Under-17 Four Nations Cup brings some of the best in the world to Plymouth this week

By @StefanKubus – 

This week, some of the best young hockey players in the world will be skating at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth.

Teams from Slovakia, Switzerland and Russia are joining host USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program Under-17 Team for the 2018 Under-17 Four Nations Cup, which takes place Tuesday through Saturday.

Players competing in the international tournament are from the 2002 birth-year class; most are eligible for the 2020 NHL Draft.

You never know who you may see competing in a tournament like this – Team USA or otherwise.

“I remember way back, the year we won the World Under-18s the first time, we played in Russia in February and in one of these type of events,” said Scott Monaghan, the NTDP’s senior director of operations. “The Russians rolled out a kid, but he was one of the first guys I ever saw that had the tinted shield and he torched everybody at the tournament. By the end of the tournament, we knew the name Ovechkin.”

Monaghan, USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program senior director of operations, says that’s his favorite thing about international tournaments – the stories that come from the time at the rink.

“A lot of the stories like that come out of this, where all of a sudden some kid is just so good that all of a sudden the NHL scouts are talking about him, his name starts to get mentioned and things like that, that’s a lot of the fun for us,” Monaghan said. “Both as the hockey people, but also for fans who follow hockey real close and follow the NHL Draft, as we all do, want to see a Dylan Larkin before he ends up an NHL all-star.”

You can also come cheer on two Michigan natives – Jacob Truscott (Fort Gratiot) and Tanner Latsch (Twin Lake) play for the NTDP Under-17 Team.

Here is a full schedule for the week – ticket info can be found here.