Junior-hockey leagues have started and kicked the SJU hockey recruiting season into high gear. What is junior hockey? Most Johnnie Hockey alumni back in the earlier years tended to come to SJU right out of high school and without junior-hockey experience. Now about 80 percent of all Division III hockey players have played some form of junior hockey before attending college. For most junior players they see 60 games a season and often play two to three seasons before coming to college. The result is often players who are bigger, stronger, faster and with more physical game experience.
The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is the league that we recruit the most and was the home of 19 of our current players, our most dominant source of players. This Wednesday is the start of the NAHL showcase in Blaine, MN. There will be a crazy amount of hockey played in Blaine from Wednesday through Saturday. There are 24 teams in the NAHL and all will play four games in the four days of the showcase. These games will start around 10 am every day and will continue until around 11pm every evening. The majority of Division III coaches try to pull from this level of Junior Hockey, and watching some of the NAHL showcase as it is an eye-opening experience. You will see teams from all over the country and players from all over the world. If you want to venture down to rinks 5-8 at the Schwan Super Rink you can watch some of the best Midget hockey in the country. In fact, if you want to see all the top Division I colleges and all the coaches watching and recruiting, they will be there as well. The NAHL showcase is the largest recruiting event all year and is a fun way for college hockey fans to see how the recruiting world works.
The NAHL showcase isn’t the only source of players. There are junior-hockey leagues starting up all over North America. There are nine USA Hockey sanctioned junior hockey leagues in the United States and there are an additional 10 junior hockey leagues in Canada. In the United States alone there are 194 junior hockey teams. If you think about this and figure there are about 20 players per team, you are looking at close to 4,000 junior hockey players in just the United States. If you add the players playing in the Canadian junior hockey leagues, there are a staggering number of young men playing junior hockey in North America.
For those who have never looked around at the world of junior hockey, here is a list of most the junior hockey leagues in North America with links to their web sites. Most people have no idea what junior hockey is about or how large it is, but this will give you an idea.
United States Junior Hockey Leagues:
Tier I Junior A
• United States Hockey League (USHL)
Tier II Junior A
• North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Tier III Junior A
• North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL)
• North American 3 Atlantic Hockey League
• Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League
• United States Premiere Hockey League – Premier Division (USPHL)
• United States Premiere Hockey League – Elite Division (USPHL)
• United States Premiere Hockey League – USP3HL Division (USPHL)
Canadian Junior Hockey Leagues:
• British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL)
• Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL)
• Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL)
• Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL)
• Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL)
• Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL)
• Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL)
• Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL)
• Maritime Hockey League (MHL)
• Ligue de Hockey Junior AAA du Quebec
As for Johnnie recruiting, we will most likely be in a rink every weekend until the end of March and a large majority of those games will be watching some level of junior hockey. It would be impossible to cover all of these leagues so we focus on a specific few. On our current team, we have junior hockey players from the NAHL, NA3HL, EHL and AJHL. We spend about 75 percent of our recruiting time in the NAHL, about 15 percent of our time in Minnesota State High School League, and 10 percent in the other junior hockey leagues mentioned above.
So when you come watch our boys this season, you will now realize that their paths to Johnnie Hockey have been unique and varied. All have shown dedication, paid their dues and have earned the right to wear the red and white of Saint John’s hockey. These players have been among some of the best players leaving their junior hockey programs.
