JP Hurlbert, the top 2008-born North American skater, has narrowed his college search to Michigan and Wisconsin, he tells PuckPreps.

“Those are my two main schools,” he said. “I like the Big Ten and where it’s at,”

Hurlbert has already taken an unofficial visit to Michigan and will officially visit both schools in early August after his commitment window opens. He has family in Michigan, who he’s living with while playing for the USNTDP, headquartered just 18 miles east of Ann Arbor in Plymouth.

“(Michigan) puts in so many first round NHL players,” Hurlbert said. “And the atmosphere at Yost (Ice Arena), I think that’s some of the best atmosphere in college hockey. So I want to hopefully, maybe be a part of it. But at the same time, Wisconsin’s a great school and I’m excited to go visit and look at it.”

And in the same regard, though he’s almost guaranteed to be headed to the NCAA in two years, the 5-foot, 10-inch forward is not eliminating the WHL from the equation.

Kamloops selected him 20th overall in the 2023 U.S. Priority Draft. The Blazers are majority owned by Tom Gaglardi, also owner of the Dallas Stars. Hurlbert, an Allen, Texas, native, played youth hockey for the Dallas Stars Elite.

“It’s like a door, you always want to keep it open and see where it goes,” Hurlbert said. “If push comes to shove and Kamloops may be the right path then maybe I take Kamloops. But at the moment I don’t really have any connection going on with them.”

Playing for the Stars, Hurlbert led the nation in points at the 14U level, recording 195 — including 112 goals — in 75 games in 2022-23. This past season, he tallied 76 in 45 games at 16U.

Now he’s making the jump to the national team program, a long time in the making for a kid who once frequented their practices.

“This is as real as it gets,” Hurlbert said. “You’ve been looking up to make this team for so many years and now to be a part of it, I’m just so excited to get going.

“Iron sharpens iron. Battling against some of the best players in the country every day, I think that’s the part that makes you get better the quickest and to play with them at the same time, representing your country, it’s just so amazing.”

This is not the first time Hurlbert has donned red, white and blue. He had seven points in four games in January to help lead the Americans to gold in the Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, South Korea.

Hurlbert scored the shootout winner to top Canada in the semifinals and followed that up with two goals in a shutout of Czechia in the gold medal game.

“When the clock went three … two … one, there’s no better feeling,” he said. “With all the American fans going wild, us throwing our gloves in the air — that’s why you play hockey. To celebrate with your teammates and to see our banner raised into the stands as we sung the national anthem, that’s something you dream about.”

And the stakes only get bigger from here, with both the World U17 Hockey Challenge and U18 World Championship in the not so distant future.

“We’re excited for the next challenge.” Hurlbert said. “We want to be the best international team in the (world) and and we don’t want it to be a question either. So we’re going to go out there and do what we do best and that’s try to win every game, and hopefully that ends up just like Korea.”

Even at 16 years old, Hurlbert has already had a spotlight trained on him for years — a natural byproduct of talent. Will he be a top-ten pick in the 2026 NHL Draft? Maybe. Could he become the best player to come out of Texas? Time will tell. Should any of that really matter to him right now? Not particularly.

“It's just noise,” he said. “At the same time I’m still just a kid and I just play the sport I love at the end of the day … Obviously it's hard to not to hear those things or see those things, but it’s just having fun at the rink, playing your game and not really listening to what everyone has to say … I think that’s really all you can do.”