FIVE NATIONS CHAMPS: The Under-18 Team returned home from Hämeenlinna, Finland as Five Nations champions after they claimed first place in their opening international competition of the campaign.

The U18s dropped a heartbreaking contest to Sweden in their tournament opener, eventually losing in the shootout by a 7-6 final. They followed the loss up by blanking host Finland, 5-0, taking down Switzerland, 6-1, and exploding for 11 goals in the final game of the Five Nations to capture the trophy in an 11-3 win over Czechia.

The 2006-born NTDP class has now won all four international tournaments it has participated in since arriving in Michigan. In addition to this Five Nations, that includes the 2022 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge championship (Delta & Langley, British Columbia), a 2022 December U17 Four Nations win (Romanshorn, Switzerland) and a 2023 February U17 Five Nations victory back in Finland. 

FIRST INTERNATIONAL TOUR: The Under-17 Team got its first taste of international competition as they traveled to Prince Edward Island to compete in the 2023 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, where they finished in second place.

Playing seven total games in 10 days, the U17s began the tournament with three straight wins over Sweden (5-2), Czechia (10-2) and Finland (8-3) and earned points in their final two round-robin games en route to being the number one seed after pool play and earning a bye.

In the semifinal game, Team USA erased two separate deficits, including a game-tying score from Jack Murtagh (East Greenbush, N.Y.), his second of the game, with less than a second remaining in regulation to force overtime. LJ Mooney (West Mifflin, Pa.) netted the overtime winner to send the U.S. to the championship game.

After surrendering a goal to Canada White less than two minutes into the game, Charlie Trethewey (Woodbine, Md.) eventually netted the tying goal midway through the third period as the U17s played in their fourth consecutive contest past regulation. Halfway through the OT session, Canada White found the back of the net as Team USA won second.

The second-place finish was the third straight top-3 finish for the United States, after winning the 2022 tournament and finishing in second back in 2019. The 2020 and 2021 tournaments were canceled due to the pandemic.

SIGNING DAY: The Division I National Letter of Intent signing period began on November 8 and the Under-18 Team had a chance to show off their future collegiate colors this week at USA Hockey Arena.

All 23 members of the U18s signed their NLI by the close of the period on Wednesday afternoon.

The University of Michigan (Kristian Epperson, Christian Humphreys, Dakoda Rheaume-Mullen), Michigan State University (Austin Baker, Lucas Van Vliet, Shane Vansaghi), Boston College (James Hagens, Will Skahan, Teddy Stiga) and Boston University (Kamil Bednarik, Cole Eiserman, Cole Hutson) will each host three members of the team while the Univeristy of Notre Dame (Nick Kempf, Charlie Pardue), the University of North Dakota (EJ Emery, Sam Laurila), the University of Minnesota (John Whipple Brodie Ziemer) all grabbed a pair of NTDPers. Providence College (Jack Parsons), the University of Wisconsin (Logan Hensler), Arizona State University (Noah Lapointe), Denver University (Brendan McMorrow) and University of Minnesota-Duluth (Max Plante) all put their schools on the board. Good luck to all of our future collegians! 

MORE FROM MOORE: U17 forward Will Moore (Ithaca, N.Y.) had a mini coming out party at the U17 Challenge as he led the team with five goals, seven assists and 12 total points in seven games throughout the tournament.

After not recording a point in his first four games at the NTDP, the 6-foot-2 forward has found his stride. He has recorded at least a point in nine of his past 12 contests and totaled 16 points (7g-9a) over the span. His point-per-game pace on the season ranks second on the team to Charlie Trethewey (Wodobine, Md.) and Moore's seven scores is one off Conrad Fondrk's (White Bear Lake, Mich.) team lead of eight.

HIMMY HAGENS: U18 forward James Hagens (Hauppauge, N.Y.) established himself as one of the top players at the Five Nations as he posted a tournament-high 11 points over four games, collecting multiple points in all four games played.

The Boston College commit dished out nine assists, good for more points than any other player in the competition. Hagens added a pair of scores for his 11 total points and his +8 rating also tied linemate Brodie Ziemer (Hutchinson, Minn.) for tops in Finland.

On the season, Hagens is up to 28 points (8g-20) in 15 gams, including nine multi-point efforts, five of which have ended with three-or-more points.