Have ACHA teams always "recruited" players? You would think the lead conversation would be " Im the CLUB hockey coach" not 5 minutes into the conversation after asking all about sons hockey career, grades, ex coaches..

They do now.

Interesting, good to know, and no, I didn't think anything as he spoke directly to my son, just thought it was weird that he wanted to know every team he's played on since he was 13. The fact that these guys have zero to offer in aid assistance and the school charges to play what is the point of recruiting. Not interested but great rink!

probably the same point as every Tier III Junior team

Times have changed and so has level of play -
ACHA = 80s/90s D3
D3 = 80s/90s D1
D1 = 80s/90s minor pro

I played D1 in the 80s and that compare is not far off.

All the D-3 dads who want to putdown ACHA hockey are just clueless. Hate to break it, but good ACHA teams have 3-4 kids who could take your kids spot.

Watch NHL games for the 70's & '80's. A AAA Bantam team today would beat them by 5 goals.

It would make a cool time travel movie. Today's Bantam AAA kids show-up on a modern day bus to a rink in some far flung Canadian town in the 1970's to play the local semi-pro team with carbon sticks, Tuuk blade holders, helmets with visors skating circles around the old, dumpy chain smokers of yesteryear.

Please. dumb statement. Very ignorant. There are 50 percent more teams today, more played too but no proof there are more good players today. It the same

I don't know if ACHA teams have "always" recruited, but some coaches recruit today. A coach really ****ed me off a few years ago when he called my son - who was then playing 15U - and said he was a "D1" coach. My son, not really knowing the landscape, was all excited. I had to tell him it was D1 club, not D1 NCAA. What a low-life coach.

That said, I am a strong proponent of club hockey. I played club and loved it. We practiced three nights a week, played two games almost every weekend, but we didn't have video, weights, etc. This gave me time to focus on school, parti****te in an academic club and enjoy college life.

It’s just like elite youth hockey.

They recruit because there are too many teams and they want to be competitive.

And to those thinking that Acha is completely free are delusional.

You are paying.

The player may not receive funds but the college will fund the program based on recruited players. This ultimately lowers the cost for the entire club program as it expands their budget.

Club teans at D1 schools would be highly competitive against many D3 teams.

Does the school have an NCAA team too or just ACHA?

ACHA can be good hockey competitively. Where you play hockey should be driven by education, and if that means playing good ACHA, so be it.
Yes, some schools charge money to cover the cost of playing, some schools do not so please do your homework. There are some D1 ACHA teams that will complete with Varsity programs. I have never heard of a ACHA program giving some athletic scholarships to players but neither do D3 programs. Yes, D3 hockey programs may find a player money someplace, but it is NOT to play hockey, the NCAA would have issue with this. Huge section on this in the NCAA certification for Ice Hockey.

ACHA can be a great option for your player that realizes that their education will help them more than where they played hockey. WPI covers all costs for their men's and women's ACHA teams.

ACHA is great for one reason.

There are now thousands of kids who would have hung them up after there first high school game who were not good enough or not willing to go play juniors for a few years that are able to continue to play competitive games.

That’s is. Nothing more. It’s good for the sport. Good for the game and good for the kids.

Kids can now be part of a team and play giving them something to do and adding structure to college.

Most ACHA kids would have played in their schools alumni game and then jumped into beer leage or pickups prior to the explosion of Acha.

None of these kids are turning an ACHA season into a spot on the real team. Some of them maybe could. But it doesn’t happen.

UNLV club lost 3-1 at home to Anchorage Alaska D1 team tonight. I don’t know or care what players Anchorage used, The gap is narrowing.

oh please, get a grip. Then the next evening Anchorage-Alaska played Liberty, another top ACHA team, and best them 10-1 and outshot them 66-17, they also out-shot UNLV 37-16, so their goalie stood on his head. Dude, if UNLV goes NCAA DI, I can guarantee you that none of the current players on the roster would be on the new team

It gets more coverage, fan interest and live streaming than backwater New England D-3 whack-a-puck.

So, if a kid gets into let's say BC and can play club but is also able to play NCAA D3 at a UMass Boston, UNE etc. you think they should play club at BC over competing at the NCAA D3 level?

My son was a 4.0 GPA in HS. Played at a Hockey Academy. Did not want to grind out juniors, picked UMASS Amherst for a school, plays club there. Education first, hockey second was his choice. I supported his decision 100%.

Yes, 100%

Northeast centric board so perceptions are different regarding D3 and ACHA D1. There are a lot of D3 options in the Northeast. Go out west (like the previously mentioned UNLV) and ACHA is more prevalent than D3 with more large state schools fielding programs that are funded and have coaches who recruit, etc. and it is treated like a "varsity" sport. The only reason these club teams are not elevated to varsity is politics (Title 9 implications).

How is it that every Big Ten school does not have a hockey program? The Big Ten is flush with money. Money is not the restrictive factor, it's politics. Take Iowa for example. Iowa has a brand new, shiny 7,000 seat arena sitting right there that a D1 program could move into tomorrow. Instead, the club team calls it home (and the club team is rising in the ACHA ranks). Iowa can' commit to a 3rd men's winter sport when wrestling already outdraws basketball and the additional Title 9 requirements of adding hockey. The way it is they have 200 girls on the rowing team (crew, in Iowa, yeah) to offset the title 9 requirements of the men's sports (football).

All legit points.

The issue I had was, the son was a very good h.s. player (with size & skating ability) and teams of the higher Junior leagues put the full court press on him to play. He did not have a real desire to play Jr. hockey regardless of where it led him and his interests in academics were very STEM focused. So locally what were his realistic choices?

Play Jr.s and maybe end-up at a liberal arts NESCAC school?
Play Jr.s and end-up playing D-1 and end-up a Communications Major due to the demands D-1 places on a player?
Go to the school of his choice with higher level STEM academics and play ACHA?

For him, high level hockey was a good ride but adulthood came calling. Two years of living in the basement, working odd jobs, even with offers of playing in a 'free to play league,' dating local randoms. . . not for him.