Americans suddenly sold on developmental program, reaping rewards

WOODRIDGE, Ill. -- The biggest challenge at the beginning was just selling the idea. And not just to the potential funders because they were only a part of the equation. The kids needed some convincing too, and so did their parents.

'It has given us the best talent pool we've ever been able to draw from,' Team USA GM Brian Burke says. (Getty Images)

Canadian teenagers had long left home for billets in other cities to play junior hockey as they continued their development process. But for Americans back in 1996, the concept was, well, foreign. Youth hockey was local and if a kid happened to be in a place with a good program, lucky for them.

It was the way things were usually done, and it meant getting players for the U.S. National Team Development Program that was introduced just over a decade ago required quite a sales job, recalled USA Hockey president Ron DeGregorio.

"Fortunately it's a lot easier now," said DeGregario, a driving force in creating the USNTDP program. "But when you have something new and you're asking parents to send their children somewhere away from home, well that's not so much the American hockey culture. So it took a leap of faith."

And maybe a little momentum created by Team USA's World Cup victory that year. The team featured the likes of Mike Modano, Brian Leetch, Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick, Tony Amonte and Mike Richter in their primes and beat their Gretzky, Messier, Lindros-led Canadian counterparts in a major tournament that set the stage for the NHL's first Olympic participation two years later in Nagano.

The victory was Team USA's biggest since Miracle on Ice, and in pure hockey terms probably a greater achievement with the Americans taking the best-of-3 championship series by winning the final two games in Montreal. The win said Americans could produce world-class players, and gave USA Hockey reason to believe it could be in for similar results in the future with tools like the NTDP.

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And the governing body for U.S. hockey didn't have to wait long either. The program produced much of the gold medal winning roster at the 2004 World Junior Championship and since then, about 20 percent of the NHL's first-round draft picks since the lockout have come through the NTDP. Most recently, nearly one-third of the 34 players invited to the Team USA orientation camp for next February's Olympics were alumni and at least half of them emerged from the camp widely considered good bets to make the roster as Team USA transitions to its next generation for international competition.

"I think it's pretty neat that a group of guys who grew up together are all here, that in itself says a lot about the program," said Nashville Predators 24-year-old defenseman Ryan Suter, one of the apparent locks on the roster for the 2010 Games. "It makes you grow up and you mature faster and you learn what it's going to take to be a pro, and you see some of the results with all the guys here."

The program's initial blueprint was created by original coach Jeff Jackson, who is now behind the bench at Notre Dame and hasn't changed much since launching. Except that it has now grown enough to require regional tryout camps for acceptance into the two-year program at Ann Arbor.

Ultimately, 46 players of the country's elite players are in the program that costs about $2.2 million to operate annually. The players are divided into an Under-17 group and an under-18 team that spend their two years with the same coaches. The players live with host families, attend Ann Arbor Pioneer High School and basically spend the rest of their time living, eating and breathing hockey, getting mentored on everything from nutrition to weight training to life skills when necessary.

"It teaches you the basics of things that you don't usually know at 16 or 17," said Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler, another alum with an inside track for an Olympic roster spot.

There's hockey involved as well, about 50 games per season for each team, some against United States High School League teams, some in international tournaments for the older kids and some against college teams. Some players go on the NCAA programs and some get drafted directly to the NHL, helping the program earn a reputation as a steady pipeline of players for both entities in the process.

"It's been the biggest single improvement in developing American talent in the last 20 years," Team USA general manager Brian Burke said. "It has given us the best talent pool we've ever been able to draw from."

Ultimately, that's what matters for USA Hockey. The program is really about bringing together elite talent to nurture into part of a consistent power on the international stage.

"We want to have high performance players impacted by the USA Hockey at a reasonable age and hopefully build a bond so that they will want to compete in U.S colors in the future," DeGregorio said. "Our goal has always been to do something to elevate our status as a developer of winning teams, and we believe this program has helped to do that."