Mark Hudak, head coach of the Big Green women's ice hockey team, spent the past week developing and evaluating some of the nation's top players at the 2010 Women's National Festival in Lake Placid, N.Y. Hudak who is serving as this year's assistant coach for the over-22 national team evaluated the players and helped determine which women will make the national team this year, Hudak said.
Three teams the over-22, under-22 and under-18 groups participate in the games and training during the week-long tournament. Dartmouth hockey player Amanda Trunzo '11, is playing on the under-22 team in the festival.
"These are players who either played on the national team before or who have a chance of making the team this year," Hudak said. "Coming out of this week, we'll have a pretty good idea of who will be on [the team]."
The festival also helps the players 12 of which played on the silver medal-winning 2010 U.S. Olympic women's team continue to improve their skills and training techniques, according to Hudak.
Hudak said that coaching at the festival serves as a valuable learning experience and that he hopes he is "giving back" to other coaches as much as they are "giving him."
"You're working here with a number of other coaches, so there's a lot of informal as well as formal discussions about various approaches to practice and player development," he said. "There's a lot of sharing of ideas of many different parts of the game that goes on both on and off the ice."
Over the course of the week, the teams play four to five games, he said. The conditioning sessions consist of training both on and off the ice.
"Most of the focus is on the ice but there is some weight training," Hudak said. "That training isn't so much about trying to build strength as it is working with the players on techniques that can help them improve athleticism, balance or agility."
Hudak is serving as the over-22 team's assistant coach under Katey Stone, the head coach of Harvard's women's hockey team. Maura Crowell, head women's hockey coach at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, assisted alongside Hudak.
Hudak used his experience as a head coach at the College to try to be "as effective as possible" as an assistant, he said.
"Being a head coach, you learn a lot about what someone expects from their assistants," Hudak said. "I've been focusing on how I can best support [Stone] in what she's trying to do here." Hudak served as an assistant coach for the under-22 team at the National Festival in 2006.
Trunzo spent the first part of the week at the festival, but traveled to Toronto with the other members of the under-22 and under-18 teams to compete in a three-game series against the Canadian teams, according to Hudak.
The team lost its first game on Wednesday 4-1, according to the USA Hockey website.
Trunzo who plays forward for the Big Green racked up 33 points on 18 goals and 15 assists last season. As a sophomore, she led the team with 42 points on 22 goals and 20 assists.
Hudak said he was not surprised by Trunzo's selection to the festival.
"I think she's someone that's been on the radar for a couple of years now," he said. "She's a very skilled player that brings a lot to the ice every time she goes out there."
During Trunzo's time playing for the Big Green, she has not only grown physically stronger and faster, but has also matured as a player, Hudak added.
"She's gotten to a point where she understands the game much more," he said. "When she was younger, so much of her game had to do with her pure skill, but she's definitely matured and developed her sense of the game."
Big Green hockey player Kelly Foley '12 said that Trunzo is "definitely a special player."
"She is one of those people that excels at whatever she does," Foley said. "I've played with her two years now and her improvement has been shown not only in her statistics, but her versatility on the ice to play any position and play it well."
