skip navigation

20 Years of NTDP Hockey

08/16/2016, 9:30am MDT
By Jessi Pierce

USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program celebrates success


Elite players pulling in to Plymouth, Michigan, this summer, the new home of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, aren’t going to be able to tell you what the program was like 20 years ago. They won’t be able to tell you how the program grew from its infancy into an international hockey powerhouse, and how USA Hockey as a whole grew with it. For the 16- and 17-year-olds joining the program today, they never knew a time that when the NTDP wasn’t a powerhouse.

“Now when we enter an international competition, winning is expected,” said John Wroblewski, recently named head coach with the NTDP. “It’s not something that’s nice or that only happens once in awhile. When we don’t win gold, or when there isn’t a medal, it’s an extreme disappointment. That winning attitude has changed in the last 20 years and I believe that the NTDP is the reason for that.”

Since 1996, the inaugural NTDP season, great strides have been made in the game of hockey. The same can be said for the NTDP. In its two decades of existence, its on-ice success speaks for itself:

•    218 NHL players
•    65 First-Round NHL Draft Picks 
•    15 Olympians
•    8 Stanley Cup champions
•    9 gold medals at the IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championships 
•    3 gold medals at the IIHF World Junior Championships

Wroblewski has been there from the beginning. A fresh-faced 16-year-old from Neenah, Wisconsin, he was a part of the first NTDP class, then based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Now he’s back with the program as the head coach of the U.S. National Under-18 Team. 

“There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with holding this position of head coach,” said Wroblewski, who played four seasons at Notre Dame before beginning a coaching career that included positions with the United States Hockey League’s Youngstown Phantoms, the American Hockey League’s Rochester Americans and with the Gwinnett Gladiators and Wheeling Nailers in the East Coast Hockey League. “You go back and look at the pioneering in this program, from the coaches to the players and staff. There have been a lot of sacrifices made to help this program become the success it has. The belief in this program that was instituted by coaches like [Mike] Eaves, [John] Hynes and [Ron] Rolston, those men really set the tone and tempo for where we are. Now, to continue to help shape this program, that’s a big responsibility I have to live up to.”

Now one of the most prestigious programs for high-caliber players in the U.S., Wroblewski admits that the NTDP wasn’t always a desirable place to go play. Instead it was unknown, as were its results.

“The allure wasn’t what it is today because it wasn’t established as an elite program yet,” said Wroblewski. “I think for the guys who first joined and bought into the program, the main intrigue was that you were able to put on the USA jersey and wear that while you represent your country. The idea of developing and getting world-class coaching was on the back burner.”

No longer on the back burner, development with the NTDP is at the forefront of every young player in the United States’ mind. The NTDP became the home of top-tier development on and off the ice. With a first-class weight room, a brand-new facility in USA Hockey Arena, a pedigree of producing NHL first-rounders, and an outstanding coaching and conditioning staff, it’s no wonder players aspire to be a part of the program. 

Take a look at the roster of NTDP alumni and you’ll quickly realize how integral it has been in shaping some of the best U.S. players to date. Athletes like Patrick Kane, Phil Kessel and Auston Matthews all spent their formative years playing with the NTDP. And while those names helped put the NTDP on the map, guys from the inaugural 1996 campaign are just as notable. Some have even brought the NTDP full-circle for Wroblewski. This last season he watched one of his former teammates suit up with another NTDP alum, and former player for Wroblewski. 

“Some of my best friendships still resonate from my time at the NTDP,” Wroblewski said. “We all went into it together and grew and developed into the game together. It’s great to see guys continue that trend. It’s funny, last year I saw one my buddies and teammates, John-Michael Liles, and Justin Faulk were on the same d-corps together in Carolina (with the Hurricanes). A guy I played with in the NTDP, and a guy who I coached at the NTDP, now together in the NHL. 

“The NTDP helped that success in the NHL and internationally become the norm.”

It’s a tradition that USA Hockey and the NTDP hope carries on and continues to grow for another 20 years and beyond. 


 

Tag(s): Contact