February 5, 2010

By Becky Olsen
Special to USAHockey.com

The National Team Development Program Under-18 team will play one last contest on Friday (Feb. 5) before both teams head overseas for international play. The U-17s head to Piestany, Slovakia, for the Vlad Dzurilla Under-18 Tournament from Feb. 9-13. Meanwhile, the U-18s travel to Minsk, Belarus for the Under-18 Six Nations Tournament from Feb. 10-14.

SLOVAKIA UP NEXT FOR UNDER-17 TEAM: The U-17s (14-19-0-3 overall) are off until Feb. 9 when they head to Slovakia for the Vlad Dzurilla Under-18 Tournament. The tournament features Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany in a round-robin format. Team USA will face Slovakia in an exhibition on Feb. 9 prior to opening tournament play.

“It is another marker for us as a team,” U-17 head coach Ron Rolston said. “It gives us some more international experience over there, especially playing an age group up with the 1992s tournament. It is another chance to see our guys in that environment with the adversity of traveling and four games in five nights.

“The ice surface and the style of play is a lot different over there. A couple of the teams that we play over there are stingy in the way they play defense and trap. It gives our guys the ability to play the European style while in the USHL, it is a very hard, forechecking game. We will have to make sure that we are smart with how we play each game.”

The complete schedule for the Vlad Dzurilla, with Eastern Times, is as follows: Feb. 9 — Slovakia (Exh.), 9:15 a.m.; Feb. 11 — Switzerland, 5:15 a.m.; Feb. 12 — Germany, 8 a.m.; and Feb. 13 — Slovakia, 9:30 a.m.

On Jan. 29, the U-17s dropped a 5-1 decision to Waterloo as Adam Reid (Chino Hills, Calif.) scored the lone goal and John Gibson (Pittsburgh, Pa.) stopped 42-of-47 shots. In its last outing, the U-17s posted a 5-2 win over Lincoln as Matt McNeely (Burnsville, Minn.) stopped 41 of 43 shots and Reid tallied one goal and three points.

UNDER-18 TEAM OFF TO BELARUS: The U-18s (24-15-0-2) will face Lincoln on Friday, Feb. 5, at 3 p.m. at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube before heading to Belarus for the Under-18 Six Nations Tournament from Feb. 10-14 in Minsk, Belarus. Lincoln dropped a 5-2 decision to the U-17s on Thursday evening.

“Physically and mentally, we are preparing for Friday at 3 p.m.,” U-18 coach Kurt Kleinendorst said. “We will get them pointers in drinking liquids and getting their rest and we will also make sure that they are prepared for some time of adversity. That is the best advice that we can give the kids as something is going to pop up at some point and affect us as a group. We are just going to carry on; we have done that all year long.”

The complete schedule for the 2010 Under-18 Six Nations Tournament, with Eastern Times, is as follows: Feb. 9 — Finland, 8:30 a.m.; Feb. 10 — Belarus, noon; Feb. 11 — Sweden, 8:30 a.m.; Feb. 13 — Russia, 10:30 a.m.; and Feb. 14 — Czech Rep.,7 a.m.

“We have talked in the last few weeks about identifying roles for the kids,” Kleinendorst said. “All these kids get the opportunity to play in all situations. As we work our way into the Six Nations Tournament, we are going to start defining roles. It should help make us a better team.”

Team USA swept a pair of USHL games last weekend, beating Waterloo, 10-2, and Indiana, 5-2. In the win over Waterloo, Brandon Saad (Gibsonia, Pa.) tallied three goals and four points and Adam Clendening (Niagara Falls, N.Y./1-2-3), Chase Balisy (Fullerton, Calif./1-2-3) and Austin Czarnik (Washington, Mich./1-2-3) tallied three points each to pace the U-18 team in scoring. In the victory over Indiana, Jack Campbell (Port Huron, Mich.) stopped 26 of 28 shots and Czarnik tallied two goals and four points.

NOTEBOOK

* There will be some new faces in the line-up for both the U-17s and U-18s next week. Jordan Schmaltz (Chicago Mission), Sean Kuraly (Columbus Jr. Blue Jackets) and Alex Gacek (New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs) will join the U-17 team. Current U-17 forwardRocco Grimaldi (Rossmoor, Calif.) and Connor Brickley of the Des Moines Buccaneers will join the U-18s.

* The U-17s have added defenseman Joe Fiala (Verona, Wis.) for the remainder of the season. Fiala appeared in each of Team USA’s seven games at the 2010 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. He made his regular-season debut Thursday night against Lincoln. He arrived at the NTDP from Verona High School where he posted 11 points (4-7) in 15 games.

* U-17 forward Rocco Grimaldi (Rossmoor, Calif.) continues to pace the team in scoring with 39 points (14 goals, 25 assists). Grimaldi’s 14 goals and 25 helpers are both team bests. J.T. Miller (East Palestine, Ohio/12-12-24) is second with 24 points while Reid Boucher (Grand Ledge, Mich./8-12-20) and Robbie Russo (Westmont, Ill./7-13-20) are tied for third with 20 points.

* The U-17s will be missing four players to injury — Barrett Kaib (Upper St. Clair, Pa.), Austin Wuthrich (Anchorage, Alaska), Connor Murphy (Dublin, Ohio) and Blake Pietila (Brighton, Mich.) — at the Vlad Dzurilla.

* The U-18s are led in scoring by Brandon Saad (Gibsonia, Pa.) with 35 points (15 goals, 20 assists). Nick Shore (Denver, Colo./14-19-33) and Austin Czarnik (Washington, Mich./10-23-33) are tied for second with 33 points. Matthew Nieto (Long Beach, Calif./14-14-28) and Bill Arnold (Needham, Mass./10-18-28) are tied for fourth with 28 points each.

* Eleven players on the U-18 roster have scored 20 or more points this season. In addition to the quintet listed above, Bryan Rust (Washington, Mich./16-9-25), Jason Zucker (Las Vegas/14-11-25), Adam Clendening (Niagara Falls, N.Y./7-16-23), Luke Moffatt (Paradise Valley, Ariz./10-12-22), Jon Merrill (Brighton, Mich./4-18-22) and Justin Faulk (South St. Paul, Minn./14-7-21) have tallied 20 or more points this season.

* Defenseman Derek Forbort (Duluth, Minn./4-15-19) needs one more point to reach the 20-point plateau.

* In goal, Andy Iles (Ithaca, N.Y.) and Jack Campbell (Port Huron, Mich.) have provided a solid coverage in net. Iles is 12-4-1 with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage. Campbell is 10-10-1 with a 2.63 GAA and a .901 save percentage.

* The U-18s are averaging 3.95 goals per game while allowing just 2.66 goals.

Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.