All 2021-22 NCAA Division I Players By State/Province/Country

The table breaks down all 2021-22 NCAA Division I players by state, Canadian Province and country.  There are six states and four provinces in the Top 10.

2021-22 NCAA Division I Freshmen By Birth Year

Please note we have adjusted the number for freshmen down by one to 375. We discovered a transfer player who had already played a season of Division I hockey but was still being listed as a freshman by his school.  He is a freshman according to eligibility, but he is by no means an incoming freshman.

State/Provinces That Produced NCAA Division I Freshmen In 2021-22

It's never a surprise when Minnesota, Ontario, Michigan, Massachusetts and New York are the top five in the production of NCAA Division I freshmen.  But data is data and we'll never know if it changes or shifts unless we do the research each year.

This data is related to the place of birth for all freshmen, so we realize some players -- like Alaska's Connor Mylymock for example -- are listed with their place of birth but actually grew up and played elsewhere.  Mylymock is the lone Mississippi-born freshman this year but grew up in Saskatchewan. We fully understand that, but with all data you have to set parameters for your research.

What IS surprising is the fifth- and sixth-highest producing states were California and Colorado, with 16 and 15 freshmen respectively, while we could not find a single freshman from Connecticut.  Nor would we figure Vermont and Virginia, sticking with my alliteration concept, would regularly produce the same number of NCAA Division I players (two for each this year).

Teams That Advanced The Most Division I Freshmen For 2021-22

This data is pretty simple -- here are the top 20 teams/programs for direct advancement of freshmen from the 2020-21 season to 2021-22 NCAA Division I rosters.

Of note is longtime Junior head coach Scott Langer, who last year pumped 10 players into Division I from Aberdeen of the North American Hockey League, is now with the Fargo Force, who ranked No. 2 last year with 14.  

With USHL, and to some extent the better NAHL teams, there is an ebb and flow to these numbers each season.  One would expect Fargo and Sioux City, for example, to drop off in 2021-22 as they'll likely have more USHL rookies who will play two years before matriculating.  They essentially emptied the cupboard of players last year and are somewhat rebuilding their roster.  Having said that, Fargo ranked No. 2 last year with 13 advancements and Aberdeen was the highest-ranked NAHL team with 9. Logic and data don't always line up.

The USNTDP once again leads the way, as it should given the mission and goal of that program.  The Junior Hockey Hub does not include USNTDP data with the USHL because it does not possess a franchise to that league.  The NTDP is a scheduling partner with the USHL and NAHL, therefore treated as its own entity in terms of advancement.

Below is the Top 20 for 2021-22:

NCAA Division I Freshmen Advancement Information

Hot off the presses -- it's that time of year again! 

When the NCAA Division I ice hockey season gets underway it's quickly followed by an avalanche of misinformation about where players played last year, where they are from as part of the broader question of "What is the best path to college hockey?"  

This information is extremely relevant to the thousands of players who are currently trudging that path toward the NCAA arena with an enormous amount of time, effort and -- let's face it -- money.  Each year the battle for NCAA roster spots at all levels gets tighter and tighter, but it would be hard to find a topic that has more myths and misinformation in circulation than this "path."

The Junior Hockey Hub is the only in-depth source for NCAA ice hockey advancement and commitment information. Each year we scrub rosters of all NCAA men's ice hockey teams and formulate the data into meaningful reports that can be utilized by players, parents and even college hockey coaches themselves.

We advocate that if you are a player, and a coach or advisor tells you about the best path, ask them "Why?"  Ask them "How many players have successfully followed that path to the NCAA?"  Don't just take that information verbatim.  Every facet of the youth-to-college development structure perpetuates this misinformation -- sometimes on purpose, sometimes just out of sheer lack of knowledge.  

The opinion regarding your path may be customized to your style of play, for example, but the data doesn't lie.  On the same hand the data isn't a singular guide to where you need to be, but it's an important criterion to use when making your choices or assessing your chances of playing college hockey.

For the 2021-22 season there are 376 freshmen (including the players who matriculated for spring semester last year after NCAA allowed an extra year of eligibility).  Below are the levels from where these players directly advanced, with the comparison to 2020-21 data under the "2021" column.  

