PLYMOUTH Patrik Laine Jersey , Mich. (AP) — manager Ken Holland and former Red Wing star Steve Yzerman chatted during the first intermission of one of Hughes’ recent games. Scouts from the NHL were scattered throughout USA Hockey Arena that night, taking notes for teams paying them to evaluate the world’s best hockey players.Hughes, a 17-year-old center , will likely be the top pick in the NHL draft in June.USA Hockey has developed the nation’s top players for more than two-plus decades and four of them have been selected No. 1 overall — including Auston Matthews and Patrick Kane — from its National Team Development Program. Hughes is expected to be next.“He’s as good as I’ve seen come through here in terms of talent, work ethic and being the complete package on and off the ice,” said senior director of operations Scott Monaghan, who has been with the program since its inception in 1996. “He’s more like Patrick because of his skating and shiftiness than Auston, who was really big and strong.“We have 30 to 40 scouts at most of our home games and as many as 60 because Jack is on a team with as many as six, seven or eight first-round picks.”Hughes chose to surround himself with the best American hockey players his age as an amateur instead of getting paid as the No. 1 pick in the Ontario Hockey League. He also could have graduated high school a year early to play with his brother, Quinn, a freshman at Michigan and a defenseman drafted No. 7 overall last summer by the Vancouver Canucks.“I feel like it’s the best place to be for a 16-year, 17-year-old,” Hughes told The Associated Press. “No one trains as hard as us. We skate every day. We lift three days a week. We play a great schedule. I think it’s the best place to be to groom yourself to be an NHL player someday.”Hughes was born in Orlando Vladimir Sobotka Jersey Womens , Florida, where his father, Jim, was assistant coach for the Solar Bears in the International Hockey League. He wasn’t there long. Jim Hughes moved his family a few months later to Boston because he got a job as an assistant with the Bruins. Two years later, the former Providence defenseman went to New Hampshire — where he, his wife and three boys vacation each summer — to be an assistant and later head coach with the Manchester Monarchs in the American Hockey League.Jim Hughes’ next job appears to have been pivotal in the development of his sons’ hockey careers because it landed him in Toronto as an assistant with the AHL’s Marlies. He later became director of player development for the Maple Leafs.“I always played him a year up and that’s not easy to do in the hockey mecca of the world,” Jim Hughes said. “Even when he was 5, you could see he had a special skill set. As he got older, coaches were yelling at their players to hit him and teams were trying to attack him. And quite frankly, he was still dominant.”While Jim Hughes was often busy with his job when the boys were growing up, Ellen Hughes taught her sons how to skate. She drew on her experience from playing for the U.S. women’s national hockey team and at New Hampshire, where she was also on the soccer team.“When Jack would go outside to play, older boys would always pick him even though he was at least two years younger than the rest of them and he always wanted the puck Aaron Ekblad Jersey ,” Ellen Hughes recalled. “We never had to push him. It was always organic and Toronto was just the best place for him to prepare him for what he’s doing now.”Jack Hughes starts his day at 6:15 a.m. with two eggs on a bagel with cream cheese and salami along with some fresh fruit, orange juice and a vitamin. He has to arrive at school shortly after 7 a.m. and if he’s tardy or misses a class, USA Hockey has a staff member who knows it and there are consequences.“There’s no sleeping in,” Jack Hughes said. “They’ll sit you for a period if you’re late or skip a class, or if you’re late for the bus.”Hughes, who plans to graduate this month, takes four classes before heading to USA Hockey Arena in suburban Detroit to drill on a shooting pad, lift weights and go through an intense, two-hour practice before going to study table. His favorite meal is his father’s grilled steak. Shortly after dinner, his parents don’t have a hard time getting him to go sleep.“If you don’t go to bed early, this place will eat you alive,” Jim Hughes said.The 5-foot-10, 168-pound Hughes feasts on the competition wherever he goes http://www.floridapanthersteamshops.com … kov-jersey , playing U.S.