The Boys Select 17 USA Hockey Player Development Camp begins today at Northtown Center in Amherst, New York.  Nearly 180 of the top players, including at least one player from 32 different states, born in 1997 will gather for a week of intense training and competition.

There will be 22 players (12.3%) from Minnesota participating in the camp out of a total of 179.  The Reebok Minnesota Hockey High Performance Programs continue to play a vital role in player development in Minnesota as nearly half of the Reebok HP Boys 17 Final 54 participants will be attending the national camp.

Of the Minnesota players, 14 of them attended the Select 16 National Camp last summer. Vaughan Ahrens, Ryan Zuhlsdorf and Will Garin were selected to the camp all-star teams.  Brock Boeser tied for the camp lead in points with four goals and eight assists.  Boeser was named to the USA Select U-17 team last summer and played on the USA U-17 team at the Five Nations Tournament in Slovakia, where he led the team to a gold medal with five goals and four assists. 

USA Hockey’s Player Development Camps serve a dual purpose for players. The camps are the primary opportunity for players to be identified for participation on teams for current and future international competitions.  However, the main goal of the camps is to fuel player development through practice, games and presentation.  They receive instruction from a variety of coaches from USA Hockey, the professional minor leagues or NHL, college and junior programs as well as the top prep schools.

For complete coverage of the Boys Select 17 Camp, visit USA Hockey’s 2014 Camps Central.