For everyone watching the Beanpot tonight and next week with their kids, keep these facts in mind:

1) Breakdown of USHL alumni in Top-5 scoring for each team:

BU - 5/5
BC - 4/5
NU - 4/5
Harvard - 4/5

2) 3 of 4 USHL alumni are leading their team in goal

3) Breakdown of USHL alumni on each roster:

NU - 19
BC - 17
Harvard - 16
BU - 15

4) Of the 36 NHL Draft Picks currently on rosters of the 4 Beanpot schools, 27 played in the USHL (75%)


So - while the junior programs in New England will try to brain wash you, keep these facts in mind!

Both goalies in the NU/Harvard game tonight are from California. Good Luck being a goalie

Wow pretty crazy! Tx for sharing

No disagreement, the path is clear. IMO you'll start seeing more and more elite Prep players leaving before their senior years, to hopefully accelerate their path to D1. If you have to play Juniors, why wait until you are 19?

I assume you are including as USHL alumni those that went through the NTDP?

Now, now. Many of the local kids did play a year of local Jr. hockey and then committed THEN the Hockey East coaches told them to take their game to the next level in the USHL. Look up the boys on www.hockeydb.com and you'll see it quite clearly.

Thanks for stating the obvious. Entire point of the USPHL is to have an alternative to the USHL so local players can stay and play locally instead of heading out west to the USHL. Its stupid that kids in the northeast, where many of the best hockey programs are have to go out west to play juniors.

Inconvenient maybe, but not stupid. That's where the best players are. Do you really think college coaches are going to recommend a future player stay and play in a tier 3 program posing as a tier 2 program, when they can be getting D1 game ready in the mid-west playing with the best of the best. And remember, New England definitely does have some of the best college hockey teams in the country, but the majority of the rostered players are not from New England. Everyone needs this get out of this select hockey fantasy mode and face reality. At most, 30-40 MA kids per birth year will ever play a game at the college level. 2/3's of those will be at the D3 level. Not to mention that Any discussion of Jr programs on the youth board is just plain silly.

Another thing the provincials don't understand is, yes in the USHL they are playing against D-I and future NHL competition but also they are playing in front of 3,000 - 5,000 people a night. They need this before they play before D-I crowds. The USHPL doesn't off this!

Explain to me on how the new USPHL league (no pay) is an alternative to the USHL? All you are taking is the same player pool that stays here in the east, and give them free hockey?? the best players go to the USHL for the competition, it being free is a side benefit. My kid went to USHL because of the level of play, which his what his Hockey East coach wanted.

Two major WRONGs with this. 1) the entire point of the USPHL is for the owners to make money as shown by their price hikes for their lower teams 2) the USPHL will never be an alternative for players to head out west to the USHL; it will forever be a secondary league for players who are not good enough to head out west and make a USHL team!!!

Why can't this change?

Granted the USHL has a huge gate and local fan support. It is highly unlikely that the USPHL will ever have either. Does not mean it cannot be successful and an alternative to Tier 2 or even Tier 1.

I have often heard that today's USPHL's top half are as good as most NAHL teams and that is today ( Not Free). Now with a new league NCDC ( Free), why would that not attract more local players, as well as players from throughout the USA and abroad, that may see this as a better fit.

If this league can support itself without the gate and fan support it may very well supplant the NAHL, BCHL, AJHL, etc and those currently on USHL rosters who are consistently scratched.

Again, kids go to the USHL for the level of play, not the free hockey.

Again, if the local D1 recruits stayed closer and played in the USPHL then the league would have a fantastic level of play. Thats the goal eventually. It will have to be driven by Hockey East coaches who will have to direct the players to stay and play in the USPHL so they can watch their development more closely. The logistics make sense - its just a matter of getting the level of hockey to be comparable to the USHL.

There aren't enough local D1 recruits to make this happen. I know that's a tough reality for the readers of this board, but there aren't.

Not true. If you can pull all D1 recruits from Northeast (New England, NY, NJ, PA, CT,etc) you would have enough players.

But AGAIN, they go to the USHL because it has the best college-bound players in the world all skating in one league. Enough with the what-if's. You psychotic longtime EHF blowhard parents that are now realizing that your 14 year old has no shot in hell of making the USHL, need to stop coming on this thread and trying to rationalize and convince yourself that the eastern league either is or can be as good.

The USHL is the absolute best, there is no comparison and no league comes even close. If you make a team, you go. If you are committed, your coach tells you to go. Why? Because it is basically the same pace as Division 1 hockey, and a year or two out there will allow you to step right in and make an impact at the college level. They play on olympic ice surfaces. It's not ten 20 year-olds jammed on two inches of ice at the new second rink at Merrimack College where you can't take two strides with the puck.

I get that some people are insecure, but the rationalizations you're making are pathetic. It would be like saying, "Well yeah America has the best army right now, but if all of the soldiers that are from East of the Mississippi moved to Canada, then their army would be just as good." Not gonna happen. End of story.

