With another week before the next conference game for the Massachusetts hockey team, the focus on Friday night will be fixed directly on the future, as the U.S. National Team Development Program (NTDP) comes to the Mullins Center.
Head Coach Don Cahoon set up the exhibition game as a key tool in adding more high-profile recruits to the Minuteman program.
“It’s three pronged – we want to bring the players in here to show them the facilities. There are a lot of prominent college prospects, and it’s a recruiting tool,” Cahoon said. “There are still a couple of guys who haven’t committed yet that we’re still looking at.”
The NTDP is a team that is made up of some of the best American hockey players under the age of 18, with high school players from all around the country teaming up to face off against some of the best college hockey programs in the nation.
“Eighty percent of them have committed,” Cahoon said. “Generally, the kids on the team are in grade 12, but some are in grade 11, and it’s amazing that those kids can compete with college teams.”
One player for the elite team has already committed to join the Maroon and White next season. Stephen Werner, who is tied for sixth on the team in points this year (nine goals, 10 assists), but has played several games fewer than four of the players ahead of him.
Werner also has one game-winning goal, the victorious tally in a thrilling 1-0 victory over Team Finland at the Five Nations Tournament, held in Tyumen, Russia. The NTDP showed well in the tourney, winning three out of four games, and its game against the Minutemen will be the first back on domestic soil since the tourney.
“[The game] breaks up the monotony of practicing,” Cahoon said. These are some of the best 1984s in the nation – they came in second in the Five Nations Tournament.”
Several other players on the team will be heading to Hockey East schools next year, including a pair of younger brothers heading to Boston College. Patrick Eaves, brother of sophomore Eagle standout Ben Eaves and son of NTDP coach Mike Eaves, is second on the team in scoring with 28 points (17g, 11a) in his 29 games, including six tallies coming with a man advantage.
Also heading to Chestnut Hill is Stephen Gionta, brother of former Hobey Baker finalist Brian Gionta. The younger Gionta has a slight three points (two goals, one assist) in his ten games of action with the NTDP this season.
The exhibition brings a week off from a strenuous Hockey East schedule for the Maroon and White. Last weekend, it got a vital point in a game against Lowell on Saturday, but threw away a chance at two points by blowing a three-goal lead in the third period. Additionally, the Minutemen fell to Boston University on Friday. Also throwing fuel on the fire was Merrimack, who moved two points ahead of UMass by virtue of a solid 5-2 win over No. 10 Maine.
The Minutemen head north to Orono to face off with those same Black Bears next weekend in a two-game series where UMass is in dire need of points while time is quickly ticking away on the season. The Minutemen have a 2-23-2 record all time versus the Bears, with the last win coming four years ago.
But for now, it’s all about the future for the Minutemen, as Cahoon will make some personnel changes for the contest. Tim Warner will start between the pipes, and it is likely that many youngsters who have not logged ice time as of late will get a significant chunk of it against NTDP. And for Cahoon, the ideal situation is obvious.
“Best case scenario, Werner scores four goals and we score five.”
Game time on Friday is 7:00 p.m.
