CICERO, N.Y. - Upstate New York has seen a lot of ice hockey players earn the honor of playing for the USA national teams, and by all accounts Baldwinsville's Alex Tuch could end up being among the best.

Tuch, already 6 feet 3 inches tall and more than 200 pounds at just 16 years old, recently made the cut to join the USA National Team Development Program, a starting ground for USA Hockey that accepts just 21 players from the entire country. The program is an intense two-year commitment requiring players to live year-round in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the USA training site is, staying with host families and attending a local high school. Tuch will play on the Under-17 team this year then the Under-18 team the following year, getting to travel all over the world as the international tournament schedule dictates.

As if making that team wasn't exciting enough Tuch has also verbally committed to NCAA Division I power Boston College, which has won three national championhips in the past five years. Tuch says it's been his dream school for as long as he can remember and it was enough to pass up the opportunity to be a first-round pick in the highly-competitive Ontario Hockey League (the OHL is a professional league so playing in it would take away a player's amateur status and therefore his NCAA eligibility).