You may have heard the criticism of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program at some point. In short, it goes like this:<\/p>\n
Too much money on too few players.<\/p>\n
I’m guessing you’d get a “bring it on” kind of look from a pro-NTDP person today if you tried to start the argument.<\/p>\n
The majority of the United States team that beat Canada for the World Junior Championship title Tuesday night went through the NTDP in Ann Arbor, Mich.<\/p>\n
The most defensive of the program should concede that not all of the skills those 12 players took to Saskatoon was a result of their time in Ann Arbor, but the most enthusiastic detractors probably should admit that some good was done there in relation to this year’s U.S. World Junior team.<\/p>\n
Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves led the U.S. to its only other WJC gold, in 2004, was a coach at the NTDP before joining the Badgers, and his team plays the Under-18 Team on Saturday. So it seemed like a good time to ask about the program. Here’s what he had to say:<\/p>\n
“There\u2019s an ongoing debate, and it\u2019s very passionate. You\u2019re right about the statement that it\u2019s a lot of money for a few amount of kids, but the fact is it worked. Those kids went there, they played up, they got great coaching, great training, played against tough competition, and were able to compete and win on the world level. What\u2019s going on now with the USA Hockey, they\u2019ve got a development program that they\u2019re trying to implement now. So we\u2019re almost flipping the pyramid upside down. We\u2019ve gone to the top and worked with and spent a lot, and now they\u2019re trying to tip it upside down, work on the base, and then create it so it will go up.<\/p>\n
“So I\u2019m talking out of both sides of my mouth, but the fact is they did something. They took action, they made a stand, they made it work, it\u2019s been successful. Now they\u2019re trying to get to the masses, and the argument of, well, why didn\u2019t we do that in the first place? Well, I don\u2019t know the answer to that. But the fact is, the program was successful, now they\u2019re looking at broad-basing it, building it from the ground up, which hopefully, you would think that in the long run it\u2019s going to create a broader base of talent. They\u2019re going to try to do the right things with these young people, focus on skills, focus on practice, fewer games.<\/p>\n
“This is going to be a tough sell in this country, because to a large degree parents want to see their kids play. They don\u2019t want them to practice. They want to see them play. And yet you don\u2019t get that much better in games because you don\u2019t have the puck at all. It\u2019s in practices. It\u2019s this 10,000-hour theory of just getting on the pond and playing. It\u2019s been interesting watching the outdoor game, and they got documentaries on pond hockey. This is where we used to learn the game, not with one 60-minute practice, but by just going out and playing.<\/p>\n
“So that\u2019s a long-winded answer, but the fact is I think we\u2019re trying to get to do the right things, but this program that they started in Ann Arbor was successful.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I’m not sure the argument will every completely die, but the scale may be tipping for the moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You may have heard the criticism of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program at some point. In short, it goes like this: Too much money on too few players. I’m guessing you’d get a “bring it on” kind of look from a pro-NTDP person today if you tried to start the argument. The majority […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1425],"tags":[1444],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Quieting the NTDP Critics? - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You may have heard the criticism of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program at some point. In short, it goes like this: Too much money on too few\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Quieting the NTDP Critics? - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You may have heard the criticism of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program at some point. In short, it goes like this: Too much money on too few\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-06T23:26:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/uscho_featured-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd D. Milewski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@toddmilewski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd D. Milewski\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/\",\"name\":\"Quieting the NTDP Critics? - College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/uscho.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-06T23:26:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-01-06T23:26:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2db28f954968e12690aa288e8186b98c\"},\"description\":\"You may have heard the criticism of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program at some point. In short, it goes like this: Too much money on too few\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/uscho.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/uscho.jpg\",\"width\":1175,\"height\":763},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Quieting the NTDP Critics?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/\",\"name\":\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"description\":\"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2db28f954968e12690aa288e8186b98c\",\"name\":\"Todd D. Milewski\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/f24296b62d0b2e2c0ed38fb788cc8581\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db18eed4fbc766c85823be8c92558b7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db18eed4fbc766c85823be8c92558b7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Todd D. Milewski\"},\"description\":\"Todd D. Milewski has been associated with USCHO since 1998, first as WCHA columnist, then as a senior writer and executive editor. He's now editor emeritus.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/@toddmilewski\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/author\/todd-milewski\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Quieting the NTDP Critics? - College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"You may have heard the criticism of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program at some point. In short, it goes like this: Too much money on too few","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Quieting the NTDP Critics? - College Hockey | USCHO.com","og_description":"You may have heard the criticism of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program at some point. In short, it goes like this: Too much money on too few","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796","og_site_name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/","article_published_time":"2010-01-06T23:26:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/uscho_featured-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Todd D. Milewski","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@toddmilewski","twitter_site":"@USCHO","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd D. Milewski","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/","name":"Quieting the NTDP Critics? - College Hockey | USCHO.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/uscho.jpg","datePublished":"2010-01-06T23:26:32+00:00","dateModified":"2010-01-06T23:26:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2db28f954968e12690aa288e8186b98c"},"description":"You may have heard the criticism of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program at some point. In short, it goes like this: Too much money on too few","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/uscho.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/uscho.jpg","width":1175,"height":763},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/01\/06\/quieting-the-ntdp-critics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Quieting the NTDP Critics?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/","name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2db28f954968e12690aa288e8186b98c","name":"Todd D. Milewski","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/f24296b62d0b2e2c0ed38fb788cc8581","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db18eed4fbc766c85823be8c92558b7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db18eed4fbc766c85823be8c92558b7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Todd D. Milewski"},"description":"Todd D. Milewski has been associated with USCHO since 1998, first as WCHA columnist, then as a senior writer and executive editor. He's now editor emeritus.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/@toddmilewski"],"url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/author\/todd-milewski\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}