FINAL 2021-22 NCAA Division I Commitment Numbers

The final NCAA Division I commitment numbers are in and the 15U-16U-18U AAA (commonly referred to as "Midgets") has taken the title, edging out the North American Hockey League which led the country the past two years.

The post-Covid shuffle definitely showed up in 2021-22 as the number of commitments jumped back up to 553 after a total of 405 last year.  In 2019-20 there were 546.  While these numbers don't translate into players actually matriculating to Division I rosters, they do count legitimate verbal commitments made by the schools and players and listed on the College Hockey Inc. website.  

The changes that take place to some players making these commitments show up in the NCAA Division I Freshman Roster breakdown that the Junior Hockey Hub performs every year.

The 2020-21 season saw the glut of fifth-year Covid players returning to teams, many via the transfer portal, which meant far fewer actual roster spots available for matriculating Junior players.  That led to the 25 percent decrease in commitments last year and it appears the player glut is shaking itself out sooner than the two or three years many predicted in 2021.

Below are the final results for the level at which each of the 553 players were competing when they made their Division I commitment.  

As always, the JHH's disclaimer needs to be printed for all the USHL cheerleaders:  

• Many USHL players enter that league with commitments already made.  The JHH data does not indicate the USHL is NOT the best Junior hockey league in the United States or North America. On the contrary.  It continually produces a high number of commitments and many already-committed players matriculate to the USHL.  
• The U.S. National Team Development Program is not a franchise-owning program in the USHL, therefore is not counted as part of that league. If the USNTDP operated by the same standards as other USHL teams they would be counted in that league. Until then the USNTDP is its own entity.

This data is memorialized at the time of commitment whereas other tracking sources, like College Hockey Inc., update their data each time a player moves to a new team/league.

In the past three years the North American Hockey league still holds a 300-272 lead over the USHL, while the 15U-16U-18U AAA level comes in at 228, BCHL at 192 and U.S. High/School Prep (combined) are at 147.

Updated NCAA Division I Commitment Numbers For 2021-22

As the 2021-22 recruiting season winds down, below is an update of the NCAA Division I commitment numbers to date.  It's not a surprise that the "midget" AAA level leads the way as the majority of players who age into the verbal commitment process (per NCAA rules) are playing at that level.

The North American Hockey League (NAHL) has maintained a close second-place effort again this season while the United States Hockey League (UHSL), which has fewer teams than the NAHL so a higher per-team commitment rate, is a solid third.  It should also be pointed out that many of the 15/16/18U players who make commitments matriculate to the USHL so enter the league already counted in these stats.

The Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) have 11 commitments made this season, to lead all teams at all levels, while the Dubuque Saints and Madison Capitols of the United States Hockey League (USHL) each have 10.

There are various 15/16/18U AAA teams that have three and four commitments but the Shattuck-St. Mary's 16U team leads the way with five total.  Within the Midget level the 16U level has 56 of the 100 commitments with the 15s and 18s splitting the rest of the players.

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.