For the inaugural time in his amateur hockey career, Alex Gagne (Bedford, N.H.) will wear a Team USA jersey at a major international tournament when he suits up for the United States at the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup this month.
“It’s my first time,” said the 6-foot-3 defenseman from the New Hampshire Avalanche program, which is headquartered in Hooksett, N.H., just outside Manchester. “Once we get to the preliminary round, it will be an honor to put on the USA jersey and represent my country.”
Gagne previously donned red, white and blue for five games at the U.S. Select-17 Player Development Camp, from which this year’s Hlinka Gretzky U.S. roster was chosen — but this will be the first occasion he does so overseas.
Gagne got his start in hockey with the Avalanche’s “Learn to Skate” program and quickly progressed through the ranks of the organization, including three seasons with its various 16-U squads in both the Eastern Junior Elite Prospects League and the East Coast Elite League. Last year, he posted seven goals and 49 points in 49 outings with the ECEL U-16 Midget squad, and also played four games with the Avalanche’s ECEL U-18 team.
He ultimately fashioned his effort and experience into an NCAA Division 1 commitment to the University of New Hampshire, where he is expected to suit up for the Wildcats in the next few years.
“I stuck with the one organization until this (upcoming) year, and I’ve always been a defenseman,” said Gagne.
The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is an annual Under-18 tournament held each August and is named for both the former Czechoslovakia star and the NHL’s all-time leading scorer. This year’s tournament will be held from Aug. 5-10 in Piestany, Slovakia, and Breclav, Czech Republic. Competing against the U.S. will be Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland.
“It’s the best players at this age group in the world,” said U.S. head coach Pat Ferschweiler, a former Western Michigan University forward who was an assistant coach at last year’s event, and who previously coached Team USA at the Five Nations Tournament. “It’s the world juniors a year or two earlier, and it’s all the best players going in the NHL draft next year. It’s a great tournament.”
Ferschweiler, who spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings, will be assisted in Slovakia and the Czech Republic by Binghamton Devils head coach Mark Dennehy (Dorchester, Mass.), former Brown University head coach Roger Grillo and current Adrian College assistant coach Kevin Moore.
Ferschweiler felt Gagne had a great Under-17 camp in New York and believed he would match up well against opposing forwards from other countries during the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
“Gagne has continued to get better and better,” said Ferschweiler. “He’s a steady force back there who plays a hard game.”
The Americans have finished second in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup nine times since the event began in 1991, most recently in 2016, claiming gold in 2003. Past U.S. participants in the tournament who have gone on to NHL stardom include Cam Atkinson (Greenwich, Conn.), John Carlson (Marlboro, Mass.), Brian Dumoulin (Biddeford, Maine), Johnny Gaudreau, Max Pacioretty (New Canaan, Conn.) and Cory Schneider (Marblehead, Mass).
Originally slated to attend Tabor Academy in Marion, Mass., this fall, Gagne has since switched gears and will instead leave New England altogether to skate in the United States Hockey League. He was chosen by the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders earlier this year in the 14th round of the 2019 USHL Draft (Phase 2), and will attend high school in Iowa while playing for former UMass Lowell forward Mark Carlson, the longtime general manager and head coach of the RoughRiders.
“I went to Cedar Rapids’ main camp in May,” said Gagne, who will turn 17 on Aug. 12. “It was a decision I couldn’t turn down.”
After discussions with his coaches and parents, he felt that Cedar Rapids was the best place for him to continue his development and ready himself to succeed both academically and athletically at UNH.
“Two seasons ago you saw his potential for sure, and this past season he kicked it up a notch,” said New Hampshire Avalanche 16-U AAA and 18-U AAA coach Brian Saucier. “We had a really tough schedule, against a lot of the top teams in the country. He matched up against many of the top guys, and absolutely dominated.”
He added that Gagne weighs about 200 pounds now, with room to grow, and that the rangy blueliner is working to put on more weight while also refining his skills.
“He competes super-hard and is one of the best one-on-one players I’ve seen in a long time,” said Saucier. “He rarely loses those one-on-one battles against some of the top kids in the country and is definitely looking the part now as a next-level player.”
Concerning influences in his life and career, Gagne pointed out his father, Jeff, who also played hockey in college and now coaches in the Avalanche organization.
“I’m not saying I’m following in his footsteps, but he was my coach while I was growing up,” said Alex . “We were always in the rink or the car, and he’s a role model I look up to every day and strive to be like.”
Parental mentoring appears to also have had a positive effect on the son’s upbringing.
“He’s just a great kid, on and off the ice,” said Saucier. “You call him any time with (available) ice and he’s there, or he’s working out off-ice.”
Gagne noted that while there are some aspects of his game that are solid, there are others he’d like to round out in Cedar Rapids before finally stepping onto the ice at UNH, likely in the fall of 2021.
“The strength of my game is my ability to move the puck in all three zones,” he said, “in breakout, transition, and finding the open guy in the offensive zone. I’d like to improve my skating, my east-west transition, and my pivots, and it’s something to improve throughout training sessions this summer.”
That includes a stop in Eastern Europe, to hopefully pick up some Hlinka Gretzky hardware before heading off to the junior hockey ranks, and then to Hockey East.
“It will help expose me to all the best players,” said Gagne of the tournament. “I’ll take it and use it as a tool to get better in the summer, and to better prepare me for the next level.”
“We are extremely excited for Alex to have been recognized for his exceptional play this season and in doing so be rewarded with a Division 1 athletic scholarship to the University of New Hampshire,” said Avalanche 16-U coach and full-season Midget director Justin Soryal, who also serves as Gagne’s strength and conditioning coach. “Alex is a rare story of a kid showing up in a program at ‘Learn to Skate’ and staying with that same organization all the way through his youth hockey career.
“I can say without hesitation that the recognition Alex is receiving could not happen to a more hard working or dedicated individual, “ added Soryal, himself a former NHL prospect and AHL veteran. “He is the model of a great teammate and focused hockey player. The entire Avalanche program is extremely proud of Alex and look forward to what is in store for him next.”
Also on this year’s U.S. Hlinka Gretzky Cup roster from New England is Mackie Samoskevich (Sandy Hook, Conn.), a 5-foot-9 forward who is currently enrolled at Shattuck St. Mary’s in Minnesota. A 2020 University of Michigan commit, he posted 36 goals and 74 points for Shattuck’s Midget prep squad last season, and had a brief stint with the USHL’s Chicago Steel. Samoskevich also played for the third-place U.S. team in the 2018 Five Nations Tournament in Slovakia.
Another forward in this year’s American lineup with New England roots is 5-foot-11 forward Jack Williams (Biddeford, Maine), who plays with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks. Williams also spent time last season with the U.S. National Team Development Program and the U.S. National Under-17 Team and is a product of the Selects Hockey Academy 16-U, with whom he was a two-time 20-goal scorer at the Midget level. Williams is committed to Northeastern University for the fall of 2020.
