THE GREAT EIGHT: The Under-18 Team has won its first eight games of the 22-23 season, matching the longest win streak to start a season for any NTDP team, the first U18 squad to hit that number.

The U18s took both preseason contests against the Muskegon Lumberjacks, swept their pair of games at the USHL Fall Classic and got the upper hand in their first four NCAA contests, all coming against Division I opponents.

The team has a +20 goal differential through eight games, winning both one-goal contests and skating to victory by as many as five goals on the season.

PLAYING UP:  U17 forward Cole Eiserman (Newburyport, Mass.) was the first internal NTDP call-up of the season and he wasted no time getting acclimated to the older group.

The University of Minnesota commit bookended the scoring in the U18s' 6-2 win over Michigan Tech on Saturday night. Eiserman used a nice dangle around a Huskies defenseman to get off a sharp-angled shot that found the net to put the team ahead 1-0 just 4:05 into the game. He capped the game's scoring with a power-play tally late in the third period when he finished from the slot off a pretty set-up from Charlie Cerrato (Fallston, Md.).

Eiserman had already led the U17s in scoring with eight points and tied for the team lead with five goals heading into last weekend. The pair of scores pushed him into sole possession of first place in goals scored and he became the first player to hit the double-digit point mark on the 17s.

BROTHERLY LOVE: U17 forward James Hagens (Hauppauge, N.Y.) will suit up against his older brother this weekend, as Michael Hagens is a defenseman for the Chicago Steel.

The elder Hagens represented the U.S. at the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Memorial Cup in Red Deer, Alberta this past summer.

James has gotten off to a quick start this season as he has produced six points (3g-3a) in six games played, including a four-point effort in the team's first USHL win over Cedar Rapids back on October 1.

This is the second straight season that brothers will square off against each other after Lane Hutson (North Barrington, Ill.) had plenty of opportunities against older brother Quinn, a Muskegon Lumberjacks forward for the 2021-22 campaign, before they joined forces at Boston University for this season.

WELCOME TO CLASS: The NTDP has been well-represented at the NCAA level as a pair of Minnesota Golden Gopher forwards have already taken home weekly awards. Logan Cooley (Pittsburgh, Pa.) took home the Big Ten's First Star of the Week award after a four-point start to the campaign while Jimmy Snuggerud (Chaska, Minn.) took home the honors this week after his first four NCAA goals scored.

BUFFALOVE: The Buffalo Sabres and NTDP connection grew deeper this week as the team announced the signings of head coach Don Granato (NTDP 2011-16) to a multi-year extension and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (Voorhees, N.J. / NTDP 2016-18) to a seven-year, $30M extension.

The 6-foot-4 defenseman is one of five NTDP alums to make the Sabres opening night roster, tying the team for the third most NTDP alums on a single NHL roster.