The United States NTDP U17 team continued their amazing run in international play with a 2-1 victory over Team Ontario in the final of the World U17 Challenge to win the gold medal.

I'll admit, I'm absolutely stunned by this gold medal. The coaching staff of this team deserves a huge amount of credit for taking this team from where they were at the beginning of the season, when they were absolutely awful, to where they are now. Earlier in the year, some people were questioning how low the NTDP's experiment in the USHL would last, but it really seems to have sped up the development of the young players.

The big line for the Americans that did all the scoring was Rocco Grimaldi, Tyler Biggs, and Reid Boucher. John Gibson was fantastic in goal for the Americans. All in all, it's great news for USA Hockey. Another strong age group that should do well in international play should be fun to watch going forward.