NTDP Players Still Remember the Joy of Winning a National Title
By Becky Olsen – NTDP
With USA Hockey Arena set to host Chipotle-USA Hockey National Championships, some NTDP players reflected on their own experience at nationals.
Winning a championship is always a special memory — whether it’s with your current teammates or the kids you grew up playing hockey with.
With USA Hockey Arena serving as a host venue for the 13O and 14U 2024 Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier I National Championships from April 2-7, a few National Team Development Program players reflected on their past experiences at nationals.
Under-18 team forward Charlie Pardue (Winnetka, Ill.) won a national championship with the Chicago Mission 15O in 2022, which is a memory that’ll live with him forever.
“Growing up as a kid, the national championship is something that everyone looks forward to,” Pardue said. “It was my last year in youth hockey, and I grew up playing with those kids in the Chicago area. Not only was it a personal achievement for me, but for the guys on the team and the Mission organization.”
Before playing in the national championship game, Pardue scored four goals in the semifinals against the Dallas Junior Stars.
“It’s definitely a game that I look back and remember,” he said. “Everything was going my way, and I found the back of the net. I have to give credit to my teammates and coaching staff for putting me in that position during the game.”
The Chicago Mission program had a successful year in 2022, as Under-17 defenseman Asher Barnett (Wilmette, Ill.) won a championship that year with the Mission, but as a member of the 14U squad.
“It was a pretty surreal experience especially being in my hometown,” Barnett said. “It felt really good to feel what we had been working on the whole year.”
What sticks with Barnett from that title was not a moment on the ice or the celebrations after the game, but the bond he had with his teammates.
“The thing I remember most is the locker room feeling between the second and third period. It was a close game and the feeling of the brotherhood, that feeling that we had something to win that we had been working on the whole year.”