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.