For soccer fans imagine Barcelona's academy, for football fans imagine Alabama or IMG academy, for basketball fans imagine Duke and Montverde, for baseball fans imagine Vanderbilt and for hockey imagine the usntdp. The champions of youth hockey as the USA has won the u-20 world juniors back to back years a big thanks to the usndtp program. A team/organisation that needs more attention in the sports world. Where they are doing something crazy that isn’t necessarily that genius but somehow hasn't been done before. 

 

The usntdp (USA Hockey National Team Development Program) is a program run by the United States to enrich and improve the quality of hockey within the country. This is for players in the u17, u18 age group as it is defined by them as “The National Team Development Program is the pinnacle of USA Hockey’s amateur player development program. The NTDP scouts and selects the top 22 players in two age groups (Under-17 and Under-18) to train and develop in a highly competitive environment. The two teams (Under-17 and Under-18) face a rigorous domestic schedule including competition against older, more- developed players.” They play and train in Plymouth, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. As their players primarily come from New England and Minnesota. The selection process is rigorous as they state. “The objective of the NTDP is to develop the most promising players from anywhere in the United States as the NTDP players are tracked and evaluated for two years prior to coming  to the NTDP. The culmination of the two-year scouting process is an annual, invitation-only NTDP Evaluation Camp that will be held in March here at USA Hockey Arena. The 22 members for the U.S. The National Under-17 Team are selected from that process”. In the 23-24 season 389,82 u18 hockey players were registered in the USA. As only 0.056% of youth hockey players make this team . Now that you get the gist of it you must say it isn't that genius. It's not some Einstein idea to make a team of the best high school hockey players but not one country does this(not even Canada). As the success rate for this team is as wild as any country. The usntdp have had 408 alumni get drafted

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So let's get into how the states have taken over the game of hockey from Canada and Sweden. To start off, the most obvious is the resources: they have 2,230 indoor rinks and 500 outdoor rinks in the country just under Canada's 2,860 indoor and 5,000 outdoor. Secondly, they have an immense hub of universities and professional leagues like the USHL, Ahl NCAA and elite scouting with top prospects from the USA committing to schools like Boston University, Boston College and University of Denver. These schools are mostly located in New England as well as the Ahl with 26 teams in the USA as it seems more Canadian prospects play in the Ncaa than Americans play in the Chl. As players earn a degree, excellent facilities and elite hockey are supported by most often big cities like Boston,Ann Arbor etc.. . In recent years, Canadian players have made up about 30-40% of NCAA Division I rosters. Thirdly, and most importantly the usntdp build chemistry within locker rooms with teammates. Most often shown in the world juniors as we have seen the past two years.

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As almost all of the American roster for the world juniors consists of usntdp alumni which gives them an extreme advantage.  As when playing any team in team sports the most important thing is chemistry. Like buzzing your hair with the whole team which is what the u-17 team did this year. Ss chemistry comes easy when you've been playing with teammates since the age of 15/16 and not meeting teammates at  18/19 and training with them for around 1-2 months then playing in a competitive international tournament. Fourthly, the usntdp has clearly worked wonders on interest levels and success of hockey within the country. Destroying Canada in the past 2 world juniors and getting 7 gold medals since 2004. It has increased interest to where kids in Florida,California and Texas like Auston Matthews who comes from Scottsdale or Jack Hughes from Florida. These players aren't just from Boston or New York there coming from all walks of the USA. This shows the influence of youth hockey as of recent more kids start playing hockey and has become more then a small sport only played up north. The usntdp is here to stay, producing prospects like Patrick Kane, Jack Hughes,Phil Kessel, Cole Caufield, Auston Matthews.

 

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As these players have found success and all been drafted at the top of their classes. This is due to their advanced technology with most of their players graduating and going off to prestigious universities like Boston University, University Of Michigan, Harvard etc.. This thanks to their partnership with Michigan International school. The NTDP student-athletes have experienced tremendous academic success as the two teams carry a consistent, combined GPA of 3.4.  With that being said American hockey is taking over and a big part is credited to the usntdp. The exponential growth of the sport in a country has its economical and social benefits throughout the world. As countries should look to replicate the American way. As sports bring in new attractions to your country. Take a look at Latvia, a country with a population of 1.8 million went viral all because of their success beating Canada. Sports bring in tourism, economic power and a new platform to any country that finds success. While the USA is a powerhouse in all sports . Canada has gained so much of their reputation in hockey such as investments, popularity and increase in tourism to their hockey teams. As this is just the beginning of the American hockey era as they look to win their third world junior championship in a row next year. While it's still a Canadian sport, some things gotta give in the country to develop a usntdp rival. While there are prospects like Misa,Mckenna, Dupont, Schaefer. They don't have the chemistry guys like Hagens, Hutson, Stiga have and it shows. While individual talent wins you games team talent wins you tournaments there's a new kid on the block, USA.