Cole Eiserman of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program Under-18 Team is filing a draft diary for NHL.com this season leading up to the 2024 NHL Draft. The 17-year-old left wing (6-foot, 197 pounds) and native of Newburyport, Massachusetts, is a projected first-round selection. He leads the NTDP with 51 points (30 goals, 21 assists) in 29 games this season. His 69 goals in 62 games with the NTDP U18 and Under-17 Teams in 2022-23 are second in program history behind Cole Caufield's 72 in 2018-19. Eiserman is committed to attend Boston University in 2024-25.
Hi hockey fans.
We arrived in Finland earlier this week to prepare for the Five Nations Tournament that began Thursday (a 7-6 shootout loss to Sweden). We play Finland (Friday), Switzerland (Saturday) and Czechia (Sunday). It's the first big international tournament of the season and we're all really excited.
I think any international trip is fun because you're always with each other and it just means a little more playing other countries and something that we're fortunate enough to do a good amount. We obviously know how fortunate we are to do this.
It's really important to perform well as a team in these tournaments in preparation for the IIHF World Under-18 Championship (in Finland). These types of tournaments mean a lot to us, just kind of putting our foot in the ground and showing that we're going to be a top team there and just kind of enjoying it with each other. Coach Nick Fohr has reminded us to just be us, but we got to step it up a little bit. This is a good opportunity for us to find our identity and show everyone what we can do.
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It was a fun Halloween. Unfortunately, the team was pretty busy, so we didn't do anything special, but I was with my billet brothers helping the younger kids trick or treat. My billet family live about two minutes from Plymouth, Michigan, so it's really close to USA Hockey Arena. My billets are awesome. It's a great family and the mom and dad do a lot for me. I have two billet brothers who are pretty cool, so it's nice to hang out. They're 10- and 13-years-old, so they're still at that age where Halloween really means something special. I ended up going with them and enjoyed the time getting out there.
I think we've been doing well as a team. I think sometimes we struggle playing a lot of college and USHL teams, so it's a lot of different environments. We got to get used to that, but I think overall we've been a good team this season. We know what we need to do to be better.
It was a good month, personally. I've been able to play with a lot of different guys this year and it's been gelling really well, no matter who I've been with, so it's been really cool to play with different guys. Obviously, a lot of guys have gotten a lot better since last year and more confident in taking the next step, so it's great.
I'm currently playing with Kamil Bednarik and Brendan McMorrow. Unfortunately, forward Max Plante, who was my linemate, got hurt and won't join us at Five Nations but should be back in the lineup soon.
Every day I'm trying to get better at something. I'm just trying to round out my game and be a 200-foot player, and if I'm able to do that consistently, that'll help us win more games.
That's it for this month. Thanks for reading and to all my American friends out there, Happy Thanksgiving.
