The Twin City Thunder are an expansion team in the league that is located in Auburn, Maine and have drafted Keresztes. The National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC) is a junior league that was started by belongs to the USPHL. “It feels great to be drafted into the NCDC, it is a strong league that will give me an opportunity to develop as a player.” Keresztes continued by saying “I am sure someone saw me play somewhere this season, this is probably how I ended up on the draft list for the NCDC. I was surprised that I made the list as well.”
The league will be entering its third season. After years of not having a top junior league on east coast in the United States the teams of the USPHL decided to start a junior league. This also meant that this would give kids the chance to stay closer to home on the east coast instead of going to the midwest to play in the USHL or the NAHL. The NCDC is a non-paying league junior league just like the USHL and the NAHL, in their short history the league has already sent a large number of players to the NCAA and have players NHL drafted listed as well.
The NCDC does not make their draft results public only what players were drafted by what teams. In the 2019 draft Keresztes was one of eight players drafted who spent the previous season in Europe. Interestingly the Thunder were not the only team who would have liked to have drafted him. “I know that there was another team that wanted to draft me as well, the South Shore Kings were interested in me as well, but the Thunder drafted me before the Kings had a chance.”
Keresztes will be the second Hungarian to play in the NCDC as Rajmund Bukor spent part of the 2017-18 season with the Northern Cyclones.
Levente also talked about his expectations for the upcoming season. “From this league there are multiple opportunities for me, such as moving on to the NAHL or the USHL. During this summer I will be getting ready for the season and in the middle of August I will be flying out to join the team.” Keresztes has also talked to Hungarian national team defenceman Zsombor Garát, who had spent three seasons in the United States, about what he can expect playing in America. “I have been talking to Zsombor Garát in what I can expect playing in the USA and he told me about what he had experienced. He only had positive things to say about his time out there.”
Former NHL forward Doug Friedman will be his coach next season. “I have been in contact with the coach and I hope that I will be as good as what they expect from me. They have not said how they would like to use me."
