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30 // JANUARY 2018 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO WHEN TROY FERGUSON FIRST HEARD about the new National Team Development Program that USA Hockey was starting; he knew he wanted to be a part of it. A dual citizen—his mother is American—Ferguson was playing Junior B hockey in Kitchener, Ontario, and decided he needed to be proactive to get USA Hockey's attention. "I sent them a copy of my U.S. passport and kind of sought them out," Ferguson recalled. After being scouted, Ferguson was invited to the 1997 USA Hockey Select 17 Festival where he had a strong tournament and was offered one of the 46 roster spots for the NTDP's inaugural season. The invitation meant moving to Ann Arbor, Mich., to live, train and play in an environment designed to make the U.S. more competitive on the international stage. "It was a bit of a leap of faith," said Ferguson, now a surgeon in Lansing, Mich. "No one really knew what to expect. But just like everyone my age, I had the dream of playing in the NHL. I was excited about the opportunity." The first-year program was based at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube with Jeff Jackson, who guided Lake Superior State to a pair of NCAA titles, as its first head coach. The staff also included veteran college coaches Bob Mancini and Greg Cronin. "We were treated like gold," Ferguson said. "Between the coaching, the facility with two locker rooms and a weight room, we were spoiled." The NTDP schedule that first season was tough. In addition to international tournament play, the Under-17 and Under-18 teams played against North American Hockey League, United States Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League teams. Few cell phones and no social media meant very little interaction with friends and family, yet Ferguson remembers fondly Jackson's compassion "for a bunch of kids away from home for the first time playing some pretty high-level hockey and experiencing new things." "It was kind of just us and the coaching staff going through it together," he said. "Coach Jackson was the perfect guy at the perfect time for that program. He was very intense, but he understood that some of us would be homesick and some of us had some maturing to do." "I am proud to say that I was part of those first couple of teams. I have great memories from those years and to see what the NTDP has become and the players and coaches that have come from it, it's really amazing." –Phlip Colvin First said. "It's the way you have to look at medicine and especially surgery. You better be prepared for each case and the problem that is in front of you, because the outcomes are obviously much better." Working to improve his surgical skills and techniques is another trait that Ferguson learned from hockey. "You put in the work and the preparation as a student and as a resident just like you did at hockey practice every day, and it pays off when the intensity picks up and there is a life in the balance," he said. "To have those experiences to fall back on is pretty nice because it allows me to relax and just kind of handle it." The same team dynamic he had in hockey was also part of Ferguson's experience at med- ical school. "You are around a lot of like-minded people who have worked hard to get there and are driv- en to succeed. It's not unlike being at a Division 1 hockey program where everybody has done something special to get there," he said. "The hours and hours we spent together in class pushing each other, we were really like a team." Now the father of three kids— Sydney (9), Tyler (8) and Abby (6)—that play youth hockey, Ferguson builds a backyard rink every winter and loves watching them play. "They are having fun," he said. "If you have a love for the game you play because it is the great- est sport in the world. But it will afford you life- long friendships and lifelong opportunities." P Philip Colvin is a freelance writer based in Walled Lake, Mich. "Those doctors became my mentors. They saw something in me and encouraged me to pursue a career in medicine. It was something I had never dreamed of." –TROY FERGUSON Ferguson Recalls Honor Of Being Part Of NTDP's Inaugural Season CLASS T R OY F E R G U S O N Troy Ferguson used his experi- ence as a member of the inaugural class at the NTDP to punch his ticket to Michigan State University.