JUNIOR HOCKEY TRUTH
The Free Guide
BIGGEST DECISION
“Sit down,” the coach said to me, a pen in his hand.
He always was in charge inside his office.
“You’re playing tonight. Read over this form and sign it.”
I looked at my feet. I didn’t know the white socks I was wearing would not fit with my suit that
night.
It would be my first Major Junior game. I was 17 and still couldn’t dress myself.
I looked at the form. “WHL Education Agreement” it said in bold letters. There was a series of
paragraphs with blanks to fill out. Writing my name was easy. Entering my first choice for a
university was not.
It was late September. I should have been cut and gone home weeks ago. Nobody expected me
to last this long, so I still hadn’t attended a day of grade 12. How could I suggest what university I’d
attend at 21?
I had questions.
“So if I sign this, I lose my NCAA eligibility but I still haven’t made the team?”
“Did you come here to play NCAA? You’ll have to make a decision,” he said.
It wasn’t the kindest answer—they never are—but it was the truth. I was 17, not guaranteed a spot
on a WHL team, yet I was guaranteeing that I’d never get an NCAA scholarship.
“Can I talk to my parents first, you know, just to make sure?”
I rushed home, phoned my dad, and that night my parents drove three hours to talk with the
coach. The manager came down too. They were in suits, my dad was in jeans.
Over the next 15 minutes, Mom and Dad took everything in. I even saw the coach smile for the first
time. When the pen was pulled out, Dad read the contract, looked at me and said, “It’s your career.
You’re the expert.”
I peered at the contract for one last time. Truthfully, I wasn’t an expert—not then— but I knew
more than my parents. They really didn’t know the in’s and out’s of junior hockey. What should
have been a family decision decided months before that moment became my decision in a splitsecond.
I signed the contract. We all shook hands. The coach gave me a pat on the back.
“One last thing,” he said. “Don’t wear white socks with your dress shoes.”
My junior hockey education had begun…
1 The Biggest Decision of Your (Son’s) Junior Hockey Career
THE JUNIOR HOCKEY FLOWCHART
Deciding whether or not to forfeit NCAA eligibility is no longer a decision of “Do I want to go to
school or not?” The Canadian Hockey Leagues (Major Junior) offer competitive and guaranteed
scholarship programs to players that can be used for any kind of post-secondary training.
However, NCAA schools allow players a couple extra years to develop their skills and to still get a
degree, maybe even at an Ivy League school like Harvard.
It’s not a clear and easy choice.
That’s why I created the infographic below. It’s a tool I developed for players to figure out whether
or not they should give up their eligibility, based on their age and situation. By following this chart,
the player not only has the best chance at playing in the NHL, but also at getting his school paid
for.
Looking back at my decision to play for a CHL team, I inadvertently followed this flowchart. Since
then, I’ve back-run hundreds of players careers through it and proven over and over that it works.
Start at the top and go through each bubble to see the best route for you. It will help you and
your son to make a decision.
Everybody has their own individual situations, circumstances and dreams, but this chart
shows the turning points in any young player’s career.
A couple of notes to keep in mind about the chart:
• If you make a team at 16 or 17, you’re not guaranteed to get NHL-drafted but you have a
much better shot, especially if you play Major Junior. If you make it at this age, you also stand
a better chance of getting four or five years of Canadian university in the bank by the time
you’re done junior. That’s guaranteed school, free.
• After your NHL draft year—unless you go NCAA or have a great 20-year-old Major Junior
year—turning pro or making the NHL gets tougher. This happens because other drafted
players are already in the NHL farm system and under contract. Those contracts trump your
tryout status. (Like I say in my book The Junior Hockey Truth, “Hockey is a business!”) A similar
argument can be made if you didn’t get picked in a Major Junior draft.
The Biggest Decision of Your (Son’s) Junior Hockey Career
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• Eighteen is a tricky age. You can still conceivably get three years of Major Junior
scholarship money, but that’s only if you play another three seasons. (There are roster
limitations on the number of 20 year-olds a team can carry.) On the other hand, you can
play Junior A at 18 and still get an NCAA scholarship… or end up with nothing. There is no
guarantee. That’s a personal, case-by-case decision.
• Chances are that if you are play CIS you probably won’t make the NHL. Every second
year a CIS gets a cup of coffee in the NHL after playing in the minors. It happens, but rarely.
However, you can have a lengthy pro career, in North America or abroad.