I agree with most of what you say except - " EHF blowhard parents that are now realizing that your 14 year old has no shot in hell of making the USHL."

It's not like it is impossible. I know some that have made it but they either are - a) legacy kids whose dad has some pull; b) kids that played local juniors and had their college commit coaches get them out there; c) kids that played locally for a good program (Tier1) and their program got them drafted or d) kids that have ventured out there on their own - showcases or camps.

(If anyone else knows how they got there please post)

Regardless the kid has to be 100% committed to hockey. If the kid is 95% into hockey and 5% "maybe I'll just go to college and hit the books..." it isn't going to work at all. I think that's how legacy kids often get the nod because it's their chance to get into the family business and teams know it - much like the farm kids from Western Canada that know hockey is their only way off of the farm...they are committed and desperate.

Thanks for the reply. To clarify, I wasn't referring to all parents of 14 year old EHFers, I was referring to the group that have now plateaued out (97% of them). Not saying that no one from out east makes it, because 15-18 of them do each year between the 4 birth years.

It is amazing to watch kids stall out in their development. Some just don't grow and others might get injuries or some lose interest but the amazing ones are the kids that keep at it and can't really get much better.

We had a local kid who was slated as a possible national team player as a 14 year old - went to the development camps, played on the right teams, grew to six foot plus and no matter what he did between 14 and 19 I swear he did not get one stitch better. Infact some local hockey guys think he was better at 15 than 19. Went on to college and played club hockey.

Most of what you said is true except for one fact, none of the arena's are Olympic size

You are missing the point - the point is of course kids have to go to the USHL - THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION at this point. The USPHL is hoping to create another option. If Hockey East coaches recruits to play in the USPHL they will. Fact.

Come on.

"If Hockey East coaches recruits to play in the USPHL they will. Fact."

So a Hockey East coach whose job is on the line every year will say, "I know I can get you a spot in the best junior league in America, the best players, the best development, playing in front of thousands a night, totally focusing you on hockey, living away from your parents insuring you mature and don't get homesick or change your mind easily to get you ready to come and play for me and compete for scholarship money...or because you might be afraid of moving outside of the 495 loop and you don't want live without your childhood friends or mommy's cooking we can get you a spot in this small league here playing infront of 40-50 parents three times a week in a league where the skill and speed is a bit less...but it's still good and THEN you come to campus and we can see if you like it and then you can compete for scholarships money and if I offer this to enough kids around here I might lose my job...a job I've been working toward for the last 20 years....you make the choice."

Get real.

Not missing the point at all. He understands what they are TRYING to do. The reality is that it will not happen. If you are a coach at Providence, you're telling me that you are going to tell your recruits to go to the USPHL so that you can try to help them make their league competitive...at the expense of risking the development of the players in a sure-fire league? Come on. Either you're uneducated or you're just trolling

Stop using Hockey East as the example. We are talking about fringe players. Those who did not make it or mid season cuts. Those who are more likely to play lower level ECAC or Atlantic. Enough about the Super Studs. Not happening in the near future if ever. These are the kids who prefer staying east than playing in the NAHL, BCHL, AJHL, etc

So teams like Sacred Heart and AIC? In other words, teams that take players that aren't good enough to make the USHL?

Or Colgate, Bentley or Holy Cross. Or 50 or 60 other schools not in the Hockey East. There are also more than a handful of current Hockey east players that did not play in the USHL. Go look at the Rosters.

More than a handful of players in Hockey East that didn't come from one 16-team junior league? Are you trying to prove the point that the USHL is the dominant option...?

Who said the USHL is not the best option?

I am pretty sure everybody is in agreement that The USHL is the best option for sure. I think the point trying to be made is that the USPHL is a decent ALTERNATIVE for those who do not have the OPPORTUNITY to play in the USHL and may become a better OPTION than the NAHL, BCHL, AJHL, etc that many of the other leagues that source players to Division 1 schools. Go look at the rosters of Division 1 programs and yo will see many of the players did not come from the USHL. As a matter of fact outside of Hockey East ( as far as eastern schools go)the vast majority of players on the rosters did not play in the USHL. I know it is hard for you and your ilk to believe this but it is true!

Most people on this board have kids from 7-12. If you have older kids, go to the other board, 99% of the people on this board cant relate to what your are discussing. By the time our guys are old enough there will be 5 more options.

Jeff Cox ‏@JeffCoxSports

60 Massachusetts kids on Hockey East rosters this year. 48 played HS or prep. 12 played midgets. Both paths work. It's up to the individual.

I wonder how many if you count all D1 teams and all New England kids. Kinda makes sense that we have a more competitive JR league around here!

No, we don't. My kid played HS and Prep, then decided to leave for USHL, now playing hockey east. Other than a few kids on each USPHL teams, the level of play is poor. There are several kids who played out in USHL who struggled, now there back in USPHL and lighting it up. Facts don't lie. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig!

Lots of kids light it up inUSHL or NTDP and do nothing in college. Some kids play in lower JR leagues and light it up in College.

