The Youth Hockey Progression Map

I've never seen a graphic or explanation of how the youth hockey path goes but I think this would have been really helpful for me over a decade ago when my kids were just getting started.

If it's too small to read on a phone, you can tap it to make it bigger and zoom in... Honestly, this site looks better on a computer and this is "the" post to view on a computer but I know most utilize their phones...and this chart has a ton of stuff on it...and the Google ads are super annoying.

I broke things out by age and it's not rigid and, sure, there are exceptions in anything, but this is how I've experienced it.

This site's audience tends to veer towards the more elite players cause, well, that's the path my kids have taken so that's where I have the most first hand experience to offer as a coach and parent.

But the fact is -- every player starts in the same place.

Learn to skate or learn to play and then gradually moving up to an in-house type program where they start playing things that resemble real games.

Every player starts in the top left.

I don't want to hear from anyone claiming they have a AAA Elite 5-year old and that this chart is garbage.

AAA Elite teams of 5 year olds do not exist.

AAA Elite teams of 6 year olds do not exist.

AAA Elite teams of 7 year olds do not exist.

AAA Elite teams of 8 year olds, however, do exist.

A couple of my kids were on them.

But I'll also have you know that being a AAA Elite 8-year old rarely leads to being a AAA Elite 15 year old so...step off the ego train as soon as you're able to.

When your player is a mite/atom or squirt, under 10 years old, you come to your first real definitive fork in the road.

You can either play with a town league program with A, B, and C teams that play teams of similar skill in your USA Hockey conference or you can tryout and play for a program that bills themselves as AAA, AA, Elite, whatever.

Typically, the latter type of program has birth year specific teams.

Not assuming you know what that even means...but, just like it sounds, birth year teams only have players born within the same calendar year.

Some programs go by their birth year. Some say major and minor.

So, like, I have an 09, an 11, and a 15. Those are their birth years and I refer to them that way because they play on birth year teams. If we didn't play for birth year teams, I'd refer to them as a midget, bantam, and squirt.

Confusing.

The terminology really is more confusing than it needs to be in youth hockey.

Any questions ever, just ask a parent at the rink with older children. They'll gladly help!

Now, this decision just before they turn ten years old is a big choice that has consequences further down the road. Like, 6 or 7 years down the road.

If the end goal is to play high school hockey -- both options are perfect. Go whichever route you choose.

I've laid out on this website more times than I can count why I personally think elite "club" hockey is better -- more ice, more training, better coaches, higher end talent, and higher expectations -- and I've witnessed too where the kids that have gone on to play high school hockey after playing a majority of their youth hockey at the higher levels stand out as the top players.

As you'd expect, the higher level programs -- the club teams -- produce higher level players.

When those kids come back together with the town level travel team players in high school, the kids that played at a higher level all the way up through youth hockey tend to be the players getting a regular shift...or making the team as a freshman.

Fact -- it is what it is.

Come at me, bruh.

Now, if your player's end goal is NOT high school hockey (but still hockey), well, give AAA/Elite hockey a shot.

I listed the positives to this already.

The negatives are that it usually costs more, entails a lot more travel, and it can get really competitive...in a bad way.

Sounds scary and intimidating...but it's not.

Once you're in it, it feels just like town hockey would.

You're still going to the rink, maybe a little more often, and you're still playing games, just maybe a little further away.

And showcases. Way more showcases. That aren't really showcases...but just more games...

And nights in hotels.

Now, off of the Elite/AAA Club team path, there's a little cul-de-sac offshoot. Junior Boarding schools.

This is mostly a New England thing, where traditional boarding schools are prevalent. Junior boarding schools are like "pre" prep schools.

If your player is looking to go to prep school, going to one of these schools for a year or two (grades 6 through 9, usually) is a great way to get aligned for that future.

That said, and this is only my personal opinion, the choice to take the junior boarding school route should be education based and not an athletic pursuit.

Don't send your middle school aged kid off for "hockey". Step back and think about the choice you're making on behalf of your child. Think long term.

Do it for the education...with solid hockey instruction as an added bonus.

I know of a dozen or so former teammates that have chosen this path and every single one of them followed their junior boarding school experience with the prep school experience.

