DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK: Between both the U17 and U18 teams last weekend, the NTDP posted three come-from-behind victories with wins over the Dubuque Fighting Saints, RPI Engineers and Army Black Knights.

The Under-17 Team kicked off the weekend with a 4-3 overtime victory over Dubuque for their second consecutive win at USA Hockey Arena.

Down a goal on three separate occasions, Cole Eiserman (Newburyport, Mass.) drove the length of the ice and found the back of the net with 34 seconds to play in regulation to force overtime. James Hagens (Hauppauge, N.Y.) gave the U17s their only lead of the evening with the overtime game-winner as he potted a rebound from Eiserman's initial shot for both players' fourth point of the game.

The U18s followed suit Friday evening as they were also down a goal on three different occasions to begin the game. The U.S. took its first lead at 4-3 on an Alex Weiermair (Los Angeles, Calif.) score early in the third period that it would not relinquish en route to a 7-4 final score.

On Sunday afternoon, the U18s were down 1-0 after a period before scoring three of the game's next four goals to take a 3-2 lead into the second intermission. After a back-and-forth third that ended regulation with a tied score, Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) found the back of the net in overtime to give the team a 7-6 win.

WILD WILD WILL: We're running out of words to describe Will Smith's (Lexington, Mass.) ridiculous start to the season and he continued his season-long point streak with three goals and three assists in two U18 wins over the weekend.

The Boston College commit opened the U.S. scoring Friday night in Troy, N.Y., with a power-play goal within the game's first five minutes. Smith assisted on both of Gabe Perreault's (Hinsdale, Ill.) second-period scores and Smith added an empty-netter at the end of regulation for his first four-point game of the season.

Nearing the midway mark of the third period on Sunday without a point, Smith extended his streak with a beautiful slap-fake pass to Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) alone on the doorstep. After the game went to overtime, Smith got in alone behind the defense and rifled a wrister over the Army netminder's blocker for his third game-winning goal of the season. The goal marked the NTDP's first overtime win over an NCAA opponent since November 22, 2017 when Oliver Wahlstrom netted to beat the Adrian Bulldogs by a 2-1 final.

MUSSER MANIA: Under-18 goaltender Carsen Musser (Sherburn, Minn.) got the start in net against Army and responded with a 44-save performance and win, the most saves he's made in his NTDP career.

Musser was most impressive in the back half of the contest as he made 23 saves combined between the third period and overtime as Team USA was outshot 20-8 in the final period of regulation and 3-1 in the extra session.

The 6-foot-4 netminder extended his impressive record to begin the season to 5-1-0, including three victories over NCAA Division I opponents in Notre Dame, Michigan Tech and Army. Musser now has a 3.14 goals-against average and .890 save percentage in six appearances, both improvements on his numbers from last year's campaign.

SHOOT YOUR SHOT:  For the first time this season in Friday night's win over Dubuque, the Under-17 Team outshot their opponent. The U17s posted 33 shots to the Saints' 30.

Fourteen different U17s registered a shot on net, led by James Hagens' (Hauppauge, N.Y.) eight total attempts. Charlie Pardue (Winnetka, Ill.) followed with five shots on net and Kamil Bednarik (Elmhurst, Ill.) added three more.

With the win, the team won back-to-back games for the first time this season and they will look to carry their success in to the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge beginning Thursday, November 3rd against Finland at Langley Events Centre in British Columbia.

WEEKLY HONORS: Under-17 forward James Hagens (Hauppauge, N.Y.) is off to a fantastic start in USHL action as he picked up the Week 5 Forward of the Week award.

Hagens had another incredible weekend to add to his torrid start to his USHL career, picking up four points (3g-1a) and extending his total to 12 points (7g-5a) in five games played.

The forward was part of all four NTDP goals on Friday night as they bested the Dubuque Fighting Saints by a 4-3 final in overtime. Hagens tallied the first two NTDP goals of the night and picked up the primary assist on a game-tying goal with less than a minute remaining in regulation. The Happauge, N.Y. native played the overtime hero, capping off his first career USHL hat trick 3:58 into the 3-on-3 session.

Hagens is currently on a four-game point streak, has registered multiple goals in three of his last four games and has a pair of games with four points during the streak.