Zero surprise that the United States Hockey League leads the way followed again by the North American Hockey League.  For most United States players, and any college-bound foreign players, those are the leagues in which you'll most likely end up if you are a Division I player.

You'll notice the British Columbia Hockey League down 27 advancements, clearly due to the pandemic shutdown of that league in 2020-21.  Same with the Central Canada Hockey League at -14.  The "Other" column at -7 merely a reclassification of the European advancement for this 2021-22 because of the pandemic.  In 2020-21 there were seven players who came directly from Europe, this past year there were 16 so we broke them down by country for a net gain of 9.  We believe most of those players would have played in North American Junior leagues if it were possible.

One final oddity is that of Austen Swenkler, with Bowling Green, who was granted rare NCAA eligibility after competing for the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League in 2019-21.  The NCAA views participation in the Canadian Major Junior leagues (OHL, Western Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) to nullify a player's eligibility.  The last player to gain NCAA eligibility after playing Major Junior was Brayden Gelsinger, who entered Lake Superior State in 2016 after essentially a ruling error by the NCAA.

Any question please send to info@juniorhockeyhub.com.  For the next few days we'll release additional NCAA Division I-related advancement data, so check back with The Junior Hockey Hub.

                

Year-To-Date NCAA Division I Commitments

It is not surprising the 15U/16U/18U levels have opened up a wide lead in the NCAA Division I commitment race for the 2021-22 season.  While this process is a marathon, not a sprint, the numbers area still heavily skewed toward the "midget" level more than usual at this time of year.

One big reason for this is because of the NCAA rules that were implement a couple years ago regarding when a player can be contacted and when a player can make a commitment.  These rules have pushed the top-end 16-year-olds to a starting line for commitments (August 1 prior to Junior year of high school), after which they come in a flourish.  

In addition, until November the Northeast is in split-season mode where many of the Prep school athletes are playing 15/16/18U hockey for their private clubs.  These teams attend multiple showcases with full-season midget teams and they are highly scouted by Division I coaches.  

For those in other parts of the country, in the Northeast the state and District playoffs for USA Hockey national tournaments are in the fall, after which the teams disband for the year to attend prep and high school.  The teams that qualify for nationals come back together in March after their schools seasons conclude and prior to USAH nationals.

Below is the up-to-date commitment data compiled after researching each player to categorize them correctly.  You may find data that shows more U.S. Prep school players for example, but as Prep schools are not even on the ice right now the commitments are largely coming from the private club 15/16/18U participation and scouting.  The Junior Hockey Hub preserves this information every 30 days and it does not update when a player matriculates to the next level or another team.  We are focused solely on where a player is playing when his/her commitment takes place which will look far different than most data sets by the end of the season.

Junior Hockey Moving Out of the Pandemic ... It is Hoped

With the hockey world seemingly committed to a close-to-normal season in 2021-22, it will be interesting for data geeks and scouts alike to see how different teams and different levels handle the glut of talent produced by a year off.

Where to start ... at the top.  The NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility across the board -- all sports, all levels.  At the Division I level this means a number of players will be playing a fifth season in 2021-22, which in turn means there will be fewer-than-normal roster spots for incoming freshmen. For the sake of this discussion, let's assume that incoming freshmen have exhausted their Junior (20U) eligibility and HAVE to matriculate to college. 

This past April the NCAA also voted to approve a plan that allows players at all levels/all sports to transfer without losing a year of eligibility.  This lead to the NCAA transfer portal becoming the administrative equivalent of yard sale on a windy day.

What has not taken the year off is the NHL-drafted and soon-to-be drafted players matriculating to college before they turn 20 years old.  No college coach will let one of these blue chippers go somewhere else by trying to convince them to play another year of Juniors.  These are the players who play one or two years and sign NHL contracts.

Lots of players ... not that many roster spots.  Division I coaches have had to tell players they should move along if they want to play that fifth year.  They have also taken some transfers and likely convinced players to go back to Juniors this year.

All in all it leads to a higher level of talent, or at least a deeper talent pool at this level.