If you want prep school to be in your player's future, this is a sure fire way to get there.

Hockey is all about the connections -- these junior prep schools are most definitely connected to the prep schools.

So, outside of that little detour for a small percentage of players with really focussed goals, nearly every single youth hockey player follows the same path...until they're turning 14 or entering high school.

Put your seatbelt on now.

Age 14 is where things get crazy -- if you're not there yet, this is your chance to prepare.

You instantly go from having two, maybe three, options...to SEVEN options.

Out of no where.

Your first year bantam team (of 13 year olds) -- some your kid may have been teammates with since the second grade -- will NOT resemble the team you play for when you're 14.

It won't.

Youth hockey is over.

Rosters explode and go all different directions for a host of reasons -- cost, ambition, and reality leading the charge.

So let's break down those seven options.

First two options are easy -- you can just ride out you youth hockey journey playing for the town or club team you've been playing for all along.

Next option is kind of a combo -- split season and high school.

So, a lot of players peel off of their town or club teams when they hit 9th grade and can join their high school teams.

The allure is real -- playing with older players, school spirit, athletic prowess leading to social popularity, bigger crowds, fancier locker rooms, more ice time, team busses, the whole bit.

From a parent perspective, it's great too.

High school hockey costs nearly nothing compared to what you've grown accustomed to over the years.

Sounds amazing, right?

Well, it is amazing, and this is why a majority of youth hockey players, still playing as teenagers, both from town and club teams, chose this path.

The only downside to high school hockey is that it's a really short season. Very end of November through the start of March.

Doesn't sound short when I say it like that -- that's five months -- but youth hockey tends to run from late August through mid-March and that's 8 months.

So to make up for that lack of games, there are split season programs that play from late August right up until the high school season starts. Boom -- just like the old days. A full "season".

Kids that go to prep school also utilize split season teams to extend the length of their season.

Prep school is a bit of a grey area in all of this.

My opinion is that school should ALWAYS be for education first but in my circle, anyway, that's not a super popular opinion.

Prep schools known for "hockey" dot New England.

We know players that go to them...and act like they're there for hockey...but the truth is, they're not varsity material.

That's okay -- these schools have JV teams and even third teams.

The players on the "Varsity" teams at these hockey prep schools are there...for hockey. They're mostly 18 or 19 year olds looking to line up a college hockey opportunity.

So just take it with a grain of salt anytime some boasts that their kid goes to Cushing or Avon Old Farms or Shattuck St Mary's.

Nine times out of ten, they're there as a student that plays hockey (which is what I recommend!) but trying to give off the impression that their kid is destined for the NHL like one of Ray Bourque's kids, or Brian Leetch, or Sidney Crosby.

So that covers five of the options.

The next option is kind of a new era path. The Hockey Academy.

I went to school in Canada and remember they were even a thing back in the mid 1990's, in and around Ottawa.

Basically, you stop going to school and practice hockey full time.

Definitely not for everyone.

Like, if your kid isn't a great student all on their own...online school that's secondary to hockey, with a bunch of people also not physically attending school, is the fast track to a minimum wage career while being a stellar men's league player.

I mean, it's not quite like dropping out of school -- I think it's more like how propaganda has shown us the Soviets "built" skilled athletes in the 70's and 80's for Olympic domination.

Isolate the kids that have a skill...and then hone that skill over everything.

There's good and bad to that.

But that's what a Hockey Academy is.

I love it on the surface...but don't think it's a wise move for a vast majority of players...and, unfortunately, I think there are wannabe players already within that realm that have poisoned it.

It's risky, is all I'm saying.

I put online education (for kids) or par with home schooling. I mean, I love figure skaters but, boy, are the home schooled ones that train during weekday mornings awkward.

Amazing athletes, awkward people.

School and a wide social environment are more important than hockey. They just are.

The last option is midget hockey.

On paper, it's just a continuation of youth hockey...except it's not.

The player pool has now been split 5 or 6 ways -- there aren't enough players for every youth program to fill a full season roster of 15 and 16 year olds.

As such, very few programs offer full season teams so it's a very competitive group of players vying for limited spots.

