What is Junior Hockey? Part One
Passionate, athletic, and fast-paced—junior hockey is the thrill of competition at its finest. Each game is a well-rounded mix of skill, physicality, strategy, excitement, and teamwork. At the junior level, there is a significant amount of quality development. The players are between 16 and 21 years of age, fresh and full of potential.
How to start the road to junior hockey.
When recruiting season is soon upon us (and some having already started) I will be doing a series of articles on what to expect as a “free agent” player. This is part one of the “What Is Junior Hockey” series. We have provided a list of references and links at the bottom of this post.
Junior hockey is a crazy world, especially with how many leagues, divisions, and teams are out there. It can be a rough landscape to try and navigate and not every road is the best path for everyone.
“So, where do I even start?”
Well kid, you first need to figure out what YOUR short-term and long-term goals are. If you are in the top 1% at age 16, there’s a fairly good chance the path is pretty clear. That being the USHL or better yet the NTDP. But that leaves the other 99% that need to figure out what’s going to work for them.
Every aspiring hockey player pretty much wants to play pro hockey, so while that can be an extremely long-term goal, you really want to be looking at getting into a position to be viewed and recruited into a quality college program. That should be your real long-term goal because, at some point, hockey stops and life moves on.
As they say, “We all end up in the same league eventually.”
So, you want to be best prepared for life after competitive hockey (can you say 10:50 beer league games?)
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Your short-term goal should be getting yourself into the right position and junior hockey program that will help develop, teach and guide you through those years before college comes knocking. Lucky for you, there is a boatload of junior hockey programs out there to choose from, and who are looking for players, your job is to get in front of the right ones.
Speaking of, if you are looking for a junior hockey team currently or are just looking for more information on different programs. Check out our junior hockey tryout info page. It is a complete list of junior hockey programs from all Tiers within the United States. We try our best to keep this page updated year-round.
Here are some questions you first need to ask yourself to help you turn the keys and get you going on your road to junior hockey:
- Am I willing to relocate and move away from my family and billet with another family?
- If I can’t play tier 1 or tier 2 junior hockey, can my family and I afford tier 3?
- Does playing tier 3 hockey make sense for me, or should I go straight to college and play club?
- If you haven’t aged out of midget/HS hockey, is it worth it for me to leave early or stay till I’ve aged out and junior hockey is my only option?
- How much work am I willing to put in to find the right club for myself, or just take an offer or tender from any program that gives you one?
- Am I willing to do, and can you afford to do a showcase or two to get yourself in front of prospective programs?
- Can we pay money for tryout fee’s, travel and lodging to try and make a few tier 2 teams main camp?
- Can my family and myself navigate this on our own, or can we afford an advisor who might be able to do most of the work for us? (I’ll touch on this in a later article)
These are just a handful of questions to ask yourself and your family to get you heading in the right direction. Write them down, review them and figure out what’s going to be available to you from your own end.
And, remember there is no right or wrong answer here. What’s important is these are answers for you and what matters to you and your future.
What Is Junior Hockey? Is A Common Question Throughout a Jr. Hockey Players Career
Playing Junior Hockey you are often asked by random strangers, “what is Junior Hockey?” or something along the lines of, “what do you play?”. It is something that you get a lot throughout your Junior Hockey career.
Throughout my 5 years of Junior Hockey, I was probably asked this question 500 times. I sometimes had the same people (even relatives) asking me every year, “what exactly are you doing?”.
I would say that Junior Hockey is not only playing some form of Amateur Hockey, it has a much deeper meaning to it.
Junior Hockey, not to be lame, is a lifestyle. It is a time where kids, that are fortunate to play the game, are taught about the game of hockey along with some of the most important life skills.
The biggest things I learned in Junior Hockey are the following.
- Discipline
- Teamwork
- How to do Laundry
- Work Ethic
- Being a Leader
- Communication Skills
- Ambition
- Competitive Spirit
- Being Self-Reliant
- Humbleness
Not only was Junior Hockey the best time of my life, but it also helped create the person I am today. I think that all Junior Hockey Players leave the game a better person. As Junior Hockey Players, we obviously all have the goal of continuing our career in Professional Hockey, but most of us never make it. But because of Junior Hockey, we are able to adapt and continue our success in the “Real World”.
Other than the life skills that are taught, Junior Hockey can be thought of as a landing ground for hockey players that want to continue their career to either the College Hockey or the Professional Hockey levels.
HIgh Level View Of What Junior Hockey Is In The United States
There are 3 tiers in Junior Hockey, within each of these tiers are leagues. They are as follows:
Tier 1
- USHL
Tier 2
- NAHL
- NCDC
- WSHL (debateable)
Tier 3
- EHL
- EHL Premier
- USPHL
- USPHL Premier
- USPHL Elite
- NA3HL
What Is Junior Hockey? Additional Information, articles, and references.
Articles
- What Is Junior Hockey – Picking Your Program
- What Is Junior Hockey – Drafts, Tenders, and Contracts
- Junior Hockey Development Through The Eyes Of A Former Player
Podcast Episodes
Videos
