Junior Hockey Archives

I haven’t written much about my son’s recruiting journey, but now that he is exploring his path to junior and college hockey, I think it’s time to share.

The last time I wrote about him was after he attended his first junior hockey main camp. Now, he is in his senior year of high school, playing 18U AAA hockey, and starting to look at where he will play next year. This includes conversations with junior teams as he navigates his next steps.

The reality is that the new rules allowing CHL players to play in the NCAA next year are already impacting players like my son. I don’t claim to have a deep understanding of all the nuances of the CHL, USHL, BCHL, NAHL, or NCDC leagues. However, I wanted to share a few observations based on what I’ve seen and heard:

Top CHL players will start playing NCAA hockey next year.
Beyond the CHL players who have already announced commitments to DI programs, I’ve heard of others planning to join top schools. These players may benefit from additional development time before signing professional contracts.
BCHL and U.S.-based players are shifting to the CHL.
Many BCHL and American players, who might have traditionally played in the NAHL or USHL, are now looking to move to the CHL (OHL, WHL, or QMJHL). With eligibility no longer a concern, talented players are exploring this path as a viable option.
Junior leagues are redefining their roles.
Every junior league, especially the BCHL, will need to reconfigure its value proposition as a development league. Players now have more options for paths to college hockey or professional opportunities, which could shift the dynamics across leagues.
Recruiting cycles are delayed.
The ripple effects of these changes are already evident in the recruiting timelines. Decisions on tenders for next season appear slower than in previous years. As NCAA teams finalize their 2025/26 rosters, this will influence CHL and USHL recruiting strategies, eventually trickling down to other junior leagues.

As a parent going through the junior hockey process for the first time, patience seems to be a necessity. The landscape is shifting, and the impact of these changes will likely take time to unfold fully.

Last month, my 15-year old son was invited to the main camp of a NAHL team in Minnesota. This was the follow-on event from a Summer Tryout showcase in June, hosted by several NAHL teams, in which my son was invited to attend the July main camp at the end of the showcase. Here are some details that I learned from the camp:

The camp started with 8 teams of up to 22 players – each with 12 or 13 forwards, 6 or 7 D and 2 goalies
All the players at the camp were 2003-2007 birth years. My son is a late 2007, so obviously, he was one of the youngest players at the camp.
Each team played 3 games consisting of two 25 minute periods with a running clock.
To keep things flowing, icings and most offsides were almost never called. And any puck which touched the netting and returned to the ice did not stop the play. When the very odd penalty was called, a penalty shot was granted.
With 13 forwards, unless you started the game, a forward typically only got 6-8 shifts per game. This was because everything eats into the running time, goals, faceoffs, penalty shots etc. Most players were taking ~75 second shifts. So when you do the math with four lines, a forward only received 3-4 shifts per period. Not a lot of time to show what you can do.
After 3 games, the first players cut took place with the list of players making it to the next day posted on Instagram and Twitter. The announcement just showed the team colors and numbers of players who made the cut – no names were listed.

Out of the ~160 players who started the camp, 99 players made the first cut. My son was on the list, so he would play 2 more games the next day.
The next day the players were then assigned to one of 6 teams. Once again each team had up to 22 players (13F, 7D, 2 G).
What was confusing to me was if there were only 99 players who made the cut and the teams reduced to 6, how could there be so many players on each of the 6 teams? That’s when things got real. What I learned was that the first part of camp did not include all the players on the team’s protected list. So about 30 players – made up of players from the past season, draft picks etc. were then added to the rosters of the 6 teams.
While there were a few players with half-shields (usually you have to be over 18 to play with a visor) playing the first couple of days of the camp, that number more than doubled for the second round. In addition, I was impressed by how many of the players also had moustaches to enhance their hockey player look.
The age, skill and size of the average player went up dramatically from the first round of games. For one of the games, my son’s linemate was a 2003 player committed to play DI hockey. The difference in size and skill was obvious. Man vs. boy.

While my son played well in both games, including a solid assist to set up the DI player’s goal, he clearly did not have the size or speed of the top players on the ice. As a result, he made a few mistakes turning over the puck along the boards or missing passes when under pressure.
Following the two second-round games, we once again looked online at the end of the day and reviewed who made the next set of cuts.
81 players (out of ~130) made it to the All-Star games with a separate 20 players moved to something called the Young Guns Game at the end of the next day. My son was not selected for either games, so his tryout was done.
The next day the All Star games took place. After they were done, 27 All Star cuts were assigned to the Young Guns Game.
We didn’t stick around for the last two days, so I can’t provide any details about the games (LiveBarn feed was blacked out after the first cut).
However, I do know that 44 players made the cut for the final All Star Game which included 6 goalies (couldn’t tell how many F vs. D). Not sure if the team was finalized after the last game or if about 30 of the players then were invited to training camp for the final team cut.

Some additional thoughts:

One real positive aspect of the camp was that the coaches made it clear that all players who were cut could reach out for feedback when the camp was over. My son had a phone call with one of the coaches and received helpful feedback (which was much more specific than what my daughter received has from the USA Hockey Camps)
This was a great learning experience for my son to see the level of play of the NAHL. The NAHL is known to be an older Tier II junior league with the average player age of about 19.5 years old. So seeing where my son needs to be in the next 2-3 years was an eye-opening moment for him and seems to be quite motivating to him.
This spring/summer my son received dozens of invitations to a variety of junior camps at every level (USHL, NAHL, Tier 3 etc.). I have heard that unless you were drafted by the team or know that a team has specific interested in you, that most of these invites are just a way for teams to make money. I felt I could see this at the camp. There probably wasn’t a need to have so many players at the first round of cuts with so many players on each team. Just doing the math on the ~60 players who did not make the first cut @ $375/player is over $20K in the team’s pockets. That is on top of the money they made at the 3 summer tryouts.
Each player needs to decide what is right for them, but it is very easy to waste a lot of money (and time) attending multiple events. You need to be realistic about your odds of making a team and self-aware about how close you are to the level of play needed. We went to see what the level was and learn from the experience – and now we know. And for the next couple of years I don’t expect my son to be trying out for many teams until we think he is ready and there is a reasonable chance he could at least make it to the final round of cuts (if not make the team).