FORT-D: U18 defenseman Drew Fortescue (Pearl River, N.Y.) was named the USHL's Defenseman of the Week for Week 24 of the season, his first ever weekly award win.

In a pair of games at Madison, the Boston College commit accumulated three assists, a shot on goal and a monster +6 rating for Team USA.

On Friday night, Fortescue helped get the U18s on the board with an assist on Will Vote's (Arlington, Mass.) first-period goal to open the scoring for Team USA.

On Saturday, the defenseman was involved early as he earned the primary assist on Danny Nelson's (Maple Grove, Minn.) eventual game-winning goal near the close of the opening frame. Fortescue added a third-period assist to give him his fourth multi-point game of the season.

The impressive weekend brings the Rockland County native's point total to 22 on the season, all assists, good for third most among U18 blueiners, along with a +24 rating to match his jersey number.

CENTURY MARK: U18 forward Gabe Perreault (Hinsdale, Ill.) used a four-point game in Saturday's win over Madison to eclipse the 100-point mark on the season, becoming just the sixth player in NTDP history to accomplish the feat.

After picking up one helper on Friday night, the Boston College commit racked up a goal and three helpers on Saturday to push him over the century mark. Perreault assisted on three U18 goals before finding the back of the net himself midway through the third period en route to the team's 8-1 win, their seventh straight dating back to February 12.

On the season, the Chicago-area native leads the U18s in goals, assists, points, shots on goal, game-winning goals and plus-minus.

Perreault will look to pass Patrick Kane this weekend for fifth place on the all-time list, as he currently sits just one point behind the future Hall of Famer.

A POWERFUL PLAY: The U18s connected for four man-advantage goals in last weekend's pair of wins over Madison and they have now netted a power-play score in 37 of 50 games played.

When scoring on the power play, the team's record is an outstanding 34-2-0-1, compared to a 6-5-1-1 mark when held without.

Seventeen different skaters have lit the lamp at least once for the team, led by Ryan Leonard's (Amherst, Mass.) 11 man-up scores. Gabe Perreault (Hinsdale, Ill.) has also hit the double-digit mark with 10 PPG, while Oliver Moore (Mounds View, Minn.) has eight, Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) has five and Cole Eiserman (Newburyport, Mass.) already has four in just seven games with the U18s.

The powerful weekend has brought the team's success rate up to a 30.2% clip, closing in on the 2018-19 U18 Team's 31.6% rate, tops for any team.

NTDP EVALUATION CAMP: Forty-five of the top American hockey players born in 2007 have been invited to USA Hockey's National Team Development Program evaluation camp. The camp, which will help select the 2023-24 U.S. National Under-17 Team, will take place March 18-22, at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.

The 45 players, which includes 25 forwards, 15 defensemen and five goaltenders, will be split into two teams and participate in on-ice practices, off-ice training and games during their week in Michigan.

The invitees represent 17 different states, including Minnesota (12), New York (6), California (5), Michigan (4), Illinois (3), Massachusetts (2), North Dakota (2), Pennsylvania (2), Alaska (1), Arizona (1), Colorado (1), Connecticut (1), Florida (1), Maine (1), Maryland (1), Washington (1) and Wisconsin (1).   

A complete roster and game schedule can be found on USAHockeyNTDP.com.