The hockey landscape is constantly changing. College hockey gets older, but the best players are often younger. More and more players are leaving for junior hockey leagues earlier. Locally, that's the QMJHL and the USHL.
That has had quite the trickle-down effect on 15O-18U hockey in New England — fall teams, full-season academies and prep.
The biggest point of debate is how those three segments of hockey — fall, full-season and prep — can improve their product to a.) retain players longer and b.) develop them as efficiently as possible for juniors.
Playing the most amount of hockey is the biggest issue. Academies have no problem in that department, playing a full slate of games from September to April.
Fall and prep teams, however, do have that issue, according to some. Many players suit up for a club team from September to November before donning their prep sweaters from December to late February/early March.
It can be a bit disjointed. Why should a player paying full price at a prep school have to play for a faraway team in the fall?
Changes have been made in recent seasons. The Peak Performance Prep Hockey League has emerged as a strong option for some schools, keeping teams together to play on weekends in the fall. Last fall, the CEM fall league popped up, with schools like Salisbury, Frederick Gunn, Deerfield, Taft and Westminster facing off on weekends (under different team names and without their prep head coach behind the bench). Some schools have opted to have their teams play on one fall club team.
The fall slate begins on Sunday with the famous River Rats Jamboree. There will be plenty of teams in attendance that are typical fall squads made up of players from a smorgasbord of different prep destinations.
But we're undoubtedly trending towards prep teams playing together in the fall. The big question: Could we see NEPSAC ever start the season earlier?
In our New England prep coaches survey, we asked coaches how they would re-envision fall hockey in a perfect world. All coaches were granted anonymity to speak freely — and almost all advocated for an earlier start.
"We should start Oct. 1," one coach said. "Expand the schedule to 35-40 games for everyone. Limit teams to a specific number of weeks with three games a week outside of tournaments and playoffs. This will mirror the college and USHL schedule better."
The point of prep hockey is to prepare players for the grind of junior and collegiate seasons. But, to that coach's point, the prep season isn't as long.
"Model the Ivy schedule," another coach added.
Even with the changing landscape of colleges recruiting older players out of junior hockey, Ivy League schools are notorious for scooping up prep players. Yale was one of the most active teams this August, while Harvard had typically been under former head coach Ted Donato. Dartmouth and Cornell routinely get commitments from prep stars.
The Ivy League schedule runs from late October through March.
"I would like to see us have the ability to start skating with our teams on Oct. 1 and start playing games on or around Oct. 15," a coach said.
Fall hockey always has hype around it at first — it's the start of a new year. Events like the River Rats Jamboree and Eastern Alliance Kickoff draw throngs of high-end players and teams. The scouts follow.
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But as the fall rolls on, player attendance can be low, with players sometimes headed out to a USHL or QMJHL team on the weekends. The games often lack structure.
"I would love even just a couple of on-ice sessions per week in addition to what they do for split-season," one coach said. "Open that up in October. It would be great if there could be a way to limit the number of games they play in split-season. I know some kids are worn down by the time we get to the start of prep. Fun for kids to have the opportunity to play at Nationals [in April], but the fall is a lot."
What's preventing prep teams from starting earlier is the NEPSAC.
"I don't think it will ever happen within the NEPSAC," a coach said.
The reason coaches often point to is that if boys hockey goes full-season, what's stopping baseball or softball, boys basketball, or girls lacrosse from asking to go full-season? NEPSAC would likely want to keep options open for players to play as many sports as they can. Going to a full-season model likely limits someone's ability to do that.
That's why these new fall leagues for prep schools, or having them play on one club team, is so enticing for coaches.
"The ideal scenario would be for the prep season to begin on Oct. 1," one coach said. "Since that is not happening any time soon, I am a fan of the teams playing together through the fall in a fall league. I believe the campus-based models are the most beneficial for the overall development and experience of the kids."
In a league like CEM, the schools provide transportation for players, which is one less thing for them to worry about. The games are usually at one site, too, and they don't spend the weekend at that site, allowing them to get back to their prep schools for weekend activities — music to the ears of administrators.
"I love how all of our players play on the same club team," a coach said. "I like our model."
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Playing together in the fall has also become a selling point for prep schools in non-metro areas. Parents typically like to hear that their son won't have to get themselves from Deerfield or Taft to the New England Sports Center or Foxboro Sports Center every weekend.
"I think playing together is huge," a coach said. "We have found great success with it. If you buy into it, playing in the fall together can provide far more benefits. The only thing holding people back is the fear of missing out, or wondering where the scouts will be, and I think that is not the right approach to fall."