And, from season to season, players bounce from one path to the other with relative frequency so it's a constantly swirling player pool.

Up next, starting when the players are 16, going on 17, is junior hockey.

Saying junior hockey is really vague -- there are so many leagues and levels and there is a pecking order...but they're all competitive.

Folks poke fun of the NA3HL and WSHL (which imploded) all the time...but it's not a given you make one of those teams.

USPHL isn't a joke.

EHL isn't a joke.

NAHL is legit.

USHL is legit.

Canadian junior teams that aren't major junior level are legit.

Junior A and Junior B teams in Canada are overflowing with players looking to preserve their NCAA eligibility. They're not "B" teams like youth hockey "B" teams.

Major Junior, in my opinion, is the pinnacle.

If your son played on the town league travel team all the way up, none of these doors will be opening for you.

Not one.

You don't just sign up and make these teams -- you need to follow the path above and move from the blue into the red at the appropriate age.

If you're a solid player at the junior level, college hockey opportunities could open for you.

If you're amazing, you could go straight to professional hockey.

I try to stick to youth hockey on here so I won't delve into those any further but, taking the dad goggles off, college and pro aren't a given for your 80-goals per season scoring machine.

They're not.

Even club teams in college are overflowing with super talented players that all played junior hockey.

Anyway, here's that chart again with the path my oldest son has taken so far...and it's the path his younger brothers will follow if their skill level continues to carry them that direction. It's not to brag -- it's to show there is a road map to follow that works.

To go further, move your player a notch to the right when it's appropriate.

Will my kid move another notch to the right in another season or two?

Maybe? I can't be sure but, for now, he's still on that path.

Then end of the road for each individual player is never blurry -- any hockey parent with a bantam aged player can name three or four superstar players that fizzled out that first year of peewee. Suddenly, they just can't hang.

Now, who am I to post this youth-to-pro hockey pathway besides some rando youth hockey dad that probably thinks all of his kids are going to the show?

Well, I spent 8 years on an NHL payroll (I wrote more player bios and game recaps than I want to admit -- from Gretzky to guys who never panned out...yeah, those guys in the back of the old media guides that never even made it out of training camp), worked for three NHL teams, attended 3 NHL drafts, spent 20+ seasons working in the AHL, and three seasons in the FPHL...on top of being a hockey parent of a squirt, a bantam, and a midget that's participated in a juniors combine.

Taking the 2 decades of pro stuff out of the equation -- that's another 20+ overlapping seasons of youth hockey on top!

Spent a lot of time in a rink and in hockey circles...I'm just as comfortable with the learn to skate crowd as I am sitting in a room with an NHL GM and team scouts putting names up on the board.

I have a ton of experience in youth hockey and a ton of first hand knowledge on how and where guys come from (and why) before they get to the NHL...or even the lowest rung of professional hockey.

I've got some miles on me...and I'm like a clear pane of glass. Totally transparent. No frosting here.

You can still call me a hockey snob, if you must.

But this isn't an "I know more than you" boast -- it's just to assure you that I'm not that arrogant mite parent puffing out my chest proclaiming to know everything about hockey.

Even with all the pro experience I had before having children, as a mite parent, I didn't know anything.

I'm trying to help THOSE parents out with a map of what the next 15 years could look like.

And here's the section for the other experienced hockey parents tearing this pathway apart in their head.

There are always exceptions.

You can jump from path to path -- we know a family that went the high school/split season route for a season, then prep school, then to juniors, to college, and then back to major juniors.

Pretty certain that the poor kid spent a month or two in an academy too.

Bottom line, pretty much none of us are going to the NHL.

Few will even go pro.

But if you look into the "history" of the players that do make it that far, you'll see there are a number of ways to get there.

Every path is custom...but all of them follow the pieces of this chart.

Learn to skate...right to the NHL.

There aren't shortcuts. There aren't secrets.

The player needs to be among the best at every level to keep moving onward.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know -- I love the feedback from all angles!

Chris Rutsch

Hockey Dad

Year round, I spend a significant amount of time and money transporting my three boys to and from freezing cold ice rinks. Not because I expect them to make it to the NHL but because I know the rigorous youth hockey experience will serve them well in the future.