There's a hidden gem here in Michigan.

Thirty-five miles or so west of Detroit is Plymouth, home of the United States National Development Team, or the USNTDP.

The NTDP is a program consisting of two teams, one comprised of the best U17 players in the country (this year, those who were born in 2000) and the other comprised of the best U18 players (this year, those who were born in 1999).

The NTDP was founded in the year 1996 and their mission statement is "to prepare student-athletes under the age of 18 for participation on U.S. National Teams and success in their future hockey careers. Its efforts focus not only on high-caliber participation on the ice but creating well-rounded individuals off the ice."

The two squads played in the North American Hockey League (NAHL, a tier two junior league in the United States) from its inception until 2009 when they moved to the United States Hockey League (USHL), the only tier one league in the United States. They called the Ann Arbor Ice Cube their home until 2015 when USA Hockey bought the former Compuware Arena and transformed it into a world-class facility to host not only the NTDP program but to also be able to host events such as the World Junior Evaluation Camp like they did this past summer, the Winter Champions Series between the Women's National team and Canada and the IIHF Women's World Championships that will be coming this April.

Flash forward 21 years and the NTDP has produced some of the top American talent in the NHL including names like Patrick Kane, Kevin Shattenkirk, Jimmy Howard, John Gibson, Patrick Eaves, Jake McCabe, Phil Kessel, Jack Eichel and most recently, #1 overall draft pick and rookie Auston Matthews.

In the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, 55 Americans were selected in the seven-round draft, 25 of them being former NTDP members. Auston Matthews, a Scottsdale, Arizona native, went first overall, becoming the seventh American to do so and one of the first notable names in hockey to hail from the Desert State along with the fourth NTDP alum to hear his name called first at the draft.

Most notably, the NTDP has won gold at 9 IIHF Men's U18 World Championships and medaled in all but four since they began participating in the tournament in 1999.

Since 1999, the US Under 20 team has won gold at the famous IIHF World Junior Championships 4 times. The first golden team in 2004 was comprised of 15 NTDP alum. The 2010 team made up of 12. The 2013 team made up of 13 and most recently, the 2017 team made up of an astonishing 18 alumni of the NTDP, meaning only five players on the roster hadn't spent time with the program.

I had the privilege of working for the NTDP during my junior year of high school as a timekeeper for the 2014-15 season where I worked USHL regular season games as well as the U17 Five Nations tournament that came to Ann Arbor in December of 2014. My brother and I played youth hockey there in Ann Arbor and got to see the U18 team that boasted the likes of Dylan Larkin, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Zach Werenski play and even see them wandering around the rink on a weekly basis. The majority of the World Junior Championship team consisted of the players that I got to watch that season and most, if not all, of the U18 team was drafted in the 2015 and 2016 drafts. To have such a fantastic hockey program in the state of Michigan is absolutely amazing. The players that you watch with the NTDP are the future stars of tomorrow who will be the next generation of NHL superstars.

A gold medal used to mean a miracle back in the days of Herb Brooks, the Soviet Union and the dominance of Canada in international tournaments. But now, we are seeing a change in the way that the U20 and U18 tournaments are turning out and it is only a matter of time before the NTDP effect takes over the Men's World Championships and the Olympics as well. The bar has risen for USA Hockey's performance in international play thanks to the NTDP and the training and preparation it provides our best young superstars.