How To Get Recruited

There are only two reasons to play high school hockey, to have fun and to prepare for college hockey. You do not need to be a star to play college hockey although it obviously is helpful. Most players will have to search for a college program that fits them as athletes, but even if you are not a star player odds are teams are going to come looking for you. College coaches go to games, or send someone in their place, all across the United States and Canada to watch high school, prep school, and junior teams play. If you are just that good, or play for a standout program, odds are you have been looked at by some team at some point. Colleges know who the scoring leaders are in high school and prep school leagues, especially if they have exponentially higher numbers than normal. So who are they interested in? They prefer players who score goals. They prefer players who are team captains. And they prefer players with skating ability. Skating ability may be a well duh comment but if given a choice between two players of relative equal skills a coach will take the better skater every time. If you are not a star player that does not mean you might not get scouted. Playing with other talented athletes or for a traditionally strong team is one way of getting exposure. Another way is to seek out tournaments to showcase your talents or to attend camps or clinics held by the colleges at which you wish to play. Another thing to consider is where you want to play. There is no need to assume that you have to play for a team everyone knows. Not everyone can make it to division one hockey. There simply are not enough spots. However, good college hockey is everywhere and you may find that you get more ice time and in many ways become a better player on a team playing at a lower level. When people talk about how hard it is to make a college team they most likely have only the best division one teams in mind, but there are almost twice as many division two and division three hockey leagues. Moreover, college club hockey is growing at an incredible rate and in many ways the ACHA is competing with the NCAA for players. Many ACHA teams scout just as a NCAA team would complete with recruits, tryouts, and cuts. They have three divisions of play. They travel and have national championships. Club hockey players have incredibly similar experiences in the ACHA as NCAA athletes, the only difference really is how much money a college is willing to spend to develope a program. Skill levels vary across both the NCAA and the ACHA so there is a spot out there on a team for you if you are willing to look and to work hard enough. Regardless of the team you wish to play for you will need to get recommendations from coaches, collect stats and newspaper clippings about you and your current team, it would be a good idea to make highlight video, and lastly you will in most cases need to contact a team one to two seasons in advance as a potential athlete. Most teams will have a link or email address on their website for prospective players or you can simply call that college's athletics office and ask how to contact the hockey team. Be on time for any meetings and exhibit more work ethic than other players in any tryouts. Last and most important, do not forget that you should choose your college based on academics and not athletics. Playing hockey is not what lets you to go to college, rather going to college enables you to play hockey.