MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME: Four members of the Under-18 Team will be playing at their future home collegiate rink this week as the U18s head to Yost Ice Arena to take on the University of Michigan.

Forwards Rutger McGroarty (Lincoln, Neb.) and Frank Nazar III (Mount Clemens, Mich.) and defensemen Hunter Brzustewicz (Washington Twp., Mich.) and Seamus Casey (Fort Myers, Fla.) are all Wolverines commits.

Michigan has heavily recruited the NTDP for its players and their current roster features seven skaters who donned the red, white and blue for juniors.

Fifth-year senior Michael Pastujov, junior forward Johnny Beecher, sophomores Matty Beniers, Thomas Bordeleau and Jacob Truscott, along with freshmen Luke Hughes and Dylan Duke are all members of the maize and blue for this season. 

CALL IT A STREAK: Team USA has had limited success against Michigan in the all-time series, but has pieced together wins in the prior pair of matchups with the Wolverines. After winning back-to-back games in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, the NTDP will look for its first three-game winning streak over Michigan.

Then-future and current Wolverines forward Thomas Bordeleau (NTDP 2018-20 / Houston, Texas) led Team USA with a trio of assists en route to a 4-1 win in the latest matchup on January 25, 2020 at Yost Ice Arena.

In 2018, the U18s cruised to a 6-3 victory over Michigan, scoring all six in the first 26 minutes of game action. Ryder Rolston (NTDP 2018-20 / Birmingham, Mich.) scored a pair for Team USA while Jack Hughes (NTDP 2018-20 / Orlando, Fla.) added a goal and two helpers for a team-high three points. 

Prior to the 2018 win, Team USA had lost four straight to Michigan after the initial pair of wins. 

HUNTING BOBCATS: U17 defenseman Nathan Tobey (Lantana, Texas) announced his commitment to play college hockey at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut this week. 

Tobey is the 11th NTDP player in program history to hail from the Lone Star State and will be just the fifth NTDP player to head off to Hamden, Conn., to play for the Bobcats. He will team up with Ty Smilanic, who skated with the NTDP from 2018-20 and was a third-round pick of the Florida Panthers in the 2020 NHL Draft.

The defenseman has recorded a pair of assists in 29 games for the Under-17 Team.

BURN IT UP: U17 forward Austin Burnevik (Blaine, Minn.) has been the team's most prolific scorer recently, netting three times over the team's past three games. 

The run gives the St. Cloud State University commit seven goals on the year, good for sixth-most on the team, while his 13 total points also ties him for sixth on the team.