Two weekends ago, 52 USA players borne in 1997 participated in a 3-day National Team Development Program Evaluation Camp held at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Since then USA Hockey has made two announcements indicating 15 of the 52 players at that camp have committed to join USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program for the 2013-2014 season. The players committed will spend the 2013-2014 season at Ann Arbor Michigan playing on the U. S. National Under-17 team in the United States Hockey League and three international competitions including he 2014 World U-17 Challenge in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. While spending the year at Ann Arbor, the players will complete their junior year of high school.
Last summer, most of the 52 players attending the March evaluation camp participated in USA select 15 programs from all over the US and were part of the Select 15 program that concluded with a week camp at Ann Arbor last July. The Select 15’s attending the last July’s camp were evaluated, selected and represented an area or state. Minnesota sent a 20 player select team to last summer’s camp. Most of the Minnesota players on the list of 52 were members of the Minnesota Select team last summer.
YHH will start coverage of the Select 15′s in the next 10 days and follow the 1998 borne kids as they go through the process. We did this last year and the reader is invited to read the stories to get a feel for what is about to happen (select “stories” on the menu bar and then Reebok Select 15′s). If you are interested in this year’s select 15 process, the key date to mark down on your calendar is the last weekend in April.
That weekend , all the district teams being formed will participate in a tournament open to the public that offers some intense competitive hockey as district rivalries emerge. Last year, District 8 beat District 6 in a very good championship game. At the end of that tournament, approximately 100 Minnesota players will be selected to attend a camp at St. Cloud State for a week for further evaluation. Out of the 100 players at St. Cloud, 2 goalies, 6 defense men and 12 forwards are usually selected to represent Minnesota in next July’s camp in Ann Arbor.
This years Select 15′s will go through a similar process and those fortunate enough to make the Minnesota Select team maybe the next names you see on a list of 52 players invited to Ann Arbor next March to be evaluated and offered an opportunity to play on a U. S. National team.
Hudson Fasching (Burnsville Mn) has just completed participating in the program. His story can be read at:
http://www.usantdp.com/news_article/show/243607?referrer_id=666974