Our NAHL Combine Experience

My oldest son, Duncan, participated in one of the NAHL's combines in 2024. They hold 4 or 5 of them each Spring around the country and they routinely fill up quickly. Especially for goaltenders and defense.

Having done this sort of thing before, I was prepared for it to simply be a money grab.

Leap of faith, really.

It could be awesome or it could be a handful of really overpriced pick-up hockey games.

First impression, sadly, wasn't great.

Like a lot of these things, they align themselves with specific hotels and all but force you to stay at them.

Every hockey parent is familiar with the whole "stay to play" scenario...and this was one of those.

Generally speaking, I'm okay with that. I mean, I don't like it...but have grown accustomed to it.

Like most of us travel hockey families, I've got points with the Hilton Honors, Marriot BonVoy, and whatever Holiday Inn calls their app...so, whereever works.

The downside to this one was that ALL of the hotels were a solid 30 minutes from the rink...and the road between had a toll.

Not exactly where I would have picked to stay.

That aside, once we arrived at the rink, things were more organized than I've ever seen at one of these things. Grand total, there were over 300 players (200 juniors and 100 prospects) and the check in process was super prompt and efficient.

Players got their jerseys and socks -- they were all organized on a table by color and number so you weren't just standing there as someone desperately searched for your jersey and then frantically through another box to find the correct size socks.

That had already been done before ANY of the players arrived.

Each team had 3 goaltenders, 6 defenseman, and 9 or 10 forwards.

Since forwards are a dime a dozen, sorry, I'm pretty sure they had the capacity to go up to 12 forwards but I don't recall seeing a player with a number high enough.

Jersey numbers were position based so it was easy to tell who was who.

Goalies got 1, 30, and 35.

Defense was 2 though 7.

Forwards were 8 through 17 on our team...but I'm pretty certain I saw one of the opponents with an 18 and 19 too.

I wasn't in the locker room beforehand, obviously, but my son informed me that one kid took initiative and took on a captain like role having everyone say their name, where they lived, and what team and level they played for.

My kid has a lot of leadership qualities but he said this kid was "next level" so I suggested he borrow some of that kid's tactics going forward.

Right there, already a valuable experience from my perspective.

Predominantly AAA or AA players from all over the country with a couple A level players mixed in.

He said they came up with the lines themselves -- and those lines held for the duration of the combine. My son's D partner was the same kid throughout.

I'm not sure their styles complimented one another's perfectly but consistency is super important too.

Slight tangent but I couldn't help notice how many parents were wearing Quebec PeeWee tournament swag too.

That "64" logo was everywhere.

Well, not everywhere...maybe 5% of the crowd...but they certainly made sure you saw it! Had to be parents of the youngest players there.

I used to think that tournament was the pinnacle of youth hockey -- going to Quebec City on it's own is super cool -- but I really thought it was "the" tournament where all the best players competed.

The Brick is a joke -- I learned that firsthand.

So, I thought, the Quebec PeeWee tournament was the real deal.

My oldest son's quest to get there was disrupted by Covid but I kept a keen eye on it for my middle son.

He didn't go either, though. We didn't even pursue it.

I'd learned in the 3 years between them that it wasn't a best-of-the-best tournament like I'd thought. It was more like...The Brick 2 point 0.

It was a lot of really great players, like, really great players...surrounded by a hodgepodge of mediocre players that latched on through, well, connections.

Connections are important.

The program my kids played for at the time didn't have an entry...but clearly had a loose affiliation with a program that did.

Every year, a couple kids from the program would go and play for that specific team from out of state...and the kids chosen would often leave people within our program scratching their heads.

Wait a minute. That's a little sus...

Seldom was it a top player.

Usually a coach's kid. And their friend.

Not gonna name names...but one year, it was the worst player on the team.

That'll raise some eyebrows!

Spoiler alert -- the Quebec Tournament teams are not even close to what I'd thought they were.

Ending point, that's not the all star team I'm seeking for my kids. Not for thousands of dollars.

Nope, we'll go to the Winter Carnival as a family instead and skip the hockey stuff. Better value.

You might think I'm just a bitter parent of a kid that wasn't good enough but...well...I know what I am and post-PeeWee coaches recognize that my kid is usually better than the kid rolling in with the hat, sweatshirt, warm-ups, and hockey bag with the Quebec logo on it.

Do I wish my kid got to experience Quebec City? You bet I do.

Do I regret not "securing" a roster spot somewhere for him? No.

As I've said before -- once the players are nearly teenagers, it's better to only seek options that lead to your goal.

