A Band of brothers
Colin White skates while playing for Noble & Greenough School (Mass.) during a 2012 game.
File photo by Dave Arnold
Once the NTDP players arrive in Ann Arbor from a variety of American locations, a serious bonding develops, not only among themselves but with the host families that provide a home for them.
The long-standing friendships that occur became evident to Cole at a reunion this past summer.
"The guys that came back … just how close those guys still are," Cole said. "It's a unique experience that I don't know you'll be able to ever duplicate. Pro hockey and college hockey certainly won't be like this."
"One of the things that is special about it here is it's the same players, both years," Wegwerth said. "You get that connection that you don't really get anywhere else. On a junior team, you have guys leaving to go to college after one year. In college, you have guys that graduate as seniors. But here, it's two years with the same guys. You really build a connection that's really special."
"I think we'll always keep tight," Eichel said. "I don't think there's any relationship that compares to the ones we create here."
And in the next few years, many of the guys will be playing against each other in college.
"It's going to be funny, really," White said. "Seeing the guy next to me (during a faceoff), I'll give him a little tap, get in his head a little. That'll be fun to do. After the game, though, seeing them, spending time with them. They're brothers to me."
The same type of bonding is built with the host families.
Joe Wegwerth celebrates after scoring a goal while playing
for Brewster High School (N.Y.) during the 2011-12 season.
File photo by Jim Stout
"They're really great," Bliss said. "They've helped me with a lot, just being there for me. They're very outgoing and very friendly people. They have two younger boys, they're interested in hockey. It's just like at home; I have little brothers. Not much different than being at home."
In the midst of all this bonding is the training. It is intense and it is fast. Fast-moving scrimmages are interrupted only by specialized drills. And there are many of those.
"Every time I step on the ice, I feel like I'm learning something from the coaches. It's very intense," Boka said. "They demand a lot out of you. I feel like if you put your best foot forward every day, you're going to get something out of it."
"When we need it, they're definitely after us," said White, who actually broke his wrist on his first shift in the 40-man tryout camp. "They're right on us. When we're going and having fun, they're going to give us a little space. They're on us: Schoolwork, hockey practice, workout."
In case there is any doubt of the payoff, all they have to do is look up and look at the blue world championship banners. Professionalism and patriotism. Those are two words often used together here.
"That does kind of summarize how we go about things," Cole said. "Yeah, we want to win, but we want to do things the right way. There are going to be better hockey players leaving here, that's unavoidable. But we want them character-wise and people-wise, we want them to represent the U.S. the right way when they leave here as well."
Paul Bowker, an online and newspaper sports journalist for 30 years and the author of two Major League Baseball books, is based in the Chicago area. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com.
