Ice Hockey Advice from those who have BTDT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any colleges with intramural or club hockey? I thought ACHA was still pretty competitive.

Yes. Lots of schools have intramural, particularly those that have rinks on campus (and thus control ice availability). Big D1 programs and NE SLACs are probably the first place to look.

[Anonymous]

Pointless thread. Only 4-5 kids in last 10 years are playing competitive college hockey from DMV. Think of hockey as a hobby and you will be fine. If your kid is good enough you will know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pointless thread. Only 4-5 kids in last 10 years are playing competitive college hockey from DMV. Think of hockey as a hobby and you will be fine. If your kid is good enough you will know.

I think your number is a low (but perhaps it depends on what you mean by "competitive college hockey" (do you mean NCAA? D1? Something else)). I suspect that there are probably 3-5 kids a year from the DMV who get into NCAA hockey. But your general point is not completely wrong. Its requires a lot of hard work (common to most sports) and lifestyle decisions (going to prep school, playing juniors, most weekends on the road, etc.), and many kids who might otherwise be talented enough aren't willing to make those necessary choices (not to mention the very high costs associated with high level hockey). Even if your kid is "good enough," you are going to have to make some tough choices at some point if he wants to play NCAA hockey. Until recently, the post-high school path for women's hockey was easier and less competitive, but that is changing pretty rapidly, I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering… do the hockey players at top schools (like Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell, Amherst) usually go to juniors first? Or do they tend to have an easier route because they have a 1500+ SAT or whatever and there aren’t as many of those?

Almost all go to juniors first (or sometimes a PG year at a prep school). I know two kids who are freshman at Amherst this year. One did a year at an NCDC team, and another did a PG year at a NE prep school. Neither is really playing much this season. There isn't really an easier route. I was at an event with the Dartmouth coach, and a parent asked "If my kid has really high grades and scores, does that mean he can be a little worse at hockey and play for you?" (I'm paraphrasing here). The answer was: "We want the best possible hockey players we can get in. So if the choice is between a kid with a 1590 SAT and 4.0 unweighted GPA and a kid with a 1420 and 3.5 GPA and the second kid is better, we want that kid" (again, I'm paraphrasing).

Total noob here. What is a PG year at a NE prep school? Post-graduate (like after finishing HS)? And which NE prep schools do this sort of thing for kids who didn’t graduate from that particular prep school (if any)? Or not an option for kids who graduate from local public HS?

Given maturity levels, I could see some potential benefit in a gap year playing in juniors or maybe doing this PG thing, realizing the kid may or may not land on anything more than a spirited intramural team in college if it doesn’t pan out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering… do the hockey players at top schools (like Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell, Amherst) usually go to juniors first? Or do they tend to have an easier route because they have a 1500+ SAT or whatever and there aren’t as many of those?

Almost all go to juniors first (or sometimes a PG year at a prep school). I know two kids who are freshman at Amherst this year. One did a year at an NCDC team, and another did a PG year at a NE prep school. Neither is really playing much this season. There isn't really an easier route. I was at an event with the Dartmouth coach, and a parent asked "If my kid has really high grades and scores, does that mean he can be a little worse at hockey and play for you?" (I'm paraphrasing here). The answer was: "We want the best possible hockey players we can get in. So if the choice is between a kid with a 1590 SAT and 4.0 unweighted GPA and a kid with a 1420 and 3.5 GPA and the second kid is better, we want that kid" (again, I'm paraphrasing).

Total noob here. What is a PG year at a NE prep school? Post-graduate (like after finishing HS)? And which NE prep schools do this sort of thing for kids who didn’t graduate from that particular prep school (if any)? Or not an option for kids who graduate from local public HS?

Given maturity levels, I could see some potential benefit in a gap year playing in juniors or maybe doing this PG thing, realizing the kid may or may not land on anything more than a spirited intramural team in college if it doesn’t pan out.

Most of the NE prep schools have PGs. However, they will not take a PG from a local high school who has only played Tier 1 hockey, most likely. They're looking for a higher caliber of player who is moving on to juniors and is probably already committed to a school or at least stands a chance of going D3/D1. There is a limited number they can have, and they also have them for other sports.

There are also levels in Juniors, and there are more and more Juniors programs, some of which aren't that great except to make money. You have to look closely at how many of them move their players up and get them into schools. Also, there is a huge difference between a great hockey college and a great college.