The Quebec PeeWee Tournament was never the end goal for my older two boys.

Maybe it will be for my youngest? I don't know yet.

So, yeah, it happened again at this Combine. My non-Quebec Tournament logo wearing kid got a lot more attention than the kids with it plastered all over their equipment.

The best player I witnessed over the weekend was a 17 year old, and he was heads and tails above EVERYONE there, and he wasn't a Quebec participant when he was a PeeWee -- I looked him up, just to be sure.

And that re-assured me that I'd navigated the peewee years for my kids appropriately.

Personal fact -- my two oldest played 5 seasons of peewee, combined, and were on terrible, just terrible, teams.

But ice time matters. Ice time is where you get better and better...and they did.

So the kids take the ice and I didn't notice any nervous jitters -- these kids were all seemingly confident in their abilities.

I shouldn't say kids at this point -- most of these guys probably shaved that morning...

On each bench were three of four coaches wearing jackets from a random assortment of NAHL or NA3HL teams.

My son's team had two games on the first day -- and the first game was really uplifting. I mean, you could tell none of these players had played together before but...that's a good thing.

The puck movement was amazing and a number of players really looked sharp.

As the game went on, though, it became apparent that both teams had a couple of pretenders on them.

Poor skating, slow stickhanding, or inaccurate passses were making some of the other players think twice about moving the puck.

You know the drill -- don't pass to Billy cause he can't catch a pass.

Having done this sort of thing before -- attending events with kids from all over the country -- it's relatively easy to identify where kids come from based on their style of play. Florida kids are all so similar. Texas kids too. Carolina, different too. Ohio, yeah, I can tell that kid isn't from New England.

New England kids all play the same way. New Jersey/Philadelphia kids play a certain way too. Being from Connecticut, I've noticed we skate different.

I'm not going to rank them but some styles are more effective than others ... dependent on the opposition too.

I shouldn't say that -- let's just saw the chemistry isn't there when it's a kid from North Carolina on a line with a kid from Texas and a kid from New Jersey.

Three different styles that don't mesh well right out of the gate.

That said, some of the breakouts were amazing...especially knowing none of these kids knew each other. Kids knew how to play.

Good hockey is good hockey...and 95% of these players were good hockey players of comparable skill that clearly all had some great coaching at the youth levels.

And an Elite Prospects page shouldn't really be a measuring stick when it comes to skill level but, well, every kid there had one...with a sizeable number of views.

Mine included.

I'm not gonna say the pretenders were primarily the kids sporting the Quebec Tournament patch on their equipment bags...but, well, they were.

You hit a certain point in hockey -- and I've found that it's the second year of bantam -- where any false hype built around a player is quickly exposed if they don't actually live up to the hype that proceeds them.

Some claim that puberty is the great equalizer in sports and, sure, that's part of it...but I think it's more a case of, if you're not still getting better and better when you're a teenager, you're in trouble.

No one cares how great you were as a squirt or peewee or what tournament team you played for last summer.

The "now" is what matters.

I feel horrible for players who have had their tires endlessly pumped up by their parents, year-over-year, to the point that they start to believe they're really superstars.

It sucks when reality hits for those players.

I witnessed it on day one at this combine.

Two kids from our team didn't show up for the rest of the combine -- they were in way above their heads.

And it was never a physicality thing...it was a speed thing. The pace of play was something they weren't accustomed to.

I felt that as the weekend progressed, though, even with a shorter but more skilled bench, the puck movement continually declined and kids started getting even more selfish, err, selective on who they'd move the puck to.

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's when a forward takes it from the top of the circle, goes behind the net, comes out the other side, up the wall, and then curling back in right in front of a defenseman on the point, around the top of the other circle, and then blindly shoots into a wall of shin guards.

I get it, Pavel Datsyuk did that whole "around the world" thing -- he went around the net twice, I think -- and scored. That clip goes viral every few years...but read the comments?!

Anyone that knows anything about hockey knows it was the wrong play.

It's bad hockey.

He ignored wide open players throughout -- it's super selfish. He just happened to score...and now it's still a highlight reel a decade, maybe two, after it happened.

But, that's also the beauty of having good coaches on the bench. As kids are cycling in, in a scoring position, even, calling for the pass that's never coming...when they got to the bench, the coaches applauded them.

My kid, on two occassions, had the coach tell him after the shift -- "Yeah, you were wide open on that one."

Good coaches see the whole ice and the whole play -- it was really fulfilling and rewarding for my kid to get praise on shifts where he may not have even touched the puck.

In theory, on an NAHL roster, that pass would have come. That was the message.