You gotta believe that more and more kids will forgo NAHL, BCHL, AJHL, etc and opt for NCDC now that it is free and in the back yards of the colleges they will likely play for.

It seems like D1 Rosters are half full of kids who did not play in the USHL. True.

My sons peewee team just learned a good breakout..we are pretty excited. Oh sorry to bore you but your on a kiddie board!

Awesome for your kid, but you probably should be on the Town board! Apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I am just following the thread Slappy.

Well if he just learned the breakout as a Pee Wee, you may want to check out the Town board.

Go ***** in the 05 IHC/Cape/Bandits threads about worthless posts. At least you might learn something from this one.

i learned that a bunch of nobody's sit around all day and anonymously spew about something they read and have zero experience with on a board setup for mite-peewee discussion, thats what i learned.

Sounds like the somebody DPW plow driver had a long day at work while the rest of us nobodys enjoyed our snow day.

Well sweetheart, prove me wrong, how much experience do you have with USHL or D1 hockey? And I mean true experience, not whats just in your head.

How bout you snowflake?

I'll take your response as zero experience, but you feel the need to have an opinion and post ad nauseam about it. Get a job, get a clue, and leave the kiddie board.

I played other more main stream high school and college sports but my son has chosen hockey. He really enjoys it and we have embraced it.

Not too difficult for us to read up, listen, deciminate and form an opinion.

Let me guess; You have a kid who played or plays in the USHL, so now you are an authority.

I bet you never played Slappy!

His kid is 10, more than likely will be among the 85% that don't make Varsity or don't like getting hit, and quit.

If he's in the 15%, he'll realize when his kid is playing U14 and trying to make the jump from kiddie hockey to HS or Prep that he has a lot to learn to get his kid to the next level. Then he'll remember this thread and realize he should have paid closer attention, even if someone did, probably inadvertently, start a thread on the "wrong" board.

And if he had played closer attention he would have seen that some of the posts were by dads with kids that played in the USHL and Hockey East.

My kid is still in HS, but I have the advantage of good relationships with dads whose kids play now or played in the USHL, in Hockey East and even some that are in the NHL, or are headed there, soon. My kid also has worked with three skills guys that have been paid by NHL teams to teach their players. You do pick up a bit of pretty reliable knowledge when you shoot the s#!t with guys like that.

Sure, hes gonna sit back and say "Man, I wish I paid closer attention to that post in 2017. Those guys were right, they knew NHL people, they paid multiple skills guys who knew NHL guys, they even went to an NHL game, Im such as Slappy"
Get over yourselves, you too percentage guy.

You should start a thread or maybe a new category where all you angry youth dads can go to p*ss and moan.

The wheels haven't even falling off yet. Wait until that happens and you will be directing the vitriol towards initials too

Wait...this isn't the place for angry youth dads to go to p*ss and moan?

All Great Points!! This post was not started by me, I just happened upon it yesterday and saw that it had multiple posts in just a few days. I thought the vast majority of it was great!

Not sure why the other guy is so p***y about it?

You are right about paying attention when your kid is playing youth in anticipation of playing beyond. It has worked out well for my kids and we always tried to get a read on things along the way from the parents of older players. Made plenty of mistakes along the way, but lived to tell the tail.

Best of luck

How about JA. Didn't light it up at MC but now top 5 in scoring in the USHL. Some kids just develop later.

Good luck to your kid.

This is the most misleading post in DBoard history. Cox is a blogger who has a known dislike for anything outside of Mass HS Hockey.

So out of the 60 players from Mass that play in the Hockey East, none of them played junior? None of them played in the USHL? Ohhhh thats right, they played their freshmen/maybe sophomore years out east and then packed up and played in the USHL to better prepare for college hockey. Not too many kids headed from Reading HS to BC these days...

There are many other options. In fact maybe too many. A few outside of USHL are viable. Also, Hockey East is king for sure, but how about the other division 1 leagues that are very competitive. ECAC is a notch below top to bottom, but pretty good! Atlantic , not so much but still is Div 1. Their recruits have to play somewhere too

Dude! Why so Angry! Jeez!

Either your kid didn't make it or he did make it and he is so special, that certainly nobody else is worthy.

USHL is the best for sure and will probably be that way for a long time, maybe forever. To say that this new league may gain some footing and become a better alternative than the other Tier 2 & 3 leagues seems reasonable to me. Why wouldn't kids from the northeast or anywhere for that matter want to come play hockey in the backyard of 75% of the better ( hockey and academics) Division 1 and 3 teams in the country. If Sven from Sweden has a choice between playing in the Boston area or nowhere Texas ( NAHL) and the hockey is comparable, why wouldn't he? If Tommy from California gets cut from the USHL team and looking at NESCAC schools maybe this league makes perfect sense. Play a game on Saturday and tour Trinity, Wesleyan after the game and catch their game. Maybe the league really takes off and next thing you know they are comparable.

I don't get you people!! So Black and White. So petulant!