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Gaul returns home to face Robert Morris
By Mike Prisuta
TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Patrick Gaul is so appreciative of the opportunity to wear a USA jersey while skating with the U.S. National Under-18 Team that it bothers him to have to take it off.
"The feeling is kind of indescribable," Gaul said. "But I get mad after every game because I know that's one less chance I'll have to put it on."

His next chance will come at 7:35 p.m. on Saturday at the Island Sports Center against Robert Morris University, a homecoming for the former Pittsburgh Hornets star.

"I pretty much grew up in that rink," Gaul said.

Gaul, a 5-foot-7, 180-pound center, spent his freshman and sophomore years at Upper St. Clair High School before the chance to join the U.S. National Team Development Program beckoned.
He played this past season with the Under-17 squad and is sixth in scoring for the Under-18 team through 39 games (7-12-19) in 2007-08.

Both teams are comprised of elite players brought to the NTDP's headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich., where they live with host families, attend a local high school and compete on national and international levels.

The Under-18 team already has included Maine, Colorado College, Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio State among its NCAA foes, and it will finish its season at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-18 Championships on April 13-23 in Kazan, Russia.

"It was interesting leaving home at 16," Gaul said, "but I'm doing real well."

The NTDP was created in 1996 to further the collegiate, professional and international careers of America's brightest hockey prospects.

In the nine years NTDP players have been eligible for the NHL Entry Draft, 141 players have been selected, including 16 this past season. Five of those taken in 2007 went in the first round, including Patrick Kane and James vanRiemsdyk, the first American-born players ever to be selected No. 1 and No. 2 overall.

The program is as competitive as it is all-encompassing. Players are trained on and off the ice -- there's even a boxing coach -- and are constantly evaluated.

Forward Grant Scott, a Sewickley native who attended Shady Side Academy before joining the NTDP last year, has appeared in 21 games for the Under-18 Team this season but as of Thursday was not scheduled to make the trip to Pittsburgh.

Plum's R.J. Umberger, a first-round pick of Vancouver in 2001 who now plays for the Philadelphia Flyers, is among those who took the NTDP route to college (Ohio State) and ultimately the NHL.

The Penguins' Ryan Whitney (Boston University) and Adam Hall (Michigan State) are also NTDP alums.

Scott, 6-4, 205, has signed a letter of intent to attend Minnesota next season and was rated as the No. 192 North American skater available (projected seventh round) in the 2008 draft by the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau.

Gaul, bound for Notre Dame next season, wasn't rated in Central Scouting's mid-season report.

"I'm going to try to play hockey until no one wants me on their team," Gaul said.

Gaul's mother, Margaret, will be preparing dinner for the Under-18 Team tonight.

Tomorrow night, it'll be business as usual, with an anticipated twist.

"I'll be focused on the game," Gaul said, "but I'll probably feel right at home."