NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Over the summer six players from the University of Notre Dame hockey team were invited to NHL Development Camps for their drafted teams. The six invitees included forwards Brennan Ali, Justin Janicke, and Cole Knuble, defensemen Paul Fischer and Michael Mastrodomenico, and incoming netminder Nicholas Kempf.
Development camp is “an assortment of the team’s next generation of players, training with the team and immersing oneself within their training grounds. You get to know what the day to day is sort of like there,” Michael Mastrodomenico said, who attended the Boston Bruins’ camp this summer. “You’re also then playing in front of the team’s general manager and the head coaches, so you’re also there to show what you can do.” Additionally, “it’s basically an evaluation, where you get to know the coaches and staff as well as do both on and off-ice testing,” Justin Janicke said, a Seattle Kraken attendee and 2021 NHL draft pick.
For some of the players this was their first time at an NHL Development Camp, like freshman goaltender, Nicholas Kempf, who was recently drafted in the fourth round of the 2024 NHL Draft, 114th overall, by the Washington Capitals. Kempf spent two weeks this summer training with the Irish before heading to Las Vegas, Nevada for the draft. After being selected, he headed back to campus the following day to collect his gear and travel to D.C. for camp.
“I was super anxious the whole time,” Kempf said while discussing the draft day itself. “I just wanted to hear my name called so when I finally did, I was super excited and then obviously it was super special with my family being there.”
“When I found out camp was starting on Monday, I was like I’m going, we’ll have to figure something out with my classes but I’m going,” he said.
For others this was their second or third time at development camp and they were able to bring some previous knowledge and preparation to their performance at this year’s camp with the help of their work and training at Notre Dame.
“Confidence was a big thing for me at camp, the coaching staff at Notre Dame has done a great job instilling in me to always keep going,” St. Louis Blues camp invitee Paul Fischer said. “They have full trust in me. Last year I got a leash that I didn’t really expect, and I know it helped me a lot throughout the year.”
Three-time Kraken camp veteran Janicke also said, “Notre Dame prepared me for camp very, very well. Camp falls right in the middle of our summer training, so I’m at my peak when camp comes around. I feel like when I get there, I’m always a step ahead of everyone else.”
“I think our training here at Notre Dame is top notch. Just everyday training with T-Ro [Tony Rolinski, Associate Director of Strength and Conditioning for the team], and on the ice I’ve definitely gotten more comfortable as I’ve gotten older, and my numbers have gone up in every way. I feel more dominant on the ice and more in control out there,” Janicke said.
A 2022 Detroit Red Wings draft pick, Brennan Ali has also spent the previous three summers attending development camps in Michigan. He shared a similar sentiment, “I feel like camp can be a grind, but you’re ready for it because you’ve been at Notre Dame, which is very academically and athletically challenging as well as being very regimented, you’re very scheduled, so you’re ready for that grind because you’ve experienced it before.”
Development camp isn’t just about training, most of the camps include off-ice activities in their schedules from pickleball tournaments and paintball to Navy SEAL training exercises and community service.
“It goes a long way in getting us comfortable out there, those are potentially your future teammates, so it’s good to meet them and hang out,” Janicke said.
Philadelphia Flyers camp attendee and 2023 NHL draft pick Cole Knuble commented, “I think it’s good for them to show us what the city is about. We went to the Ed Snider Foundation, which is a charity that gives underprivileged kids a way to play hockey. It was really cool to be a part of the community and to just have fun”.
The Bruins’ camp made sure their draftees understood the meaning of teamwork. “The night before our scrimmage we met former Navy SEAL Kevin Lamb, he told us a few cool stories and kind of showed us some parallels between us and what he did,” Mastrodomenico said.
“We went through some obstacle courses but the biggest thing he was trying to drive was teamwork. You can be the best shooter, the best player but if you can’t work with your teammates, you’re useless.”
Mastrodomenico continued,“I think those activities are mostly there to just lighten the mood though. It’s hard, the workouts were tough, the skates are really tough, the testing they’re doing was hard. Your body’s going through it. You’re going through some mental battles and you’re doing everything you can to look good while you’re going through it all”.
“I think they know that they’re pushing us pretty hard, so all those activities are just little spots in the day that you can look back on like ‘that was fun, I’m refreshed and ready to go and compete for another day’”, he said.
Through all the mental battles and hard work the draftees were competing and training with other players in the same boat as them. Players on other college teams or playing in European or Canadian leagues, all with the goal of playing for an NHL team.
“It’s pretty eye opening how detailed and hard working a lot of the other players are,” Ali said of his Red Wings peers. “Everyone has a mutual respect for one another because we all know how much work we’ve put in to be there and you know that everyone else is putting in just as much work as you, so we all understand that we all deserve to be there.”
“A really good thing that happens at development camp is you can see where you stack up against other guys your age and see what you’re up against. It can be motivating to see where you need to improve,” Knuble said.
Similarly Janicke commented, “There’s a lot of different guys there and at Notre Dame we all push each other a lot. Those guys [at camp] are all there for a reason and there was some really good hockey played, so you see what different habits the other guys have and what their skills are. You can’t fake anything there so they definitely push you more and get you motivated for next season. I always leave camp really motivated.”
Walking into his first season with the Irish this year Kempf shared one of his key takeaways from his time at camp. “You really have to give it everything you got each day and if you’re not, you’re just going to hurt yourself and your team,” he said. “I think just knowing how tired I was at the end of each day … it was a good thing, a good tired, knowing I left it all at the rink each day.”
Focusing on the details seems to be the main thing on the minds of the players coming back from camp.“There is such a small margin, everybody is good right now, the greatest players are only separated by a small margin. So you really have to take the details and what they’re telling you about how to be a pro and stay in the moment, take everything day by day, just focusing on the details even outside hockey. They give you as much knowledge as possible about how to become great, they’re handing you all the tools, you just have to utilize them,” Ali said.
Knuble echoed the emphasis that was put on a detail oriented outlook, “I think the attention to detail on the ice with the coaches was big. Every little detail they’re looking at and it could be helping you fix the smallest thing but I think when you add all those little things together it actually goes a long way.”
Mastrodomenico held a similar sentiment when discussing his return to campus for this season. “I realized while being there that we’re all so close to that next level of play, but it takes a lot to break through to get there.
“There’s very little minute things that are going to take you to the next level, because everyone is so close at this point. Obviously everyone wants to get there but it’s the small things and the things that you’re doing when people aren’t watching that’ll really break through. Seeing what it takes to move up to the next level, I think we can push ourselves, and take this season by storm.”
One of the biggest takeaways from this summer’s development camps? “Not doing the pretty stuff on the ice but the stuff that will make you better,” Fischer concluded.