Follow Us
Blue Ox Hockey
AN ‘A’ FOR ADVANCEMENT CONTINUED
There are also players who move on from the top level to the American Collegiate Hockey Association, giving the USPHL’s top tier more than 325 alumni currently playing at all levels of college hockey.
USPHL PREMIER Today, the USPHL Premier Division is the league’s top level of Tier-3 junior hockey. It is also the largest Tier-3 league in the nation, ranging from Minnesota in the west to New England in the East, and all the way down the Eastern Seaboard to Florida. Although it may have a large footprint on the surface, divisional play and several showcases keeps travel light for the players, and provides college scouts more showcase opportunities than in any other league to see the best Tier-3 talent. That is one of the main reasons why the USPHL Premier, in the last two years alone, has produced 240 NCAA athletes - including Jacob Zab, who rode a strong year with the Pittsburgh Vengeance to an NCAA Division 1 roster spot with the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Another 210 players from the last two years of the USPHL Premier have moved on to the ACHA ranks, giving the USPHL Premier a total of 450 college advancements in just two seasons.
The NCAA Division 3 season had not yet begun as of Halloween, but watch for USPHL alumni to be among the top players in each conference. Last year, the Northeast-10 saw 10 league alumni earning post-season awards, with 10 more alumni earning post-season honors in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference. The USPHL Premier Division has also been an entry point to higher levels of hockey, most notably the NCDC. No less than 40 individual players have made the big jump the last two years to the tuition-free junior level within the USPHL. Many of these players rank among the top point leaders in the NCDC, including recent Yale University commit Ian Carpentier and Northern Cyclones standout Niklas Bretschneider. Nicolas Poirier, who made the jump from the Premier to NCDC Twin City Thunder, said it takes a lot just to advance from one level to the other.
It currently serves as a truly developmental league, with a median age of roughly 17-½ years old among its players on teams over a footprint ranging from New England and the Mid-Atlantic to the Southeastern U.S. The vast majority of USPHL Elite players move on to the USPHL Premier, with a total of 251 players in the last two seasons advancing to the higher-level Tier-3 league. Along with its junior development mission, there are several players who advance directly to college hockey. The Northern Cyclones’ Matt Irwin, who finished among the top scorers in the USPHL Elite last season, has earned a spot on the Framingham State University roster in NCAA Division 3 hockey.
“It was a good start last year with the Premier team. A lot of the guys moved up. We did a good job working hard this summer to make sure we got a spot,” added Poirier. “Guys are faster, but you just get adjusted to the speed. Work hard every day and good things will happen.”
A total of 179 former USPHL Elite players (along with players from precursors to the USPHL Elite) are on ACHA rosters for this season, adding to the more than 1,200 total USPHL alumni currently playing college hockey.
USPHL ELITE
The USPHL 18U, 16U and 15U Full Season Divisions have developed a great reputation for not only hosting
The USPHL Elite Division, also operating
32
at the Tier-3 junior level, has operated at various stages of the USPHL’s existence as its second-and third-highest level of junior hockey.
Thin The Herd // 2020-21
USPHL MIDGET DIVISIONS