PLYMOUTH, Mich. - USA Hockey announced today the hiring of four new staff members to its National Team Development Program, including assistant coaches Kevin Porter (Northville, Mich.) and Conor Allen (Chicago, Ill.), assistant director of player personnel Andrew Whiteside (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Brendan Burke Intern Maris Graudins (Kalamazoo, Mich.).

ABOUT PORTER
Kevin Porter returns to the NTDP after serving as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Wikes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the past four seasons. In Pennsylvania, he helped lead the Penguins to a pair of Calder Cup playoff appearances. Porter, who played at the NTDP from 2002-04, also served as a volunteer assistant coach at the NTDP for part of the 2020-21 season.

On the ice, Porter played 12 seasons of professional hockey with four NHL and five AHL clubs. Most recently, he served as captain for the AHL’s Rochester Americans from 2017-20. Before turning pro, the forward spent four seasons at the University of Michigan, where he served as captain and won the Hobey Baker Memorial Award during his senior season.

Internationally, Porter has represented the United States in two IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championships, where he helped lead the U.S. to a silver medal in 2004. He also donned the red, white and blue twice at the IIHF World Junior Championship, including in 2006 when he served as team captain.

ABOUT ALLEN
Conor Allen joins USA Hockey after serving as head coach of Team Illinois 15O last season. In addition, Allen has worked as a player development coach with Prodigy Hockey since 2021, where he focused on on-ice skill  development and video breakdown.

As a player, Allen played over 450 professional games throughout the NHL, AHL, Germany and Czechia, and was part of the 2017 Calder Cup-winning Grand Rapids Griffins squad. Prior to playing pro hockey, Allen skated three seasons at the University of Massachusetts (2010-13).

ABOUT WHITESIDE
Andrew Whiteside brings more than a decade of experience in player evaluation and development to USA Hockey. He spent the past two seasons (2022-24) as an amateur scout for the Montreal Canadiens, where he focused on evaluating U.S. draft-eligible prospects at the NCAA, USHL, NAHL and Minnesota high school levels.

Before working in professional hockey, Whiteside was an assistant coach with the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (2021-22) and served in the same capacity with the NAHL’s Lone Star Brahmas (2020-21), while also being the team’s director of player personnel.

The Philadelphia native has also previously served as a coach at the USA Hockey Boys National 16 Player Development Camp (2018-20).

ABOUT GRAUDINS
Maris Graudins spent the 2023-24 season as a sales and service associate with the Nashville Predators. He earned his master’s in legal studies from Arizona State University in 2024 and did his undergraduate work at Southern Utah University.

Graudins is the 14th Brendan Burke Intern for USA Hockey and will be focused on hockey operations with the NTDP, U.S. national teams, international events and USA Hockey’s player development camps.

NOTES: The National Team Development Program is entering its 28th season of play in 2024-25 … All ticket packages for the Team USA season, including season, group and flex pack tickets are on sale now by calling the USA Hockey Arena box office at 734-453-8400 or visiting USAHockeyNTDP.com/tix.