What percentage of NHL players played in NCAA?
The former college players in the NHL included 15 who debuted in 2022 following the completion of their NCAA hockey season. The number of NCAA alumni in the NHL has grown 65% in the last 19 years, both in terms of total number (211 in 2002-03) and percentage of all NHL players (21.1% in 2002-03).
A record 348 former college players skated in the NHL in 2021-22, a number that has increased by 65% over the last 19 years. College hockey, in short, is the fastest growing development path for the NHL. Just 20 years ago, only one in five NHLers had a college background.
Hockey is unlike other sports such as baseball, football, etc. There are some, very few, players that go directly from high school to the college hockey ranks. However, most players stay in the juniors' program until they age out at 20 years old and then attend college.
Fewer than 2 percent of NCAA student-athletes go on to be professional athletes. In reality, most student-athletes depend on academics to prepare them for life after college. Education is important.
| College Hockey Odds 2020: | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| Number of College Hockey Players (see table below) | 4,380 | 2,586 |
| % of US HS Hockey Players competing at any NCAA Level | 10% | 21% |
| % of US HS Hockey Players Competing at NCAA I Schools | 2.4% | 4.2% |
Producing the largest amount of American-born National Hockey League talent has long been part of the lore of Minnesota hockey. Minnesota has produced nearly 60 more NHL players than the next closest state, Massachusetts, and nearly 100 more than the third place state of Michigan.
| Participation by Sport: Male Athletes | High School US Boys | College US Men |
|---|---|---|
| Cross Country | 273,355 | 17,873 |
| Football | 1,042,420 | 93,442 |
| Golf | 162,508 | 10,200 |
| Ice Hockey | 45,687 | 3,609 |
| Rk | Player | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dave Rost | 1973‑1977 |
| 2. | Tom Ross | 1972‑1976 |
| 3. | Mike Zuke | 1972‑1976 |
| 4. | Jim Montgomery | 1989‑1993 |
The paths to NCAA Division I men's hockey can be winding, with a veritable alphabet soup of NCAA-eligible junior leagues leading to the college ranks. The vast majority of Division I players will play in one of those junior leagues – with the USHL, NAHL and BCHL producing the most players.
These are 14- and 15-year-old kids who have a lot of growing up to do. In the Ontario League, where kids are drafted at age 15, scouts often start taking note of them when they are 14 and come back to see them the next year.
Can a 22 year old be drafted in the NHL?
To be eligible, players must be 18 years old by Sept. 15 and under 20 years old by Dec. 31 in the draft year. However, non-North American players over 20 years old are eligible.
Also, NCAA players get their sticks and gear for free, which is certainly a nice perk of playing for a top-end collegiate hockey program.
When it comes to boys who play hockey, the chances are about 1-in-1,000 of playing one NHL game. But even when you get to the elite levels such as major junior hockey, the odds are still against you. The fact is that players who play at that level basically have less than a 1-in-5 chance to play a game in the NHL.
What percentage of players drafted make it to the NHL? On average 49% of players who are drafted by an NHL team will make it to the NHL, which means that they play at least one game at the NHL level.
Few Division III college hockey players have ever gone on to play in the NHL. Guy Hebert may be the most notable, having backstopped the Anaheim Ducks for eight of his 10 seasons in the NHL, after attending Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.
Ice Hockey: 12.1% chance of earning a scholarship. There are 541 programs in the U.S., 60 are NCAA DI with 18 scholarships per team and 7 are NCAA DII with 13.5 scholarships available. There are 40 NCAA DIII and NAIA teams that do not offer scholarship monies.
| RANK | SCHOOL | RECORD |
|---|---|---|
| RANK | SCHOOL | RECORD |
| 1 | Denver (46) | 2-0-0 |
| 2 | Minnesota (1) | 3-1-0 |
| 3 | North Dakota (2) | 2-0-0 |
| Rank | State | Players per 10,000 pop |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | 123.5 |
| 2 | Minnesota | 102.4 |
| 3 | Vermont | 71.5 |
| 4 | North Dakota | 70.9 |
What state plays the most hockey?