The trickle-down effect to NCAA Division II and III is even bigger, given this level has its own talent glut provided by the fifth-year of eligibility. Many Division I players in transfer protocol are moving to Division III.  This increased the talent level and depth of this level, but same as Division I, it provides fewer roster spots for incoming freshmen.  Anecdotally there are fewer Division II/III players taking a fifth year compared to Division I players, but it's still statistically significant.  NCAA coaches at this level have an even bigger juggling act as they have to be careful not to take so many transfers and fifth-years that they kill of an entire freshman class.  In a couple years the talent glut will be through the pipeline and a program can't afford to almost literally skip an incoming group of freshmen.

Speaking to one Division III athletic director, I was told his team accepted five Division I transfers and dissuaded two fifth-year senior players who wanted to continue playing. On the other hand, two fifth-year players turned down the option to play another year to take jobs and get on with life.  Division III coaches have to manage incoming and outgoing players much tighter than Division I coaches because of the "Time to get a job" option.

Finally, moving on to Juniors, all this means more players will have to be playing until their Junior eligibility is exhausted.  This has increasingly become the norm over the past few years. Last I tallied data more than 88 percent of freshmen were 20 years old when matriculating to college hockey.  

Sounding like a broken record, this will lead to another year of a glut of talent in Juniors, especially if the United States-Canada border is not opened for hockey players to move about freely.  

The North American Hockey League, the only Tier II Junior league in the United States (as defined by USA Hockey), and the USPHL's tuition-free National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC players have a compulsory league registration fee of $400+), made hay while the sun shone last year.  Each league had by far its best level of talent and depth in 2020-21 and may eclipse their talent levels again in 2021-22.

In addition, the USHL limits the number of 20U players it can roster, and the closing of the Canada border meant 500+ American players stayed here to compete.  For many players that meant NAHL or NCDC, which in turn pushed the commitment and advancement numbers up for those leagues.  The NAHL had more commitments last year than the USHL.  While the NCDC still lags far behind in Division I commitments and advancements, another kick at the can to gain ground this year is an opportunity worth its weight in gold.

The Tier III level of Juniors gets the same deal -- with fewer college roster spots available and certainly fewer opportunities to move up to a Tier II league.  Tier III Junior hockey will be deep once again in 2021-22 with many players crossing their fingers that college roster spots loosen up by 2022-23.

The last trickle down is for the 17- and 18-year-olds who populate the AAA youth programs given the lack of Tier I and Tier II Junior opportunity compared to most years.  

Coaches who manage their rosters appropriately -- meaning not getting too greedy on stocking talent in the short-term -- can get a great boost to their program.  The rich are getting richer as one would expect. Players naturally want to transfer and attend, or in Minnesota-Duluth's case stick around for a fifth year for another shot at a national championship, the best teams.  The best teams this year have more building blocks to work with, but looking two or three years down the road is critical for any level.

Should be a great year with unintended consequences of the NCAA rules and players scrambling for roster spots.

Year-To-Date NCAA Division I Commitment Information

Two years ago the NCAA Division I college hockey programs got together and created new guidelines for recruiting, in addition to addressing the then-increasing issue of players verbally committing at younger and younger ages.

With the new rules in place, verbal commitments cannot be made until Aug. 1 preceding the student-athlete's Junior year in high school.  Nothing changed regarding the signing of National Letters of Intent (NIL) the November of the student-athlete's Senior year in high school (or after player graduates if he is playing Juniors).

From a data standpoint that creates a sprint that begins August 1 and runs through half the month in which the blue chip players -- the ones the coaches think are "sure things" at age 15 -- make their verbal commitments.  For example, this past month saw 66 verbal commitments almost all of which are for the 2023-34 season.

It has also created more awareness that the U.S. National team Development Program and the United States Hockey League are recruiting and selecting players that are already committed to Division I teams prior to their USNTDP or USHL involvement.  Their ability to garner a NCAA Division I commitment is related to being able to play in the USNTDP and USHL, but the commitments are from their previous development.

This isn't to paint the USNTDP or USHL, or any other league, in a bad light.  Not by any stretch.  But as discussed in the Junior Hockey Hub the program from which a player makes his/her commitment is critical information for parents and players who are charting their path.   Right now if you look at College Hockey Inc., you'll notice a number of USNTDP-17 team members with commitments.  The reality is none of those players, at this point, have played in a game for that program.  They are entering that program, mostly from 15U AAA teams, with their verbal commitment already made.  The scouting and discussions have already taken place.

