Re: NAHL advantage
Re: NAHL advantage
Check out the rosters of UWSP, UWEC, SNC and even Utica. Tons of kids from the NAHL and a precious few from the USHL, the best American Jr Hockey leagues. The Southern Ontario and Eastern US collegiate talent pool has become too diluted, FA is risky, and NA/USHL recruiting costs are considerably lower for the Western D3 schools.
IMHO, the D3 West, for this reason alone, will be dominant for years to come. D1 castoffs - which were formerly despised - are the cheapest means to get better talent for the cash-strapped recruiting budgets of Eastern D3 programs.
10 years or so ago there was one "premier" junior hockey league in the East - the Eastern Junior Hockey League (EJHL). Then there was the Metropolitan (Met) League as a "B" league and the Empire league a shade below the Met. There was a clear progression out East - start in the Met or Empire, and, if you were good enough, you got picked up by the EJHL. BTW, all the leagues were pay to play (USA Hockey Tier III). There were other junior leagues in the East (IJHL comes to mind), but they were of no consequence in the recruiting game. Coaches (D-I and primarily D-III) recruited out of the EJ. Colleges really did not look at the other leagues.
Then all heck broke loose. The Met decided to compete with the EJHL and formed the Atlantic Hockey League (AtJHL) while still keeping the Met. The AtJHL expanded into New England and in a *** for tat move the EJHL expanded into the Mid Atlantic. Suddenly everybody was drinking the "if you want to play college hockey, you have to play juniors" Kool Aid. More and more teams were added to Eastern junior hockey, to the point that the Washington, DC area, not exactly a great hotbed, had
6 Tier III junior teams, with each of them pounding their chest and saying "I have the best program!" It's a flippin disaster and it's not going to get any better any time soon.
Anyway out East now we have the US Premier Hockey League (USPHL) which has 5 (soon 6) divisions - Premier (the best of the EJ and best of the AtJHL), the Elite (rest of the EJ), Empire, plus an 18U and 16U group. Meanwhile the AtJHL renamed itself the Eastern Hockey League and kept the Met League.
So, if all the "college ready" players are not concentrated in one league, how is a coach getting to see the players play against the best? How are they going to evaluate talent where there are Div I players out there with players who should be considering ACHA Division III?
At least out West, you know your best players are in the USHL (primary D-I feeder), and the NAHL (about 50/50 between NCAA divisions). Then you go into Canada and know that the BCHL is really good, while the old OPJHL was diluted talent with the over proliferation of teams.
Guys, it's like wondering why your HS football team stinks. If the supporting youth programs are not good, the HS is going to struggle. I believe the solution is that the NCAA coaches are going to have to have a sit down with the USA Hockey Junior Council and tell them to get the flippin house in order. I DO think that the Junior Council is trying, but years of team owners running around without supervision is taking its toll on Eastern junior hockey.
And until then, we can keep sending the D-III hockey trophy West.