Fanbase. Ice hockey is traditionally popular in Massachusetts (and New England in general), Michigan, New York (especially Upstate New York) and Minnesota within the United States. Minnesota is known as the hockey capital of the US.
Boxing. The Sweet Science. That's the sport that demands the most from the athletes who compete in it. It's harder than football, harder than baseball, harder than basketball, harder than hockey or soccer or cycling or skiing or fishing or billiards or any other of the 60 sports we rated.
Lacrosse. This is the easiest sport to get an athletic scholarship. Lacrosse is popular mostly in America, so it has almost no international competition. Based on data, about 110,000 players were involved in lacrosse in high school and more than 14,000 in college.
The NCAA doesn't have an age limit, but its strict eligibility rules make it difficult for people above a certain age to play. At the D-I level, the moment you enroll in an institution, your time clock starts ticking—whether you are playing a sport or not.
- Wayne Gretzky.
- Mario Lemieux.
- Gordie Howe.
- Mark Messier.
- Bobby Orr.
- Steve Yzerman.
- Sidney Crosby.
- Guy LaFleur.
Members of the University of Wisconsin-Superior men's hockey team do all of these things and more — while being the stars of The Hockey Guys, a popular TikTok account.
Most college hockey teams have a "recruiting questionnaire" on their team web site and it would be beneficial to fill out a questionnaire for each school that interests you. Create a hockey resume that can help introduce you to coaches. Click here for more Frequently Asked Questions about the recruiting process.
The governing body's "cost of attendance" stipend allows schools to give players money on top of the athletic scholarships they already receive. Some hockey schools have opted in while others are taking a wait-and-see approach. But how will it affect the game overall?
Yes, college players get drafted to the NHL, however, most college players who have been drafted to the NHL have been drafted before they begin playing in the NCAA. Every year only a few players are drafted out of the NCAA, and a few sign as free agents after they finish their degrees.
But it wasn't easy. A new study shows that the chances of going from minor hockey to a steady NHL career are roughly one in 4,000; long odds indeed.
What do d1 hockey scouts look for?
Getting Noticed In College Hockey Scouting- The Bottom Line
Ultimately, scouts rate players for skating, size, game sense, character, and skill. But, if any of those attributes catch a scout's eye, you still have to make sure he likes what he sees over an extended look.
Once on the puck, scouts want to see players that can handle pressure and exhibit patience to find the next play. Puck protection and utilizing playmaking vision are the key elements they are looking for. On the flip side, avoiding going 'glass & out' or throwing pucks away would be something to avoid.
Per AHL By-Laws, the age limit for eligibility to compete in the league is 18 years or over, on or before September 15 of each season.
Every entry-level contract is a two-way deal and the maximum salary for a player that is drafted in 2022 is set at $925,000 annually. With that said, entry-level contracts can include signing and performance bonuses, so the total a player makes can exceed $925,000 per year, but there are still limits to that.
When a player is undrafted and doesn't fit the requirements to be drafted they become an unrestricted free agent. An unrestricted free agent is the hockey business term that means they are free to sign with any team of their choice.
NHL players do not pay for sticks. Their current team pays for the sticks. Even if certain players are sponsored by a brand, the team still has to buy the sticks from the brand. Some teams pay $300,000 a season to provide sticks for their players.
NHL players do not pay for their own equipment. Typically, manufacturers will pay NHL players and provide them with free gear in exchange for promotion.
Hockey skates range in price from about $50 for an entry-level Youth model to around $1000 for a top-of-the-line Senior model.
AAA hockey is absolutely worth it, provided you can afford it, and you join the right program. AAA will instill you with a great work ethic that will stay with you for life while turning you into a better player. AAA is a great stepping stone to help reach your hockey dreams, whatever they may be.
$1000-10,000 depending on where you live and level you play
Expect this to be your biggest cost. Rinks near me charge around $1200 per season for in house hockey and travel hockey ranges between $3000-8000 depending on age group and level.
Where do the best hockey players come from?
We all know that the greatest concentration of hockey players in the NHL comes from Canada. In fact, there are more NHL players from just one Canadian province, Ontario, than there are from the country with the second-most NHL players, the United States.
