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Mai
2019

Jack Hughes draws a crowd.

PLYMOUTH Authentic Alexander Wennberg Jersey , Mich. (AP) � Jack Hughes draws a crowd.Detroit general manager Ken Holland and former Red Wing star Steve Yzerman chatted during the first intermission of one of Hughes� recent games. Scouts from the NHL were scattered throughout USA Hockey Arena that night, taking notes for teams paying them to evaluate the world�s best hockey players.Hughes, a 17-year-old center , will likely be the top pick in the NHL draft in June.USA Hockey has developed the nation�s top players for more than two-plus decades and four of them have been selected No. 1 overall � including Auston Matthews and Patrick Kane � from its National Team Development Program. Hughes is expected to be next.�He�s as good as I�ve seen come through here in terms of talent, work ethic and being the complete package on and off the ice,� said senior director of operations Scott Monaghan, who has been with the program since its inception in 1996. �He�s more like Patrick because of his skating and shiftiness than Auston, who was really big and strong.�We have 30 to 40 scouts at most of our home games and as many as 60 because Jack is on a team with as many as six, seven or eight first-round picks.�Hughes chose to surround himself with the best American hockey players his age as an amateur instead of getting paid as the No. 1 pick in the Ontario Hockey League. He also could have graduated high school a year early to play with his brother, Quinn, a freshman at Michigan and a defenseman drafted No. 7 overall last summer by the Vancouver Canucks.�I feel like it�s the best place to be for a 16-year, 17-year-old,� Hughes told The Associated Press. �No one trains as hard as us. We skate every day. We lift three days a week. We play a great schedule. I think it�s the best place to be to groom yourself to be an NHL player someday.�Hughes was born in Orlando, Florida, where his father, Jim, was assistant coach for the Solar Bears in the International Hockey League. He wasn�t there long. Jim Hughes moved his family a few months later to Boston because he got a job as an assistant with the Bruins. Two years later, the former Providence defenseman went to New Hampshire � where he Chris Terry Jersey Womens , his wife and three boys vacation each summer � to be an assistant and later head coach with the Manchester Monarchs in the American Hockey League.Jim Hughes� next job appears to have been pivotal in the development of his sons� hockey careers because it landed him in Toronto as an assistant with the AHL�s Marlies. He later became director of player development for the Maple Leafs.�I always played him a year up and that�s not easy to do in the hockey mecca of the world,� Jim Hughes said. �Even when he was 5, you could see he had a special skill set. As he got older, coaches were yelling at their players to hit him and teams were trying to attack him. And quite frankly, he was still dominant.�While Jim Hughes was often busy with his job when the boys were growing up, Ellen Hughes taught her sons how to skate. She drew on her experience from playing for the U.S. women�s national hockey team and at New Hampshire, where she was also on the soccer team.�When Jack would go outside to play, older boys would always pick him even though he was at least two years younger than the rest of them and he always wanted the puck,� Ellen Hughes recalled. �We never had to push him. It was always organic and Toronto was just the best place for him to prepare him for what he�s doing now.�Jack Hughes starts his day at 6:15 a.m. with two eggs on a bagel with cream cheese and salami along with some fresh fruit, orange juice and a vitamin. He has to arrive at school shortly after 7 a.m. and if he�s tardy or misses a class, USA Hockey has a staff member who knows it and there are consequences.�There�s no sleeping in,� Jack Hughes said. �They�ll sit you for a period if you�re late or skip a class, or if you�re late for the bus.�Hughes, who plans to graduate this month, takes four classes before heading to USA Hockey Arena in suburban Detroit to drill on a shooting pad, lift weights and go through an intense, two-hour practice before going to study table. His favorite meal is his father�s grilled steak. Shortly after dinner, his parents don�t have a hard time getting him to go sleep.�If you don�t go to bed early Dennis Cholowski Jersey Womens , this place will eat you alive,� Jim Hughes said.The 5-foot-10, 168-pound Hughes feasts on the competition wherever he goes, playing U.S.-based colleges against players much older and bigger than him, as well as in the United States Hockey League and international competition.With 16 points in just four games, he was tournament MVP at the under-18 Five Nations tournament in the Czech Republic last month. He had 116 points in 60 games last year and he is averaging about two points a game this season, putting him on pace to set the NTDP career record for points. Hughes skates effortlessly in any direction and has soft hands, allowing him to dangle to puck to set up a shot for a teammate or himself.�Jack Hughes is the leading candidate to be the No. 1 pick at this point and scouts are out evaluating him as often as possible,� Holland said. �He�s an incredibly talented player, who is destined to have a fabulous NHL career.� UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) � Devon Toews scored his first NHL goal at 1:48 of overtime to lift the New York Islanders past the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 Thursday night for their fifth straight win.Mathew Barzal scored twice to keep up his scoring binge and help the Islanders win for the eighth time in nine games. Robin Lehner, making his third straight start, stopped 19 shots as New York moved to 3-0-1 in four games at the Nassau Coliseum this season.Toews, playing in the fifth game of his career, got the winner when he knocked in the rebound of his own shot that Collin Delia stopped, with the puck coming to him at the right side.Patrick Kane and Dominik Kahun and scored for Chicago, which lost for the third time in their last five. Delia, making his third start of the season and sixth of his career Matt Read Jersey Womens , finished with a career-high 47 saves.Kane tied the score with on a one-timer that he didn�t hit cleanly and the puck fluttered off the post and in past Lehner for his 23rd at 5:01 of the third.Barzal put New York ahead with a power-play goal late in the second, putting in the rebound of Nick Leddy�s shot in front for his 12th with 1:04 left. After extending his point streak to six games with his first goal, Barzal � selected for his first All-Star appearance a day earlier � now has eight goals and 11 points in that stretch.Cal Clutterbuck nearly gave the Islanders the lead earlier with about 6:20 left in the period as he batted the puck out of the air from the right side. The officials conferred on the ice and initially ruled it a good goal. However, it was overturned after a video review because Clutterbuck�s stick was above the height of the crossbar when it hit the puck.The teams were tied 1-1 after one period, though the Islanders controlled play for most of the first 20 minutes, outshooting the Blackhawks 14-3.Kahun got Chicago on the scoreboard first. Duncan Keith fired a long shot from the left point and Brandon Saad�s deflection in front was stopped by Leher, However, Kahun backhanded the rebound from the right side for his sixth at 3:05.Barzal tied the score at 6:47 with his 11th. Johnny Boychuk�s shot from the right point deflected up off Anthony Beauvillier in front, and Barzal batted it out of the air from the left side into the top left corner. It extended his point streak to six games.NOTES: The attendance was announced as 13,454, marking the first time it wasn�t a sellout in the four games the Islanders have played at the Nassau Coliseum this season. � Barzal has nine goals and 17 points in his last 12 games. � Lehner has given up just three goals on 107 shots over his last four games since replacing Thomas Greiss in the second period of the Islanders� 6-3 comeback win against Ottawa last Friday night. � The Islanders went 1 for 2 on the power play after coming in 2 for 13 with the man advantage their previous six games. � The teams conclude their season series Jan. 22 at Chicago. � Kahun scored for the second straight game and has four points (two goals, two assists) in his last six games. � Chicago, last in the NHL on the penalty-kill at 73.6 percent coming in, has allowed five power-play goals on 16 chances the last five games.UP NEXTBlackhawks: At Pittsburgh on Sunday to complete a two-game trip.Islanders: At St. Louis on Saturday night.