My DS played NE Prep, was recruited to play higher level juniors because of a couple of colleges that wanted him, but at the end of the day he did not want to be a 21/22 yr old freshman at a mediocre school (but good hockey) since he didn't need the potential $$ from the school. (We are fortunate in that we can pay for it regardless of where he goes). He chose to go play ACHA at his choice of University, and his ACHA team has several kids like him, including a couple of D1 recruits who just wanted to get on with life rather than spending a couple of years playng juniors.

Several college coaches I spoke with lamented that they don't care for the juniors thing, but once some do it, all sort of have to follow as it's pretty hard to be competitive when your playrers are 18-22 and the other teams players are 21-25. It does make a huge difference.

[Anonymous]

Very helpful - thank you!!

[Anonymous]

Most of the NE prep schools have PGs. However, they will not take a PG from a local high school who has only played Tier 1 hockey, most likely. They're looking for a higher caliber of player who is moving on to juniors and is probably already committed to a school or at least stands a chance of going D3/D1. There is a limited number they can have, and they also have them for other sports.

There are also levels in Juniors, and there are more and more Juniors programs, some of which aren't that great except to make money. You have to look closely at how many of them move their players up and get them into schools. Also, there is a huge difference between a great hockey college and a great college.

My DS played NE Prep, was recruited to play higher level juniors because of a couple of colleges that wanted him, but at the end of the day he did not want to be a 21/22 yr old freshman at a mediocre school (but good hockey) since he didn't need the potential $$ from the school. (We are fortunate in that we can pay for it regardless of where he goes). He chose to go play ACHA at his choice of University, and his ACHA team has several kids like him, including a couple of D1 recruits who just wanted to get on with life rather than spending a couple of years playng juniors.

Several college coaches I spoke with lamented that they don't care for the juniors thing, but once some do it, all sort of have to follow as it's pretty hard to be competitive when your playrers are 18-22 and the other teams players are 21-25. It does make a huge difference.

This pretty much nails it. Nice summary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also can someone explain how college level club hockey works? Are the kids still expected to go to juniors, are they recruited, do they know if they make the team before having to commit to the school, etc

Club hockey is like rec hockey. There’s no recruiting. You show up for tryouts. For strong D1 hockey schools, the club team will be competitive so a good player may not get much ice time initially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any colleges with intramural or club hockey? I thought ACHA was still pretty competitive.

Lots of colleges have club hockey. You just need to look on their websites. It’s pretty common. Schools without a league hockey team might even have club hockey. In this area, VT comes to mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also can someone explain how college level club hockey works? Are the kids still expected to go to juniors, are they recruited, do they know if they make the team before having to commit to the school, etc

Club hockey is like rec hockey. There’s no recruiting. You show up for tryouts. For strong D1 hockey schools, the club team will be competitive so a good player may not get much ice time initially.

This really depends on the school. At some places, its pretty informal, but at others it can be more structured. And some clubs will cut kids. (The son of a friend of mine was cut this fall from a club team in NC. It was pretty disappointing for him, but he pivoted and found a junior team to play on). Some schools will have both NCAA and ACHA (club) teams.

[Anonymous]

At what point do kids start looking into this seriously? Freshman year of high school? Sophomore year? What is the timing of it. Like if a kid is considering a year in juniors and then going to college (either ACHA or maybe D3), what is the timing and process for juniors happening?

[Anonymous]

And thanks for all of the information! As a non-athlete parent of a surprisingly athletic kid, I really appreciate it. I’m totally lost and trying to figure it out enough to support my kid.

[Anonymous]

I admit I knew nothing about the recruiting process before reading this thread, but I checked a couple of rosters for Ivies and you can see from players' bios where they played before college.In no particular order....

https://gocrimson.com/sports/mens-ice-hockey/roster

https://brownbears.com/sports/mens-ice-hockey/roster

https://dartmouthsports.com/sports/mens-ice-hockey/roster

https://yalebulldogs.com/sports/mens-ice-hockey/roster

It just gives you an idea of the paths they took.

[Anonymous]

Well if you looking at Ivies you best path is as follows: play AAA at a top club team, go to a top NE boarding school (potentially reclass and get top grades), be a top player of a Tier 1 juniors team for 1-2 years. At this point (20 or 21 years old) you have pretty good shot at playing ivies.