The way we track the data locks in from where the player is playing, or has played the prior year, when the commitment was made.  This data helps really drill down into the standard path for Division I.  Not the ONLY path, but the standard path.

Right now, for obvious reasons explained above, the 15/16/18U AAA path is far out in front. As the season progresses the NAHL, USHL, High School and other segments will start to make their commitments.  The numbers will be very different by the end of the year, of course, but knowing the timeline and how/where these commitments are made is important to knowing your path.

Below is the current NCAA Division I commitment data for July 1-August 31, 2021.

 

NCAA Division II/III Rosters Will Be Different For Next Couple Seasons

Besides the obvious medical and health issues the Pandemic has certainly caused some odd things to happen around the world.  There are supply chain problems, spikes in home improvement projects, a company like Zoom becomes so popular the word Zoom is now a verb and a noun, etc.

Because this is a hockey site, the most interesting Pandemic-related item involving college-bound hockey is how the glut of college players is affecting Division II/III rosters, which in turn will affect Junior hockey again -- likely for the next two years at least.

Here's how the dominos fall:

• NCAA has allowed a blanket year of extra eligibility for all players in all sports, so there are going to be fifth-year seniors at all levels taking up roster spots.
• At the Division I level, blue chip recruits are still enrolling as freshmen and they will displace older players simply due to their talent level.  This has led to an extremely high number of Division I players transferring to Division II/III, which in turn takes up more Division II/III roster spots.
• Many 19-year-olds, who would have otherwise enrolled in Division II/III schools last year, put off their matriculation so they could keep playing vs. enrolling and having the year off. These players will be freshmen in 2021-22 along with the normal 20-year-old players who usually enroll as freshmen.
• The blanket year of extra eligibility may continue to get utilized for the next few years by student-athletes in all sports and all levels.

These dominos have caused NCAA coaches to really dig in and plan their next couple of seasons from a roster standpoint to maximize their competitiveness, while also guarding against having a potentially empty cupboard in a particular class in the future.

Many freshmen are currently realizing they are one of 30+ student-athletes on campus who all feel like they will be playing college hockey this year. 

If you are a 19- or 20-year-old Junior player this season you at least have the benefit of being able to look at rosters and speak with coaches about how much of a backlog of players each team has. Now more than ever it's time for players to do their homework and communicate effectively with any potential college programs.  As a player you will soon find out how adept your own Junior coaching staff is at college placement.

When We Last Looked At Division II/III Advancement

In hopes that we are emerging to normalcy in the world, at least as far as hockey is concerned (since this is a hockey site), it's a good time to revisit the NCAA Division II/III advancement data from 2019-20 -- when it last mattered.

The Junior Hockey Hub examines NCAA Division II/III advancement data only. That means every December I look at NCAA freshmen on official rosters and determine from what team/program they matriculated.  The Hub does not look at "commitment" information at this level because it is not stable enough to draw solid conclusions.  

Without a National Letter of Intent (NIL) as the ultimate deal-closer, a Division II/III commitment will never turn into a binding agreement.  Not all organizations, and certainly not all players, have the same level of follow-through on these commitments (e.g. the student-athlete actually enrolling in school and showing up on a roster).  Furthermore, many Division II/III teams have old-fashioned tryouts. A player could be recruited and show up at school out of shape and simply not added to the roster, for example.  Some organizations announce a commitment if a player is simply accepted by the school in question.  

Therefore the Junior Hockey Hub only concerns itself with advancement data, which is irrefutable.

During the last full season of Division II/III hockey in 2019-20, the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) Premier Division had just secured its first "title" with 120 direct advancements.  The Premier Division knocked off the longtime King of the Hill Eastern Hockey League (EHL) for this title. The EHL came in with 113 that season.

As with all stats, however, they need to be further examined to tell the real picture.  The EHL was the clear leader in overall performance as it averaged 6.28 advancements per team, compared to a only 2.35 per Premier Division team.  The tuition-free National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC) was actually in second place with 5.58 advancement per team, followed by USA Hockey Tier II North American Hockey League in third with 4.0. The Premier Division was fourth and the NA3HL rounded out the top five with 1.55 advancements per team.

