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NAHL U.S. National Team

U.S. National Under-17 Team Gains Momentum With Weekend Sweep

November 1, 2005 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
U.S. National Team News Release


THIS WEEK: The U.S. National Under-17 Team will host the Mahoning Valley Phantoms on Thursday (Nov. 3) at 7 p.m., then travel to Piestany, Slovakia, to participate in the Four Nations Tournament on Nov. 10-12. The team will face Russia, Switzerland and tournament host, Slovakia.

U.S. HEAD COACH RON ROLSTON: Ron Rolston is in his second season with USA Hockey's National Team Development Program. Rolston has amassed a career record with the NTDP of 51-19-8. Rolston was an assistant coach in the collegiate ranks at Lake Superior State University, Clarkson University, Harvard University and Boston College prior to joining the NTDP.

U.S. HEAD COACH RON ROLSTON ON THE SLOVAKIA TRIP: "Traveling will be a great experience for our kids for a couple of reasons. First, the trip overseas will be the first for most of the players. Second, the tournament will be a measuring stick for our players to gauge where they are developmentally versus countries we will face for years to come."

2005-06 OPPONENT MATCH-UP: The U.S. Under-17 Team hosted Mahoning Valley earlier this season on Oct. 14 and lost, 7-1.

SCHEDLUE FOR FOUR NATIONS:

11/10/05 Russia at 2:00 p.m. 11/11/05 Slovakia at 5:30 p.m. 11/12/05 Switzerland at 2:00 p.m. All times are local

NATIONAL TEAM DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM ALUMNI UPDATE: On Friday night (Oct. 28) University of Alaska Fairbanks goaltender,Wylie Rogers (Fairbanks, Alaska) lead the Nanooks to a 4-2 victory over the top-ranked Michigan Wolverines, turning away 34 of 36 shots ... Colorado College forward Brett Sterling (Pasadena, Calif.) continues to lead the nation with 16 points (8-8) in eight games ... Rookie defenseman Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) was recalled by the Detroit Red Wings from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League.

PLAYER NOTES: Defensemen Colby Cohen (Radnor, Pa.) and Kevin Shattenkirk (New Rochelle, N.Y.) have both verbally committed to play at Boston University in 2007 ... The U.S. National Under-17 Team will add defenseman Doug Leaverton (Mayfield, Ohio) and forward Jimmy Hayes (Charlestown, Mass.) to its roster for the Four Nations Tournament to fill the gaps left from injuries to David Kolomatis (Basking Ridge, N.J.) and Ryan Schnell (Cary, Ill.).

TIDBITS: Chad Cassidy (Lake Placid, N.Y.), head coach at the National Sports Institute in New York, will join the U.S. National Under-17coaching staff for the Four Nations Tournament.

LAST WEEK: The U.S. National Under-17 Team traveled to Alpena, Mich., to play the Ice Diggers in North American Hockey League action. Friday night's game was full of late twists. Phillip McRae (Chesterfield, Mo.) scored with 55 seconds remaining in regulation to give Tean USA a 3-2 lead. With one second remaining on the clock, however, Alpena's Ben Kitzmiller scored to send the game to overtime. The five-minute overtime period went scoreless and set-up a shootout. John Albert (Concord, Ohio) and Matt Rust (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) scored for Team USA, while Josh Unice (Toledo, Ohio) turned away four Alpena shooters to earn the shootout victory for Team USA. On Saturday night, the U.S. National Under-17 Team finished the sweep of the Ice Diggers with a 4-2 victory. Mike Cieslak (Penfield, N.Y.) scored his second shorthanded goal of the weekend followed by goals from Rust, Ryan Hayes (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Albert. Brad Phillips (Farmington Hills, Mich.) made 33 saves to earn his fourth victory of the season.

UP NEXT: The U.S. National Under-17 Team will travel to Durham, New Hampshire, Oct.19-20 to play in the Beantown Fall Classic. Team USA will face two opponents from the Eastern Junior Hockey League.

ABOUT THE NTDP:

Founded in 1997, USA Hockey's National Team Development Program was created to prepare student-athletes under the age of 18 for participation on U.S. National Teams and success in their future hockey careers. Located in Ann Arbor, Mich., the program has been instrumental in helping the United States capture gold medals at the 2002 and 2005 IIHF World Under-18 Championships and the 2004 IIHF World Junior Championship. This past summer, 15 NTDP alumni were selected in the National Hockey League Entry Draft. In the seven years NTDP players have been eligible for the draft, 107 players have been selected.

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North American Hockey League Stories from November 1, 2005


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