Beyond the X: Building Olympic hockey stars in Ann Arbor

Walk through the doors of the USA Hockey NTDP headquarters in Ann Arbor, and among the first things you‘ll notice is a long hallway adorned with autographed, framed pictures of the program‘s famous alumni. More pictures are displayed in the weight room.

Walk into the locker rooms, either the U-18 National Team on one side or the U-17 National Team on the other side, and you'll see USA hockey jerseys neatly hung in front of each player's stall. The USA Hockey emblem is sewn into the carpet. The doors to the locker room from the stadium arena, one of three ice sheets at the Ice Cube, have the Team USA logo.

"Everything gives you chills, really," said Colin White, a U-17 player from Noble & Greenough (Dedham, Mass) and a Boston College commit. "The first time I walked in here, it was surreal, really. Nothing really like it. Unbelievable feeling."

NTDP's headquarters include meeting rooms and video rooms for training. A fitness area includes a weight room and boxing lessons. Offices for coaches and other staffers fill up an entire floor above the locker room.

Knowing that NHL star players and Olympians once sat at those same locker room stalls simply fuels the energy of a proud national training center for the best high school-age hockey players in the United States. All have either left their high school teams back home to train here or simply skipped over high school hockey altogether to pursue a higher development level.

"It's really eye-opening to see all those guys who sat in our locker room, put on that jersey and now they're representing their country at the Olympic level," said Nicholas Boka, a University of Michigan commit who is from nearby Plymouth, Mich. "It gives us something to look forward to, something to work for."

The program is filled with Division I college commits. Many from the U-18 team will be drafted in the first round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and the U-17 players a year later in the 2015 NHL Entry draft. All will be primary candidates for the U.S. U-20 entry in the annual World Junior Championships.

But this isn't just about hockey.

Most of the U.S. national governing bodies that administer the operation of each of the Winter and Summer Olympic sports have residency training programs. USA Hockey's NTDP is unique in that all of the athletes are high school students. Joining the program after surviving an invitation-only tryout camp held each March results in a two-year commitment beginning with the U-17 National Team. Members of the team move to Ann Arbor from different locations in the United States, they are assigned a host family in Ann Arbor and they attend school at Pioneer, which is situated across the street from Michigan Stadium.

For most, it is their first time away from home.

"Usually it's a bit of being overwhelmed early," Cole said. "There's just so much going on. New home, new family, not to mention the training. So there's a lot thrown at a 16-year-old when they first get here. They usually get through it. It's nice that they're all the same age, they're all going through it, so they have a pretty good support system of friends. They come in and there are 22 guys that are a band of brothers going through it together."