care of homesickness, talk to them about their problems, and basically try to be an older brother figure."

The Ann Arbor Ice Cube, where the teams train and practice, is a million-dollar facility in which the NTDP occupies its own wing. The Ice Cube is equipped with three ice sheets (one of Olympic size), one locker room for each team, six offices, a conference room, video room, classroom, a giant 5,000 square-foot weight room and training area, a full-time strength and conditioning coach on-site, a power-skating coach, two athletic trainers and available sport psychologists and nutritionists.

When the teams travel, which is nearly every weekend of their six-month season, they conduct outreach programs with local youth hockey associations. They also bring coaches into their co-op program in Ann Arbor. It is there that local youth coaches can observe the techniques used in the NTDP, and learn how and where to implement such changes in their own programs.

"When people say that the program supports only 46 players, they aren't looking at the big picture," says Quinn.

Mantha agrees. "Nobody in the world has a program like this for 16- and 17-year-olds." This is evidenced by the competition at hand for the teams; last year the Under-18 team faced competition versus eight of the top 15 college teams and three of the four teams in the NCAA Frozen Four.

"There is a lot of respect out there for the NTDP because we raised the bar for player development. What we do here is to teach the players how to put themselves in a situation to control their future," says Mantha.

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United States Hockey League Stories from October 6, 2003


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