When it comes to taking young teams to international hockey competitions, Joe Bonnett maintains that those tournaments are way more about the players than the coaches.

That will be Bonnett’s perspective when he serves as head coach of the U.S. Under-17 Select Team at the 2024 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament in Piešťany, Slovakia, Aug. 14-18. Bonnett will take a 20-man roster that was chosen from USA Hockey’s Boys Select 16 Player Development Camp, which took place earlier in July in Amherst, New York. 

“They’re players’ tournaments,” said Bonnett, who serves as USA Hockey’s manager of player development. “I believe that this is an opportunity for those kids to learn about themselves, to showcase their individual talents and play together as a team on an international stage. I see myself as a coach [supporting] that and [creating] an environment where these kids can be successful with their own talent. These are good players.

“I’m emotionally attached to the 2008 birth year. I’m really excited and proud to coach this 2008 group. I’ve had a chance to follow this group since these kids were 14 years old.”

This group hopes to give the U.S. its ninth Five Nations tournament championship. The Americans last won the event in 2021 and have placed second on six other occasions since 2007.

The Americans have the first day of the tournament off, so they will have to play four games in as many days.

However, Bonnett doesn’t see that as a problem.

“Rest is going to be a weapon for us,” Bonnett said. “We’re not going to complain about it. We’re going to be strong Americans. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go. It’ll be a good challenge for the kids.”

The U.S. will also face challenges from Czechia and host Slovakia. The Americans defeated Czechia 4-0 in the gold-medal game of the 2024 Youth Olympic Winter Games in January in South Korea.

“It’s basically going to be the same Czech and Slovak teams that we saw at the [Youth] Olympics, and they’re very good teams that have practiced and played together for a while now,” Bonnett said. “It’s going to continue to be a tough tournament.”

Bonnett welcomes back goaltender Xavier Wendt of Plymouth, Minnesota, forward Cole Bumgarner of Albertville, Minnesota, and forward Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll of Salt Lake City for the Five Nations Tournament after they all played together in South Korea.

Wendt shut out the Czechs to secure the gold medal.

To go with his theme of this as a players’ tournament, Bonnett and his staff will guard against over coaching this young team.

“They’re not NHL players. They’re not college players. They’re young men. They’re 15-year-old kids,” Bonnett said. “We don’t want to paralyze them by overthinking, but we do want to coach them up. We do want to help them improve along their individual journey or pathway, but we’re going to let them play.”

At the same time, Bonnett does have a style of play in mind for the tournament.

He emphasized playing fast and disciplined while focusing on defending the middle of the ice. Bonnett wants to keep the strategy as simple as possible since the team will only have about four or five practices before the tournament begins. 

The Americans will fly to Budapest, Hungary, for practices and then scrimmage with a Hungarian national team. From there, they will travel to the tournament by bus.

“It’s going to be a good international experience. It’ll be a good global experience,” Bonnett said. “These kids will get a chance to see the world outside their USA Hockey bubble.”

Bonnett related that parents and college coaches regard the trip as a nice break for the players too.

For many of them, it will be their first time wearing a USA sweater. 

“That’s what I love about USA Hockey providing these opportunities, not just for our top 20 kids” Bonnett said. “We’re trying to spread out the wealth. And the feedback we’ve been getting from the kids is that they’re almost in tears and they can’t wait to actually wear the red, white and blue and represent the country.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.