Pittsburgh Will Be Well Represented at USA Hockey National Championships

The incredible growth of youth hockey in western Pennsylvania will be soon be showcased across the United States.
Thirteen teams from the Pittsburgh area will be taking part in the
USA Hockey National Championships
, which begin next week.

"Pittsburgh is becoming a traditional hockey market," said Brian Mueller, executive director of hockey operations at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. "Whether it's triple A hockey, Double A hockey, Single A hockey, high school hockey - we're putting teams at the national level, and they're competing.
"The health of the market is very strong, and that is 100% contributed to David Morehouse and Sidney Crosby and what they started in this city."
The DICK'S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Penguins Elite are
bringing six of those squads
, with the 14U, 15U, 16U and 18U boys and 14U and 16U girls all earning berths. That trails only powerhouse prep school Shattuck-St. Mary's (where Crosby went for a year in 2002-03) for the most teams from one organization in the Tier I bracket.
"We're well-represented, which is something to be proud of," said Danny MacKinnon, director of Elite Hockey and coach of the 15U squad.
The Esmark Stars (18U boys) will also be in Tier I, while Tier II will feature teams from the North Pittsburgh Wildcats (14U and 16U boys), Pittsburgh Predators (18U boys) and Steel City Selects (14U, 16U and 19U girls).
"Having teams from this area going to all different parts of the country to play for national championships is a big deal," said Penguins Radio Network color analyst Phil Bourque, whose son Dylan will be heading to Dallas on Wednesday as he is a goaltender for the Wildcats 14U team.
The freshman at North Catholic High School is also a member of the
EXCEL Hockey Academy
, which is based out of UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex and offers students a unique combination of a traditional education with daily ice time and premier hockey training. His father marvels at the opportunities that are now available for Dylan right here in Pittsburgh.
"I'm impressed, and there's also a feeling of pride," said Bourque, who debuted with the Penguins when he was just 21 years old, won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991 and '92 and has been covering the team as a broadcaster for the last two decades. "I wasn't born here, but I feel like I grew up here, so I've seen the growth. And not only the growth, but the incredible interest."
Obviously, Crosby's arrival back in 2005 has played a big role. That in itself inspired countless kids to try hockey. But he wanted to make that process easier and more affordable for the families, so the captain approached Morehouse, the Penguins' president and CEO, about how to do that.
With the help of partners like DICK'S Sporting Goods, they were able to launch Sidney Crosby's Little Penguins Learn to Play Hockey program in 2007. A few years later, DICK'S Sporting Goods again teamed up with the Penguins to found the Penguins Elite, which has become western Pennsylvania's premier AAA amateur hockey organization.
The program has gone to another level in the years since the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex opened in 2015, which is a testament to Morehouse and his vision to provide a world-class training facility for youth hockey players and become a destination for people to come and train in Pittsburgh.
Bringing in people like Mueller has played a big role, as he has done a tremendous job of helping bring that vision to life by establishing a culture of development.
"One of the things that we wanted to implement right from the get go is to always give our teams a chance to compete for championships without putting development on the backburner," said Mueller, who coaches the Penguins Elite 14U boys.
"If we followed the right process, and believed in our process, that we would be able to compete for national championships every year. And in the four to five years that we've been here and the rink's been here and with the investment from the Pens, we're starting to see that year after year, and we're so proud of that."
That process focuses on helping these kids become well-rounded people that then become elite hockey players, with character, integrity, responsibility and accountability making up the core foundation.
"The big picture is the life skills that these kids are getting," Mueller said. "That's what sports give us."
And that's why Sports Matter, which is the The DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation's Sports Matter initiative that the Penguins
are supporting in this afternoon's game
against the Devils. It has raised awareness of the importance of youth sports and has helped more than one million youth athletes across the country.
Including the members of the Penguins Elite, as the program's partnership with DICK'S Sporting Goods allowed the teams to continue playing safely throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and put them in the position they are now.
"That gave these kids certainty in a year of uncertainty," Mueller said. "They knew that they could come here and they were able to be on the ice, they were able to train. Yes, we had some games that were canceled, and we had some pauses during the season. But we were still able to give the kids something to look forward to."
And now, the players, coaches and families are all so excited to head off to their respective tournaments, which will take place in Dallas, Texas; Maryland Heights, Missouri; and Westchester, Pennsylvania.
But no matter what happens, they're going to enjoy and embrace the process. And if they do that, good things will come.
"We've been going and we've been building up for this since since June 6," Mueller said. "So we're all pumped to go and see where it falls, but also turn that page and start a new page and a new chapter for next year. "