Ranking The Top Jr. A Hockey Leagues for NCAA Advancement | 2024-25 Edition

Hey Hockey Lovers!

In this week’s newsletter, we dive into our official rankings for the BEST Junior A Hockey Leagues for NCAA Hockey Advancement for 2024-25! We did extensive research to create an accurate and comprehensive list of the leagues we believe are the best to advance players to NCAA Hockey. Looking at last year, we looked at 2 main metrics: NCAA advancements and the calibre of the league. Enjoy!

High Advancing Leagues (mainly NCAA D1 focus)

1. USHL (NCAA D1: 358)
2. BCHL (NCAA D1: 292 | NCAA D3: 6 | USports: 14)
3. NAHL (NCAA D1: 262 | NCAA D3: 116)
4. AJHL (NCAA D1: 26 | NCAA D3: 11 | USports: 9)
5. SJHL (NCAA D1: 13 | NCAA D3: 17 | USports: 15)
6. CCHL (NCAA D1: 12 | NCAA D3: 13 |USports: 10)
7. MJHL (NCAA D1: 17 | NCAA D3: 14 |USports: 6)
8. NCDC (NCAA D1: 14 |NCAA D3: 126)
9. OJHL (Unfortunately stats aren’t available)

Lower Advancing Leagues (mainly NCAA D3 focus)

1. EHL (NCAA D3: 154)
2. NOJHL (NCAA D1: 1 | NCAA D3: 25)
3. USPHL Premier (top teams) (# teams: 73 | NCAA D3: 82 | ACHA: 203)
4. NA3HL (top teams) (# teams: 35 | NCAA D3: 38 | ACHA: 103)
5. GOJHL (Bigger focus on acquiring Major Junior players but has some D3 advancements)
6. SIJHL (# teams: 8 | NCAA D3: 4)
7. KIJHL (# teams: 22 | NCAA D3: 4)
8. VIJHL (No stats unfortunately but NCAA D3 advancements happen rarely)

Good Calibre, Bad NCAA Exposure

1. MHL (Maritimes Jr. A)
2. QJHL (Jr. AAA Quebec)

Low Calibre, Bad NCAA Exposure

1. USPHL Premier/NA3HL (Bottoms Team Specifically)
2. PJHL (Ontario)
3. EHL Premier
4. USPHL Elite
5. All Jr. B Leagues in Canada
6. CAJHL
7. MMJHL
8. NJHL
9. GMHL
10. All Jr. C Leagues in Canada

Watch our full YouTube video breakdown here: WATCH NOW

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