And thinking about it, this was the first time I've ever witnessed kids being outwardly evaluated based on their play without the puck. All the way down the bench.

And that's the part I, as a parent, enjoyed most. I spent most of my time watching the benches and how the apparently random rotation of coaches interacted with the players.

Except for the kids scoring the goals -- they were nearly ignored -- and that's what I found most interesting.

The coaches engaged more with the players playing at a high level versus the kids that were just taking it to the net like a fullback on first and goal.

Team-oriented players were clearly what they were seeking.

Look, every kid on the ice had the talent to take it to the net, selfishly.

The coaches were very clearly taking interest in the kids that weren't doing that -- the tape to tape stretch pass with a quick cross to a breaking player for a tap in was what they wanted to see. Those are players that make teams better -- not the Datsyuk stickhandling clinic guys.

I guess this drifts into the space where hockey IQ starts to take over as the most desirable trait. And being a good teammate too.

The coaches on the benches from every team across the NA3HL and NAHL, all weekend, definitely sought out those traits.

But, yeah, by the second day, there were certain players taking extra long shifts...and I'm pretty sure the coaching staff members were noticing, and grimacing, and thinking, "Skilled player...but dumb."

While it was set-up a little like a tournament and had that vibe, the whole four games in a weekend, the lines were what they were and they were just rolling them.

Close game or not, if that fourth line was up, they went out on to the ice. Good and bad to that -- my son's team finished 1-3 but the game results were very circumstantial.

Also on the second day, they had a seminar for parents and players about how the NAHL works, how scouting works, what tenders are, how the draft works, and what the path could look like.

None of that was new to me -- but it was definitely enlightening for my son.

I mean, I've explained it all to him before...but it only sinks in when it comes from someone wearing a vest with a league logo emblazoned on it.

The seminar was great for any parent that's just along for the ride -- hockey gets really confusing and difficult to navigate when the kids get to be 15, 16, 17, and 18. They did a solid job of explaining how it all works from an NAPHL, NA3HL, NAHL, USHL, and NCAA standpoint.

As expected, they towed the USA Hockey company line and did their best not to mention any of the non USA Hockey sanctioned junior leagues that canvas the east coast. Eventually they relented though...as a majority of the players attending played for programs that fell into that category.

I'd say the AYHL was the most commonly represented league in the building, based on helmet stickers. THF, coming in a close second.

I'd imagine the combine in Massachusetts will be heavy on EHF, E9, and BHL players. In St Louis, it's probably the NAPHL.

So, yes, the presenter, Dennis Vickers, eventually acknowledged that the EHL, USPHL, and NCDC do exist. And they're good.

Lots of politics involved there that I won't go into because it doesn't matter -- high end hockey is high end hockey.

If college hockey is your goal -- they're all a valid path.

Also during the seminar, Vickers mentioned a scenario where a player had emailed 30+ clubs about their interest and at one of these combine events where all of the teams come together, the scouts from every team found themselves in the same rink at the same time...only to realize it was the exact same player they were there to see.

We're not talking about Connor McDavid type players, here. Guys like him ARE scouted by everyone.

This is more of a NA3HL type scenario where there's a huge pool of players to draw from. Thirty teams looking at the same kid is...unusual.

So his message was to, essentially, not cold call every single team or their staff as it wastes everyone's time.

Narrow in on a handful of teams that appear to be a good fit, that you would actually play for, and reach out to them.

Oddly, a handful of days after the combine, my son was invited to team camps all over the country via what appeared to be form emails.

I guess that rule only applies one way.

Only partly poking fun there -- three teams did reach out with much, much, much, more personalized inquiries. One team even texted.

So, yes, they're providing their contact list to everyone...but your kid is also actually being evaluated too.

Maybe.

Like, I'm not naive enough to think for a moment that the NAHL teams are truly scouting 15 year olds...but perhaps, more likely, to fill the NA3HL or their NAPHL midget rosters and get you in their pipeline.

Overwall, the seminar is not something you should skip unless you already have a very solid grasp on how junior hockey works and the levels within.

For my kid, for two of the four games, during game play, the coaches on the defensive side of the bench spent a lot of time talking to him.

Asking who he plays for -- they incorrectly thought he was a Brooklyn Aviator based on his helmet sticker -- and reminiscing about the league logo on the back of his helmet, which they all recognized, but that they'd assumed had been swallowed whole by Black Bear's THF and AHF.

They knew where he was from, unprompted, even calling out his hometown so they all clearly had a roster with hometowns right on their tablets or clipboards they were all clutching and they inquired about his familiarity and comfort level with billeting.

