The United States National Team Development Program is a victim of its success. They were much better than the USHL team, but they are hearing that this team isn’t that strong compared to previous years, or more importantly, last year. Some of that is true but not entirely.

The compete level in this game was excellent, maybe the best since the game started. The results don’t matter, although the NTDP didn’t have too much to worry about in this game.

Here are some players who stood out for different reasons and how they got there:

Ty Smilanic, C, USNTDP: Ty Smilanic played the game with a broken finger. It didn’t impact his speed or his ability to make strong dekes to lose defenseman and get to the net. He scored a goal off a well-placed wrist shot. He was the fastest player on both teams,