how does "Juniors" work exactly?

[jmiami 4]

The last time I played competitively was D1 high-school in 1982. This was in CT. I caught a season-ending injury, and ended up moving on to other things. But several of my teammates went on to play D1 college immediately after graduating from our high-school. And good D1, including Yale and Maine.

I recently started playing again, which is one of the best decisions I ever made. The downside, if you wanna call it that, is that I have become as obsessed about this game again as when I was a kid. But there are many worse things to be addicted to than hockey no?

I catch college games as much as I can. What I notice is that almost nobody goes straight from HS to D1 anymore. Damn near every player on Ivy squads, for instance is coming from Juniors. I notice there are usually a few players who come from prep, and that was already happening back in my day to an extent. You know, play out high-school, if you are good you might get opp to play for a Choate or Kent for a year while you bolster your GPA, and then hopefully go D1. But it seems like a lot more kids back then went straight from HS to D1.

My question is this: how does it work exactly in US Juniors? Does it work as such?..A 15 yr old hockey player in CT doing quite well on his HS team is scouted by USHL say, and then told he's been drafted. Next season, if he wants, he can play on one of their teams in the mid-west. So then the kid leaves his high-school, moves out to Cedar Rapids, say. He lodges with a billet-family and attends a new high-school in Cedar Rapids. And the high school has a hockey team, but he doesn't play for that team. He only plays for his USHL team. Is that more or less how it works?

The whole thing seems like so much effort, with leaving home and staying with a family of strangers. But it might also be a blast. And I do understand that Juniors is up to 20, so our draftee from CT is going against better players and playing many more games than he would in HS season. And I guess it is paying off, because there are many more US born players in NHL today than back in 1982. Comments most welcome.

[shooter27 116]

Juniors does pretty much work the way you described, although 15 is a bit on the young side for the top Junior leagues. Unless kids are really top-notch stud prospects they generally won't go to play Juniors until their about 18 and can play till they're 20 (some leagues allow "overage" players at 21 years old in limited numbers). In a lot of cases today kids will play out their high school/prep school eligibility and then instead of going to PG somewhere, as you described, they will go play Juniors. There are also a lot of cases where players have made college commitments before going out to play Juniors. What happens in this case is the player gets scouted wherever he is playing, the college coach wants him, but prefers him to be a bit older, stronger, and more seasoned as a Freshman so they commit to the college program and then spend a year or two playing Juniors.

Obviously there are a large number of ways players end up in Juniors and a large number of reasons why, I've given a very general description, but the nitty-gritty can be much more interesting.

[RecLeagueHero 0]

Like any other level of hockey there really isn't a standardized version of what junior hockey is. For example: in my state we have WHL teams in Seattle, Everett, Spokane, and the Tri-cities. That level of junior hockey is more or less as you've describe for the USHL, though players in any of the three CHL junior leagues are paid a small allowance and are considered pro's by the NCAA. Thus if you play major junior at that level there's no going into the NCAA. Then we also have a league of "junior B" teams in which players don't pay to play, but they must pay for their own billeting, and of course we have a junior level program which is made up of local kids who pay to play hockey. Policy on allowing a certain number of over aged players, or allowing none at all, would also vary by league and level of play.

[biff44 0]

There are many types of junior leagues. Some very high level and hard to get onto a team, and others where the tryout involves writing a check.

In CT there are two leagues of some note, the EJHL and AJHL. I think the closest EJHL team is the falcons out of springfield ma. AJHL has the Hartford Jr Wolfpack. The games are fun to watch, and cheap. These are both pay to play leagues, where you pay $5000 to $9000 each year.

http://www.easternjunior.com/

http://www.atlantichockey.org/ajhl.php

After that, the nearest is the QMJHL, which is Major Junior semi-pro hockey. The nearest team is in Lewiston ME. This is a mostly canadian league, where players go to try to get drafted, but at the expense of losing their NCAA college eligibility.

In the Midwest, there is the USHL, which is USA Hockey Tier I Junior A. This is the highest level you can play at AND keep your NCAA college eligibility. You are provided free room and board, and there is no tuition.

Then comes the NAHL, which is midwest and southern US. A small step down from the USHL, but a small step up from the EJHL, and a big step up from the AJHL.

In the EJHL or AJHL, many of the kids benefit from being able to live at home and still graduate from their local high school. In all the other leagues, that is not an option--billets only.

Below the above, are Junior B leagues for younger or less skilled players, other good local Jr A tier III leagues, and a bunch of other leagues of questionable worth.