News

By Andrew Vitalis
Let’s Play Hockey

Matt Pulver remembers sitting in his living room with his parents and high school coaches, crying.  Bawling. The decision had just been made for Pulver to forego his high school hockey season and make the jump to junior hockey. Pulver, a sophomore speedster with Regis/Altoona/McDonell (Eau Claire, Wis.) and a member of Team Wisconsin, had started to make a name for himself within the Wisconsin hockey community, but in order to make it to the next level – college hockey – Pulver and his family felt the move had to be made. To this day, the current Air Force Falcon describes that moment as one of the most difficult decisions he’s ever had to make.

“It was definitely a good decision for me,” Pulver said. “I think kids who are making that decision to leave early or not need to do what’s best for them. Obviously leaving Wisconsin was the best decision for me. I needed that better competition. I needed to play with higher-end and more skilled players if I wanted to move on to the next level. I just needed to play against better competition to improve my game.”

To leave or not to leave? It’s a question faced each year by hundreds of high school hockey players (and their families) around the area. Whether it’s leaving your high school team for another high school program with more opportunity, a developmental program, a junior organization or professional hockey, players and their inner circle have to battle with the balancing act between present and future, between the “what if” and the “when.” 

It’s a question that has been plaguing players and their families for generations, but with more opportunities popping up around every corner in recent years for players daring to dream, that discussion seems to be happening in more and more locker rooms throughout the state. Five years ago, players leaving early would only affect a few programs across the Land of 10,000 Lakes (and beyond), but today, no teams – big or small – are immune to the possibility.

When asked about the positives and negatives regarding leaving high school hockey early, two things become very obvious. First, no matter who you ask – player, scout or coach – each person will give you a different answer. Second, each person will agree on one basic starting point: It’s an individual choice and each situation is different. Therefore, it is impossible to make a blanket statement on whether or not players should leave or stay. 

With that said, while each situation is different, many who have been around the game for an extended period of time have a hard time holding back when asked about the ongoing early departures of players who leave the high school level for the gold at the end of the hockey rainbow.  

Ken Pauly, Benilde-St. Margaret’s head boys’ hockey coach, has been in and around the game for several decades. He remembers a time when questioning whether or not a player was going to take the leap was an “every once in a while” thing. In today’s game, that topic comes up every season. Just this past year, Pauly and his Red Knights lost two players who elected to move onto the USHL instead of playing their senior season of high school hockey. Both players (Connor Mayer and Ryan Bischel) would have been captains on this year’s squad.

“We talk to the kids about it and we talked to the group about it,” Pauly said. “To me, there is an education piece here that we try to give to the kids and parents. Honestly though, we all know that the coach’s voice isn’t the lone voice anymore. I can tell a kid that I have been doing this thing for over 25 years and I can tell a kid that I have never seen it work out for the better. I can tell them until I am blue in the face and they think it’s just my attempt to keep the kid. Of course I want to win, but I also don’t want to see a kid do something that they don’t have to. 

“To me it’s a classic example of risk-reward. What is the risk and what is the reward. It’s never been my position that a kid should leave or never leave; that’s always been their decision. But to me, it’s a question of do you have to leave? Do you have to leave to get what you want? I really believe the answer to that question is no, you don’t. Now, do you want to? If you want to leave, that’s something else altogether, but don’t tell us you have to leave. At the end of the day whose interest is being served?”

To tackle the ultimate question of “to go or not to go,” Let’s Play Hockey compiled an unofficial list of Minnesota high school hockey players who left their high school program early since the 2010-11 season. In total, LPH tracked 154 players (not including the 2016-17 crop of players) who left their high school programs early for the next level of hockey. Of the 154 players, 61 are currently playing college hockey either at the Division I or Division III level (40 percent). Five of the players have made the jump to the National Hockey League (3 percent) and 57 are still playing hockey in either the minor leagues or a junior program waiting to take that next step (37 percent). That means 31 players who left high school early since 2010 are no longer playing competitive hockey (20 percent). Knowing that, would they have made the same choice if given another chance?  

As for the players who decided to make the jump this season? Of the 29 players LPH identified as players who left their high school program early to play at the next level, 10 are suiting up in the USHL, eight in AAA hockey, five in the NAHL, four with the U.S. National Team Development Program, one in the MJHL and one in NCAA Division I (St. Cloud State’s Ryan Poehling, page 8).  Only time will tell where their journey will take them. Only time will tell if the right choice was made at the end of the day. 

Fred Bandel, who is entering his 23rd year as an NHL scout with the Florida Panthers, has been involved in the game of hockey for over 40 years and has seen, or been a part of, every hockey discussion you can think of. Of all of those discussions, the debate over players leaving or staying is the one conversation that keeps taking place and never seems to die out.

“You don’t have to leave early to get where you want to go,” Bandel said. “That’s the bottom line and it has been proven time and time again. It’s a personal preference, but there is nothing to show that leaving early gets you anywhere any quicker and is a better avenue than staying with your high school program and playing there.

“I can’t make a blanket statement that you should never leave, because there are programs that don’t face the competitive level or have that competitive level for a player to develop, and in those cases, leaving has to be looked at. But I think when you are talking about the metro players who play in strong conferences, I don’t think there is any reason to leave. We talk about how there are more opportunities for players today and there are. There are more college teams, more junior teams, but there are also a lot more distractions out there for everyone involved. I just think it all comes down to the player’s desire and whether or not they really want this to happen for them. Opportunities that are offered today are just different than the opportunities that used to be offered. In the end, it all comes down to whether or not players are going to make it happen.”

