#except for that one time their juniors team was like Hughes Zegras Caufield

[sophsicle]

CANADA BEAT AMERICA IN THE HOCKEY AND THIS IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS TO ME THANK YOU

[workingforitallthetime]

If one were interested in learning more about the USNTDP boys, where would that person turn? Are there any primers, seminal texts, etc you recommend? Thank you!!

oh boy oh boy oh boy! a chance to compile so many links that i have been helplessly texting my pals for the last eight months as i fell all the way down this rabbit hole!

first, let's define our terms. by "the USNTDP boys," i assume we are referring to the core members of the USNTDP class of 2019, most of whom were drafted in the first round in 2019 and also formed the core of the 2021 team usa world juniors gold medal squad. theirs is considered to be the best class the NTDP has ever produced, and also a uniquely close and fun group.

to my knowledge there is no single picture of all eight key dudes in this pack. this one comes close, or this one. or this video, which captures the group dynamic as well as anything. also, the night of their draft they had a karaoke party and wore each other's jerseys. (god, look at trevor and cole and jack's expressions in that first pic, just daring you to question them.)

if you want to get more of a feel for the group dynamic, just read their commentary on pretty much any one of their instagram posts. this podcast, in which the interviewers ask cole, turcs, and trevor to describe each of their teammates in one word, is also seminal. for example:

interviewer: matt boldy? trevor: quirky. interviewer: he said you were dumb. trevor: ok, i'm gonna say he's a little chubby then.

here's a quick summary and some links for everybody. i'm gonna focus on material that is relevant to the group dynamic, so this should not be considered a comprehensive primer on any of these individuals. but please know i am happy to expound further on anything mentioned below.

trevor zegras: westchester county prep school rich kid, drafted ninth overall by the ducks, one-and-done at boston university. trevor is cocky, charismatic, and creative. his prep school coach called him dennis the menace. he is incapable of sitting still. he looks like an absolute idiot at all times, and he is fully aware of that and does not mind it a bit. he is my favorite.

cole caufield: wisconsin native, drafted 15th by the habs, spent two years at wisconsin. absolutely shattered the NTDP record for career goals. you are probably aware of his pretty impressive rookie showing in the playoffs. he is always smiling and he has the kind of confidence you can only get away with if you're short. asked to describe cole, the only word matt boldy could think of is cute.

alex turcotte: suburban chicago kid, drafted fifth overall by the kings, one-and-done at wisconsin. nothing ever seems to go right for turcs. he was drafted higher than everyone else except jack but stalled in the AHL while they all made their NHL debuts. he was the 1C of the future, and then the kings drafted quinton byfield a year later. he was supposedly the next best center after jack, and then trevor outshone him at world juniors. fiercely competitive and maybe even more driven than most to play through injury. was in charge of the aux cord in the ntdp locker room.

spencer knight: connecticut native, drafted 13th by the florida panthers, spent two years at boston college. he's your typical goalie, weird and hyper-focused, like carter hart if carter hart was an east coast prep school bro. trevor and spencer went to avon old farms together before the ntdp.

matt boldy: another boston-area boy, drafted 12th by the wild, spent two years at boston college. boldy is the serious, quirky one. he and cole got very into bowling. the running joke is that he has a dad bod. trevor adores him.

cam york: socal roller boy, drafted 14th by the flyers, played two years at michigan. these dudes all voted cam to be their captain. turcs is awed by his hockey smarts. extremely into fishing, seems even more bro-y than the rest of them. has ginger hair that stands straight up every time he tries to grow it out, and thighs that i spend a completely normal amount of time thinking about.

patrick moynihan: boston-area native, drafted in the sixth round by the devils, currently of providence college. pat is important because he is everybody's favorite. here is a video of jack convincing the devils to draft pat. the naked fondness on his face should be illegal.

jack hughes: thanks to jack going 1OA, you can google plenty of material about him, so i'm not gonna bother to summarize. jack was the only one of these guys to skip college entirely, and maybe he shouldn't have. of relevance to the group dynamic, turcs lived with him during the program. hosted a gathering at the hughes summer compound in august 2020 that should feature in every team usa fic ever.

go forth down that rabbit hole, anon, and come back here and suffer with me anytime.