In case you’re a parent whose been sleeping under the stands—you can move back and forth
between Junior A and Major Junior, but once you play Major Junior you can’t play NCAA. This
is what makes your son’s decision so crucial at such a young age.
Sometimes it’s better for a player to go the Major Junior route, sometimes it’s better for him
to go the NCAA route. Everybody has their own opinion on which path is better—usually
based on age and circumstances.
CASE STUDY USING THE
JUNIOR HOCKEY FLOWCHART
This flowchart is based on the study of hundreds of junior player’s careers—successes and failures.
As you can tell from my story, I was a player who had no plan at 17. My parents and I should have
sat down and went through this chart together months before training camp.
As a player who ultimately received three-and-a-half years of free Canadian schooling, I have no
doubt in my mind that I could have played NCAA—I was even offered a scholarship by accident—if
I didn’t resign my eligibility.
Here is why I didn’t though: if I would not signed that contract, it would have meant playing Junior
A at 18 in Saskatchewan, my home province. Given the goalie situation my Saskatchewan Junior A
team had, I would not have been a starting goalie until I was 20 in the SJHL. This would have made
it very tough for me to get a division I scholarship at a good school. Good schools grab players
young.
Ultimately, I earned three years of WHL scholarship money (despite playing only 17 games over
two seasons). For my 20 year-old year, I went to the BCHL, reputed as the best Junior A league in
Canada, and earned another half-season. (I tell how this can be done, legally, as a Junior A player,
3 The Biggest Decision of Your (Son’s) Junior Hockey Career
The Biggest Decision of Your (Son’s) Junior Hockey Career
4
in my book.) If I could have went there as an 18 year-old—sidestepping the SJHL—I would have
maintained my eligibility and could have taken an NCAA scholarship. It seems simple now, but it
wasn’t clear-cut back then. Here’s why (and perhaps midget players could relate…)
My AAA midget team was (going to be and ultimately was) terrible my 17 year-old year. The
season before we went to the national championship; the year after, this 17 year-old year, was
for “rebuilding.” I likely wouldn’t have had a shot to make the BCHL on a poor AAA team. My stats
wouldn’t have been good enough to get noticed. Knowing that (and knowing it was my draft
year), I tried out (and lucked out) for a Major Junior and made it. Most of my career was based on
calculated decisions.
In the end, I got three years of CIS paid for by playing Major Junior, and some extra from Junior A.
Like most junior players, I never made the NHL. However, unlike most Canadian undergraduates, I
never took a student loan and had zero debt after university.
That was a great outcome for me, and I’ll forever be thankful for it. I was fortunate to choose the
right path.
What path will you help your son to choose.
5 The Biggest Decision of Your (Son’s) Junior Hockey Career
REVEALING THE JUNIOR HOCKEY
SECRETS MOST BANTAM AND
MIDGET PARENTS WILL
NEVER KNOW!
The decisions you and your son make today will
definitely shape his future in hockey tomorrow.
In the Junior Hockey Truth PRO edition, you’ll
not only learn how junior hockey is scouted, but
also how to:
• find a quality team and league in order to be seen by scouts
• not get stiffed with a hefty bill when he’s
promised a scholarship
• ensure he is gets good grades in school when you’re not there
• effectively deal with coaches and management for more ice time
• make the right decision between NCAA and Major Junior Hockey
>>Click here to buy it now!!!<<
• everything you MUST know as a parent once he makes junior too
You’ll also get the truth about what happens
off of the ice including, hazing, girls, road
trips, billets and much, much more.
This book is a mammoth encyclopedia based
on years of research and experience at every
level of junior hockey. There is not a more
complete guide for parents of bantam and
midget hockey players.
The Biggest Decision of Your (Son’s) Junior Hockey Career 6
ABOUT NICK / CONTACT
Have you ever met a junior hockey player who has been
drafted, dropped, listed, on teams in three provinces and
one state, been offered an NCAA scholarship and pro
opportunities, played as a CIS player, lived in 12 billet
households, been traded, called up, sent down, changed
high schools five times in one year, pestered by agents,
appeared on national TV, seen teammates get thrown in
the drunk tank with their pants around their ankles, asked
for a trade, had mid-season surgery, been on loan as an allstar and been the bench watching future NHL all-stars…
all while playing at every level from ages 14 – 21?
Nick Olynyk is that player. He also is the author of The
Junior Hockey Truth, a guide for bantam and midget
hockey parents and players who have aspirations of junior
hockey.
For more information, visit www.juniorhockeybook.com
or email [email protected]
7 The Biggest Decision of Your (Son’s) Junior Hockey Career