Frank Serratore knows this debate all too well. When Serratore’s son, Tom, was a junior in high school, he was drafted by the Omaha Lancers of the USHL. As the head men’s hockey coach for the Air Force Academy, he knew all sides of the argument. On one hand, as a coach, player development was critical when it came to opening up hockey doors for his son and his son’s future. On the other hand, as a father, he knew that the opportunity could also do harm to his son’s future, on and off the ice, if the puck bounced the wrong way. Serratore remembers striking a deal with Tom – one more year in high school, one more year to mature. Tom agreed and stayed another season. His senior year in high school, Tom made the jump to the USHL where he played for three seasons before moving on to play for the University of Minnesota.

“I didn’t think physically he was ready for it,” Frank Serratore recalled. “It was very disappointing to him that we didn’t let him go to play junior hockey at some level at that time. We made a deal with him that if he got his schoolwork in order and was ready the following year, his senior year, we would let him go away. 

“These kids are going to develop at the pace Mother Nature allows them to. One thing is for sure, I don’t think it’s good for a kid to move onto the next level until they have at least mastered the level they are at. It makes no sense to go onto the next level if you haven’t mastered the level you are playing at. 

“I think too many players just move for the wrong reasons because maybe other players have moved that they have played with and stuff like that. Those aren’t good reasons.  In my opinion, if you are going to err, I would err to the side of staying with the level you are in unless you have mastered the level you are playing at and I wouldn’t consider going to the next level. If there is any question I would say to stay back instead of go. I’ve never heard a guy say they regretted staying back and playing another year at a certain level, but I have met a lot of kids, and know a lot of kids who say they wished they would have stayed and not left early.”

But what if you are ready?

History has shown that Jake Guentzel was ready. Guentzel tore through the high school hockey ranks as a junior with Hill-Murray before moving to the USHL, playing one season with Sioux City. From there, Guentzel played three seasons for the University of Nebraska Omaha before leaving that program early for the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. Most are aware that Guentzel has now found himself in the spotlight as a rookie sniper with the Penguins, playing alongside NHL stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.  

“I just think it was the process in developing, to be able to play 70 games instead of the 30 you play in high school, to be able to play against bigger guys was the best thing for me to develop my senior year,” Guentzel said. “It helped me going into to college that next year and it helped me get better.”

Peter Thome might be another example.  Thome played goalie for Pauly at Benilde before leaving the high school program for the NAHL’s Aberdeen Wings. A sixth-round NHL draft choice of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Thome, who currently plays in the USHL, has committed to play for the University of North Dakota next season.  

While Thome and Guentzel are just two examples of players who may have made the right move by leaving high school early for the next level, Pauly and his colleagues agree that there are some exceptions to the rule. Unfortunately, there are more stories of failure than success.

“At the end of the day, from a hockey perspective, no one can say it wasn’t a good move for him (Peter Thome),” Pauly said. “The big thing for me is that as a whole, there are so many kids who really gain nothing by doing it or are hurt doing it. Kids who are trying to improve their draft position. I think there are far more cases who went the opposite direction. No one ever thinks that it’s going to be them. 

“Before our first game (this season), I got text messages from former players – NHLers, guys who are playing college hockey, from guys who played college hockey.  They all talk about how they would give anything to go back to playing high school hockey. It’s just so fun. They say it when they are in their 30’s, in their 40’s and in their 50’s. That’s my concern, that these kids don’t see that they are a part of something pretty special.

“Look, it’s an old story. It’s been going on for a long time, but these days you don’t even bat an eyelash when kids leave. I think we need to be very careful. There is just such a pressure to get there (to the next level). No one wants to take the time anymore to get there; they want it right away. That’s the story I think that needs to be told. We (as coaches) just want the player and their family to make the decision for the right reasons.”

“As a family, you need to take on the responsibility of going out and getting as well-informed as you can,” Serratore said. “I don’t think you should look at one source, I think you should look at multiple sources. To me, I think the families need to take a lot of the accountability on this in seeking advice. The information is out there. I wouldn’t dump everything on the advisors. It’s easy to lead people down the primrose path because some of them want to be led that way; they want to be told that their son is ready for the next level or the player likes to be told they are ready for that next level. It’s an exciting time. These kids are competitive and they want to climb the ladder. Sometimes as a parent, you have to get well-informed and give them tough love. Sometimes you have to save them from themselves.”

And the debate continues …

Early Departures ... by the numbers (2010-16)

• Since the start of the 2010-11 season, 183 players have left Minnesota high school early. *   

• Early departures by season:
    2016-17 - 29
    2015-16  - 20
    2014-15  - 23
    2013-14  - 40
    2012-13  - 25
    2011-12  - 23
    2010-11  - 23

• League destinations for early departures:
    USHL  - 34%
    AAA  - 19%
    NAHL  - 16%
    USNTDP  - 10%
    Other  - 10%
    WHL  - 5%
    NA3HL  - 4%
    BCHL  - 2%

• Year in school when leaving early:
    Senior  - 62%
    Junior  - 29%
    Sophomore.  - 8%
    Freshman.  - 1%

• Within four years of leaving high school early (2010-11 to 2013-14 early depatures), 39 percent are in Division I, 26 percent are in junior hockey, 16 percent are out of hockey, 13 percent are in the pros and 6 percent are in Division III. 

• 38 percent of 2016-17’s early departures have already committed to a Division I hockey program.

  Andrew Vitalis can be reached at lphprep@yahoo.com