Back in 2015 the EHL was responsible for 140 advancements, which was 28 percent of all incoming NCAA Division II/III freshmen.  That was a pretty stunning number.  It isn't that the EHL has suddenly faltered in its performance or mission, it's that other leagues -- chiefly the USPHL Premier Division -- have stepped up their game in terms of placement.  

The fact the Premier Division has continued to make gains while the USPHL launched the tuition-free NCDC is a testament to the operators who are really working at it.

The perennial leader in advancement is any team that is coached by Chris Cerrella.  He is the head coach of the EHL's New Hampshire Avalanche, and was formerly the head coach of the EHL's now-defunct Hartford Jr. Wolfpack.  In 2019-20 Cerrella's squad advanced 13 players directly to college to lead the country yet again.  

The Northern Cyclones Premier team and the New Hampshire Monarchs NDCD team -- both USPHL-but-former-EHL organizations -- were tied for second with 11 advancements.  Also with 11 and rounding out the four-way tie were the EHL's Philadelphia Revolution and the USPHL Premier's Hampton Roads Whalers.

By comparison, the leading NA3HL teams had five advancements.  There were multiple teams with this number, but five is a far cry from double digits when it comes to college placement. 

A lot of this has to do with living where the food is.  The majority of the NCAA Division II/III teams are within a two-hour drive of Boston, Mass.  Starting about six years ago many Midwestern Division III teams started showing up at Eastern Hockey League showcases in great numbers and recruiting directly from that league.  The players in the East, by nature, are willing to travel and commit to college hockey without prejudice toward geography.  They'll be student-athletes almost anywhere, but most importantly they have the resources to (a) pay Tier III fees for two or three post-high school year and (b) pay out-of-state or private school tuition or qualify for academic scholarships, which makes them open to almost any opportunity.

North American Hockey League Moves To Top Of Division I Commitment Race

Amid a pandemic that drastically affected all youth and Junior hockey in North America last year, the North American Hockey League (NAHL) rose to the top of the NCAA Division I commitment performance rankings.  These rankings are based on data from the time period July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021.

The Junior Hockey Hub is the only organization that pulls and stores NCAA Division I commitment data regularly so where the player is playing when the commitment is made is memorialized.  This is a critical point in comparing leagues and organizations regarding Division I commitments.  As players progress through the "system" toward college hockey, each organization for which a player suits up makes a commitment claim. For example, if a 16U player makes a commitment and then progresses through two Junior leagues, and maybe three Junior teams, his commitment will be claimed by up to four organizations and/or leagues.  What gets lost a couple years down the road is where that player was at the critical point in the recruiting process.

This credits the organization and the league which -- for that player -- provided the ultimate platform and service to acquire a Division I commitment.

The Junior Hockey Hub also tracks advancements, which is from where players advance directly to NCAA Division I, II and III college hockey rosters.  This data is done each fall by scouring NCAA rosters and determining where all freshmen played the prior year.  This data is important as players/parents can look at where they likely need to be playing to have the best chance at cracking a college roster spot.  

The Junior Hockey Hub does not track Division II and III commitment because that data, compared to the actual NCAA roster data on Dec. 1 of each year, is generally not close to matching up.  Given there are no National Letters of Intent for Division III athletics, the system by which players commit to programs means they plan on attending that university and they may try out for the hockey team.  Not to mention the fact they actually have to make the team.  So Division III data is only tracked by actual advancements to cut through enormous amount of "commitment" announcements that never pan out at this level.

Getting back to 2020-21 season, the NAHL toppled the United States Hockey League (USHL) in overall commitment numbers for the second year in a row.  Before you hit the Comment section -- yes I know the USHL has a clear lead in per-team commitments.  There are far fewer USHL teams than North American League teams, and only an eight-commitment difference.  However that does not take away from the fact the NAHL has steadily built its performance in this area.  

