Over and over again, a few programs around Hockey East seemingly kept making the mistake of bringing players in before they were ready. It hardly ever works, and the 2021-22 Hockey East freshman scoring statistics prove that. With two weekends left in the regular season, 15 rookies have hit the double-digit mark in scoring. Looking...
Over and over again, a few programs around Hockey East seemingly kept making the mistake of bringing players in before they were ready.
It hardly ever works, and the 2021-22 Hockey East freshman scoring statistics prove that. With two weekends left in the regular season, 15 rookies have hit the double-digit mark in scoring. Looking into the age and playing history of those 15 players tells a lot about the need to not rush to college hockey.
Of the top 15 rookie scorers in Hockey East, all but three played at least 43 games in the USHL. Seven of the 15 played at least 95 games of junior hockey. Of the five true freshmen among the top 15 in scoring, all played at least eight games in the USHL. Four of those five played at least two seasons in the USHL. The current top 15 Hockey East rookie scorers averaged 53.93 games played in the USHL and 83.66 games played in junior hockey.
The only outlier in terms of junior experience is Hockey East’s leading freshman scorer, Scott Morrow of UMass. The Darien, Conn., native was a second-round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2021. Over the past several years, the only way to overcome a lack of junior experience or being a younger player in college hockey is being a top-three-round NHL draft prospect.
I’ve said it a number of times, but my advice to prospective players and their parents and college coaches is simple: don’t go to college hockey too early. Coaches should walk away if players and their parents won’t listen. It won’t be worth it.
Here’s a look at the stats of the 15 Hockey East rookies this season:
