Syer, Russell to Coach at 2023 USA Hockey BioSteel Boys 17 National Festival
ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell men’s hockey associate head coach Ben Syer and director of hockey operations Ben Russell will both coach in next week’s 2023 USA Hockey BioSteel Boys 17 National Festival.
Syer will be serving as the head coach of the New York-based squad and Russell will serve as the team leader. Joining Syer and Russell for the week-long festival will be Skidmore’s Rob Hutchison and UConn’s Vince Stalletti. Hutchison will be an assistant coach and Stalletti will work with the team’s goaltenders.
“I am excited to represent the New York District this summer at the USA Select 17 Festival,” Syer said. “It will be a lot of fun working with extremely talented hockey players from the state of New York. I am thrilled to work with Rob Hutchinson from Skidmore and also Ben Russell from our staff at Cornell. Our staff is really looking forward to assisting these players compete for the entire week as they try to earn a spot to represent USA Hockey at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. Also thank you to Rich Hansen and Steve Cibelli from USA Hockey for providing this opportunity to coach the New York State Team. It should be a fantastic week!”
“I am excited to represent the state of New York at the 2023 BioSteel Boys 17 Player Development Camp,” Russell added. “I am looking forward to working alongside Coach Syer and Coach Hutchison and a very talented group of players from our district this summer as we compete on a national stage.”
The festival, which will be held at the Northtown Center at Amherst in suburban Buffalo, is comprised of players who are registered with USA Hockey for the upcoming 2022-23 season and were born in 2006.
Players from the 12 geographic regions (Atlantic, Central, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mid-Am, Minnesota, New England, New York, Northern Plains, Pacific, Rocky Mountain, and Southeastern) will be evaluated and chosen to attend the Hlinka Gretzky Cup Camp that will take place July 20-24 in Plymouth, Mich., at the USA Hockey Arena. Following the camp, those selected will represented Team USA at this year’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which will be hosted by Břeclav, Czechia and Piešťany, Slovakia from Aug. 1-6.