I don't believe anyone would make the argument that the USHL isn't the clear leader in overall commitment efficiency for all its players.  I will make the argument that the NAHL, under the leadership of Mark Frankenfield, has positioned itself to capitalize on the USHL's move to become a younger league.  The USHL, NAHL and USA Hockey negotiated a player movement agreement a couple years back that created a partnership between the leagues and set up a situation of apples and oranges in regards to how they attack the commitment/advancement process.  Essentially players can move from NAHL to USHL during the season per the details of the agreement. It's no longer a player-by-player negotiation.  This has -- in my opinion -- created an environment where a player has nothing to lose by joining a NAHL team, which in turn positions the NAHL as a better landing area for the 20-year-old players who fall victim to the USHL's 20-year-old player limit.  In the USHL you could play for a team for two years, for example, and be cut as a 20-year-old because that league limits the number of age-out players its teams can roster.

For many years the British Columbia Hockey League has been pointed to as the second best college placement league in North America, but the data has not supported that for the past three years and the pandemic has caused the river to change paths. If the NAHL plays its cards right, it will continue to strengthen its performance and the border-crossing for Division I-type Junior players will continue to be low even after there is free, non-pandemic movement again.

Some other notes point to the lack of high school hockey last year as the reason for a glaring drop in commitments at that level.  High school hockey commitments are mainly a Minnesota thing.  The U.S. Prep scene has been eroded by the gradual increase in academy-style hockey as some prep schools are now playing 15U-16U-18U AAA hockey instead of prep, even though the education component remains prep. For our data purposes the level of hockey being played is how the commitment is listed. A good example is Shattuck-St. Mary's prep school, which for many years has been playing AAA level hockey.  Some prep schools have followed that model while other clubs are partnering with local prep schools for education, or offering outright virtual education while playing AAA level hockey.

The 2021-22 season will also have some odd data given the number of NCAA players who take their fifth year of eligibility and the number of players who have aged out of Juniors in 2021.  This puts NCAA coaches in a fairly leveraged situation, as teams (in general) won't lose as many players while the pool of potential incoming freshman is large.  There are also a number of Division I players in the Division III transfer portal which will further tie up Division III spots for next year.

It is hoped the chart below and the narrative above has provided a good framework of information for those of you who are trying to chart a path toward college hockey. Please direct any questions via Twitter @juniorhockeyhub or via the Comments section below.

Junior Hockey Coverage With Information That Comes From Junior Hockey People

Editor's Introductory Note:
For more than a few years I've had the thought of combining a writing and reporting background with ownership and management experience in college-bound hockey programs (15U, 16U, 18U and Juniors).  

This domain was reserved seven years ago and I have annually contemplated starting this site -- until today when something was actually done about it.

The Junior Hockey Hub will specialize in presenting VERIFIED commitment and advancement data for college-bound programs as a tool for the hockey-playing public to use.  This information is available to all, but sorting and analyzing takes a little experience in the game.  Knowing what is a legitimate claim about advancement, and what is an embellishment, can save an enormous amount of time and money on behalf of players and parents.

From a content perspective I will speak directly to those involved in college-bound hockey, on the record, and allow all parties to comment.  This site will not be driven by unfounded rumors or hair-brained ideas as the basis for coverage.

We're going to present the facts and provide a format for participants to share their thoughts.  This will be a challenge as many in the hockey world -- for whatever reason -- are reticent about speaking "on the record."  

If an anonymous source is to be cited by the The Junior Hockey Hub the information will be verified with two other sources in order to determine its accuracy.  This will be a two-way street  for all involved in this great sport.

I hope you find this site to be helpful and can be involved in adult conversations regarding the world of college-bound hockey.

Enjoy!

Jeff Nygaard
The Junior Hockey Hub

About The Operator
Jeff Nygaard spent more than 20 years in Junior and youth hockey as an owner/operator, league commissioner and on-ice official.  He also worked in NCAA college athletics from 1990-96 and will use this background, combined with a rusty Mass Communications degree from North Dakota State University.   

It is his intention for this site to become a central news source for all those chasing college or professional hockey spots and a trade association of sorts for the owner/operators who provide these opportunities.

Please allow this to be your main source of 18U, 16U, high school, prep school and Junior hockey information.  Nygaard will work to ensure that every side of every pertinent topic is presented.