Demko enjoyed time with fellow top U.S. prospects

Thatcher Demko is a goaltender playing his freshman season with Boston College. The 6-foot-3, 190-pounder played his minor hockey in southern California before joining the U.S. National Team Development Program last season. He's excelled for the United States at the under-18 level and could earn a spot on the U.S. team for the 2014 World Junior Championship. Demko has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2014 NHL Draft.

Hi fans!

Well, I have some good news. Team Mark Johnson, the team I played for at this year's All-American Prospects Game in Pittsburgh, earned a 5-2 win over Team Joe Mullen.

It was really an exciting game and I was so glad to have the opportunity to participate. Playing in front of 200 NHL scouts is something to take back and learn from. I know there's going to be scouts at all the games this year too, so hopefully that can carry over and I'll learn from the experience. Playing with a bunch of elite American prospects is always fun. We're always rooting for the Americans in the draft so it's good to meet some of these guys early on before the season starts.

I thought the pace of the game was unbelievable. Some guys I spoke to who played in last year's game said the pace was great and that it was a great game to play in and they were absolutely right. It was a high-tempo game and I think there was chemistry out there, which is due to the fact everyone is American; we're all kind of on the same team in some ways.

I thought the other three goalies [Blake Weyrick, Edwin Minney, Alex Nedeljkovic] all played pretty well. I also thought they had the bulk of the action; they got a little lucky, I suppose, but maybe we'll get them next time.

It was pretty good playing with Chase [De Leo, a fellow California native]. He and I were huge rivals back home; he always played for the Los Angeles Selects growing up and I was on the San Diego Junior Gulls. His team would always beat mine, too. But it was good to see him here and I'm glad he's having success with the Portland Winterhawks.

Now I'm just looking forward to going back to Boston College and getting ready for our season opener against Michigan on Oct. 10. It's our first game, so it'll be packed. I'm really looking forward to that.

I'm majoring in psychology at Boston College right now. I became interested in psychology during high school since I took a class and really liked it. I think it could be a good lead into coaching if the NHL doesn't work out for me; who knows.

Well, thanks for reading and make sure to check back next month for an update from Boston College.

Follow Thatcher Demko on Twitter: thatcher_hockey