Truth be told -- they thought he billeted already, not being familiar with the geography for where he lives versus where he plays.

My son told them "we only live 5 towns away."

As the crow flies, sure...but it's still a solid hour in the car.

Kids...Also not solid on geography.

Eitherway, it was a good conversation and even gently approaching the topic of billeting is a great way to measure a player's committment level for junior hockey.

I thought it was good, I thought my kids responses (based on his version) were appropriate.

He missed a shift during that game due to the length of the discussion -- pretty certain that's the staff member that texted.

As I said, his team finished with a 1-3 record and he had one assist in an 8-3 loss to a team stacked with older players.

I often say that defense isn't evaluated based on points -- and he didn't contribute a lot on the scoreboard but I think his decision making was solid all weekend and he showcased that he knows where to be in both zones and these coaches noticed exactly that.

And here's something I've mentioned before regarding ID skates. There were a number of players without shells on and their helmets had had all of the stickers removed.

Personally -- I think that's a bad move and I know that feels contradictory to what I said earlier regarding the Quebec Tournament stuff.

But, really, you should be proud of who you play for.

I'll be honest -- there are certain shells and helmet stickers that, when I see them, I know the kid wearing them is going to be good.

Like, in higher end hockey circles, everyone knows what a Little Caesar's shell looks like -- orange with the baby blue. They're super ugly but every single player wearing them seems to be a stud.

Islanders HC up in Massachusetts plays the same card with a very similar look -- make the uniform so ugly that you can't help but notice them.

Same idea with the helmet logos, you don't have to be from Connecticut to know you're going to be challenged when you line up opposite a player the Mid Fairfield logo on their helmet.

Wearing your logos won't hurt you in settings like this.

Sure, the coaches mis-identified my son's helmet logo...but they were familir with a red A with a propeller and associated it with talented players.

I mean, even the league logos!

I know I've gone back and forth before about whether it's wise to chase leagues and I still say you should seek the best coaches first but the league you play in does set an expectation ahead of your player.

Those coaches on the bench recognized the logo on the back of my kid's helmet. Whether it's a stong league now or not doesn't matter -- it's a known. It has a history of producing solid players.

If you play in a league like that, showcase it!

Point is, I'd always advise against peeling the helmet stickers off the moment the regular season end.

It might not be right -- but I have a higher expectation for players with a THF sticker on their helmet versus an AHF sticker. One league is AAA and the other is AA.

Little stuff like that can give you a slight advantage. Or, in my kid's case, an ice breaker to start a conversation.

But, yes, your kid earned a spot on that team or in that league -- don't try to hide it.

Embrace it and be proud of it.

Oh, and I can't go without mentioning the officiating!

One referee and two linesman for every game -- and they were outstanding!

Certainly not the run of the mill "I sat through the two nights of Zoom calls and they mailed me my patch" officials.

These men and women were taking it all very seriously -- and did a great job.

(I think there must have been an NAHL Officiating event going on as well -- no way that area had that many high end officials on hand all at the same time.)

One more thing I'd like to mention regarding these NAHL combines is that you should try to attend one while the NAHL season is still running.

Reason being -- while we were there, the New Jersey Titans and Maine Nordiques were facing one another on the Friday and Saturday night so their players were milling about all day at the rink for both days.

It was great for the younger players to see these guys -- barely older than they are -- and how thick they all looked. By thick, I mean their legs were the size of the younger kids' torsos.

And how they warmed up before the games.

And how focussed they were.

And how much fun they were having -- essentially living like professional athletes.

And then seeing how they played during the games (the combine attendees were able to attend the games for free.)

Sure, it's great to take kids to a professional game to observe but I think more sinks in when they take in a game with players just beyond their own level of play.

I'm sure some of the kids were enamored with the young kids banging on the boards looking for pucks during warm-ups, the pre-game light show, the ceremonial puck drop and a real anthem singer, and then the size of the crowd.

I mean, my kid plays at a pretty high level and he's lucky if there are 25 people in the crowd.

You want to play in the NAHL? You think you can? Well, this is what it looks like...and you're just one ladder rung away.

So, yeah, if your player is 15 or 16 years old and has been within that AAA, AA, Tier 1 realm of youth hockey, I'd absolutely recommend this if there's an NAHL combine within striking distance to where you live.

I'm not sure I'd fly across the country to attend one...but I didn't drive home afterwards thinking I'd "lost" a weekend. And for us, this deep into youth hockey, that's pretty rare when we do these off season things.

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