En route to the NHL, the path for many players goes through the Canadian Hockey League. Made up of 60 teams and three leagues, the CHL is the best there is in Canadian major junior hockey, especially when it comes to producing NHL talent.
There is no doubt that hockey academies offer some of the best training programs and facilities that money can buy. If you attend one of these prestigious schools, there's an excellent chance that you will come out of it a much-improved hockey player.
The first obvious benefit to getting private lessons is the one on one time you get with a coach. The ability to really break down your strengths and weaknesses on an in depth level and then work on them. To really fine tune those individual skills that don't always get the focus needed in practice.
“D2 tends to be way more structured than D3 and a higher level of play,” Hughes said. “D1 is almost all funded, and the top-15ish teams play incredible hockey, with some Tier 1 and Tier 2 junior players included. D2 programs have mostly Tier 3 and high-school kids along with some Tier 2 players.”
Therefore, the road to Division 3 costs the average family between $10,000-$25,000 before they attend college, where they will not be eligible for athletic scholarships. From the Division 3 perspective, on the plus side, older, more experienced junior players have a quicker learning curve to the college game.
Moving to football, there are around 130 D1 programs – or almost as many as there are hockey teams at all NCAA levels – and approximately 250 D3 programs.
The paths to NCAA Division I men's hockey can be winding, with a veritable alphabet soup of NCAA-eligible junior leagues leading to the college ranks. The vast majority of Division I players will play in one of those junior leagues – with the USHL, NAHL and BCHL producing the most players.
The NCAA has become a major development route for players to take on their way to the NHL. 33% of players in the NHL have spent time in the NCAA.
| Rk | Player | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dave Rost | 1973‑1977 |
| 2. | Tom Ross | 1972‑1976 |
| 3. | Mike Zuke | 1972‑1976 |
| 4. | Jim Montgomery | 1989‑1993 |
Where do the hockey guys go to college?
Members of the University of Wisconsin-Superior men's hockey team do all of these things and more — while being the stars of The Hockey Guys, a popular TikTok account.
These are 14- and 15-year-old kids who have a lot of growing up to do. In the Ontario League, where kids are drafted at age 15, scouts often start taking note of them when they are 14 and come back to see them the next year.
Fanbase. Ice hockey is traditionally popular in Massachusetts (and New England in general), Michigan, New York (especially Upstate New York) and Minnesota within the United States. Minnesota is known as the hockey capital of the US.
When it comes to boys who play hockey, the chances are about 1-in-1,000 of playing one NHL game. But even when you get to the elite levels such as major junior hockey, the odds are still against you. The fact is that players who play at that level basically have less than a 1-in-5 chance to play a game in the NHL.
| RANK | SCHOOL | RECORD |
|---|---|---|
| RANK | SCHOOL | RECORD |
| 1 | Denver (46) | 2-0-0 |
| 2 | Minnesota (1) | 3-1-0 |
| 3 | North Dakota (2) | 2-0-0 |
Ice Hockey: 12.1% chance of earning a scholarship. There are 541 programs in the U.S., 60 are NCAA DI with 18 scholarships per team and 7 are NCAA DII with 13.5 scholarships available. There are 40 NCAA DIII and NAIA teams that do not offer scholarship monies.
To be eligible, players must be 18 years old by Sept. 15 and under 20 years old by Dec. 31 in the draft year. However, non-North American players over 20 years old are eligible.
- Wayne Gretzky.
- Mario Lemieux.
- Gordie Howe.
- Mark Messier.
- Bobby Orr.
- Steve Yzerman.
- Sidney Crosby.
- Guy LaFleur.
Also, NCAA players get their sticks and gear for free, which is certainly a nice perk of playing for a top-end collegiate hockey program.
How do you get scouted for college hockey?
Most college hockey teams have a "recruiting questionnaire" on their team web site and it would be beneficial to fill out a questionnaire for each school that interests you. Create a hockey resume that can help introduce you to coaches. Click here for more Frequently Asked Questions about the recruiting process.
The governing body's "cost of attendance" stipend allows schools to give players money on top of the athletic scholarships they already receive. Some hockey schools have opted in while others are taking a wait-and-see approach. But how will it affect the game overall?
