IT'S TIME FOR USA HOCKEY TO STACK THE DECK With Major Junior players gaining NCAA eligibility, now is the time for USA Hockey to make a bold move.

It’s time for USA Hockey to simply dump the tier system, junior council, tier standards, and even drafts to allow the cream to naturally rise to the top the old-fashioned way, on the ice.

We understand that the United States Hockey League, North American Hockey League, and even the North American 3 Hockey League have well-defined roles, and market values. The problem is that the system continues to fail to provide incentive for operators to do a better job.

Tier standards are not just guidelines, they should be set in stone rules for each league to go by. But they are not. Teams and leagues continue to pick and choose what rules they want to follow or not. There have been serious issues in all three of the above-mentioned leagues over the last few seasons.

The best way to force teams into living up to their end of the bargain is through the player procurement process. Let talent naturally flow to the programs that do the best job at recruiting and retaining players. The simple answer is to dump the drafts and allow players to move freely within the off-season to the team of their choice. Let’s force the concept of player retention back onto the operators. Happy players develop loyalty to the brand, but it’s important that the loyalty goes both ways.

My proposal would be to fold both USHL and NAHL league operations into a single entity before splitting the group of teams into stacked levels of play that are designated through promotion and relegation.

Teams within each ten-team group would schedule a four-game home-and-home series with each of the other nine opponents within the group. Every group game should be decided before conclusion. That means sudden-death overtime periods starting with 5v5. The number of skaters gets reduced with each additional overtime period.

Like college hockey, additional regional games, outside of the group can make up the balance of the schedule. Teams within the group can schedule additional games against each other, but those contests will not count toward the group standings. Teams would be required to schedule a minimum number of games for each season. This does not include special events that occur during season.

I’d also like to see some type of in-season event modeled after soccer’s Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. A mid-week single elimination event that would be played monthly starting in November with the final played in April. In a world where cash is king, the fee for such an event should be $2,500 per team with the winners picking up the grand prize of $200,000 for their efforts. That’s a lot of incentive.

At the top two groups of the structure, teams would be required to maintain standards like the current Tier I levels. Same thing applies to groups three and four being aligned with Tier II standards.

The lower-level groups would do the same with Tier III standards, but be divided geographically and associated as a division. The champion having the option to be elevated to Tier II for the following season. Teams would have the option of declining promotion and the right would be passed to the next second place team.

Now is where things could be interesting.

Player procurement and movement must be less restrictive with the player having more options. Let’s be realistic, every player wants the opportunity to move up the ladder of development, and those opportunities should come without restrictions.

We had a player get sent home by his USHL team. he was home for almost a month. Instead of simply releasing the player to go to the team of his choice, the NAHL team (that held his rights within the NAHL) had to pay $5,000 to the USHL team to complete the trade. Those days must end. These are amateur hockey players, not slabs of meat fresh off the feedlot.

During the season, players from higher levels should be able to freely move to lower-level teams without compensation. Higher level teams can call up a player from ANY lower-level team for $500.

Let’s let the bodies hit the floor during the off-season. Any and every player can go to any team that is willing to sign him. At the same time, limiting teams to just twenty-player rosters will eliminate the problem of roster hoarding. Making sure that each active roster is completely transparent, 52 weeks a year, will also stop the non-stop practice of illusion used to attract players to camps in the off-season.

It’s very clear that the USHL will look at this concept and start screaming, “no way”. And that’s OK. It’s also when the more powerful NAHL should say “so what”, we are going to do it anyway.

Why would the NAHL take us up on this plan? When all else fails, follow the money.

This idea automatically raises standards across the board while also giving the investment in junior hockey the possibility of an unreal return. Allow new clubs to join the system for $250,000. Clubs can play their way to the next level with a superior on-ice product before selling for close to a cool $1,500,000 or more when they get there. Can the Canadian or non-sanctioned leagues offer that? No.

Let’s see how Mark Frankenfeld and the crew respond to this.