-based colleges against players much older and bigger than him, as well as in the United States Hockey League and international competition.With 16 points in just four games, he was tournament MVP at the under-18 Five Nations tournament in the Czech Republic last month. He had 116 points in 60 games last year and he is averaging about two points a game this season, putting him on pace to set the NTDP career record for points. Hughes skates effortlessly in any direction and has soft hands, allowing him to dangle to puck to set up a shot for a teammate or himself.“Jack Hughes is the leading candidate to be the No. 1 pick at this point and scouts are out evaluating him as often as possible,” Holland said. “He’s an incredibly talented player, who is destined to have a fabulous NHL career.” PHILADELPHIA (AP) Sidney Crosby tormented the Flyers just as he has from the start of his NHL career. Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin were clutch when needed in pivotal games. And Matt Murray? Oh, just two shutouts and the type of outings that show more zeros on the board are possible in the second round – and maybe, beyond.But with the game on the line and facing a Game 7 on home ice where they already lost twice, the Pittsburgh Penguins turned to a blossoming postseason star to lead the way.Jake Guentzel was just the player to bail out the Pens.He scored the tying and go-ahead goals in Game 6, then scored two more – all four in succession – to put the game away and lift the Penguins to an 8-5 Game 6 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.The Flyers are headed home, as usual, with a Stanley Cup drought that dates to 1975.The Penguins are nestled in a familiar spot Evgenii Dadonov Jersey Kids , in the second round for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons.But a bigger prize looms for the Penguins – a third straight Stanley Cup. The Penguins have won nine straight playoff series, which ties a franchise record and are the most in the NHL since the Detroit Red Wings also won nine from 1997 to 1999.The New York Islanders are the last team to win 10 straight, in fact, they won 19 consecutive postseason series (1980 to 1984) that included four Stanley Cup championships.Now comes the hard part.Pittsburgh has reached the same round as the last three teams going for a threepeat (1989 Oilers, 1993 Penguins, 1999 Red Wings) – and all three lost in the second round.The Penguins say, bring it on.”Things are never going to always go your way, especially in the playoffs,” Murray said. ”We got the job done. This time of year, it doesn’t matter how, it just matters that you get the win.”Crosby had a hat trick in Game 1 and matched a postseason-high with four points in a Game 3 win in the Philadelphia arena where fans stuck his photo on the inside of urinals.He shook it off – as if he was ever bothered by the activity – and scored six goals and had 13 points in the series.”Sid loves to compete. When he goes to hostile environments, he’s at his best,” coach Mike Sullivan said. ”He’s a high-stakes player. He has `it’. `It’ is what helps you perform in those big moments. It’s hard to explain `it’. You know `it’ when you see it. Sid is one of those guys.”Crosby has been the dominant and reliable Penguin over the course of a career that includes three Stanley Cups. But this season brought new challenges to the franchise.The Penguins have crafted a new identity after the departures of Chris Kunitz Youth Jamie McGinn Jersey , Marc-Andre Fleury, Nick Bonino, Trevor Daley and Matt Cullen, all vital pieces of Pittsburgh’s 2016 and 2017 titles.”I think we have a bunch of capable guys that can play for us here. It’s kind of the next man up and the guys did a great job,” Guentzel said.Sure, four goals is a bit ridiculous, but Guentzel will need to be a key contributor again especially if Malkin isn’t ready to go.Malkin, who scored three goals in five games, sat out Game 6 with a leg injury. He missed the final four minutes of the first period in Game 5 after Philadelphia’s Jori Lehtera fell on it when the two got tangled in the corner. Malkin returned to start the second period. But he was hurt to the point where he sat out Game 6, and all it takes is one nagging injury to slow down the road toward completing the Stanley Cup trilogy.If he plays or not, there are still enough playoff-tested Penguins to keep them rolling.”We’ve been through a number of these elimination games over the last couple of years so it’s not a surprise to any of us,” Sullivan said. ”My hope moving forward is we can learn from those experiences and hopefully we have better success.”—