The United States ice hockey structure includes elements from traditional American scholastic high school and college athletics, affiliated and independent minor leagues, the unique "major junior" leagues, as well as other various amateur junior and youth hockey leagues. The hierarchy of the ice hockey league system forms a pyramid with many regional minor and development leagues making up the base of the pyramid and a linear progression through the professional minor leagues leading to the National Hockey League at the top of the pyramid.
The National Hockey League (NHL) is widely considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world with top players from multiple countries participating in the league.[1] It is one of the Big Four major North American professional sports leagues along with Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the National Football League.[2] The NHL is a 'closed' league, meaning that teams are neither promoted nor relegated to other leagues, based on a franchise system. There are presently 32 teams in the NHL, with 25 located in the United States and 7 located in Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season.[3][4]
There have been professional ice hockey leagues of varying levels since the invention of the sport, and over time the leagues in North America settled into an unofficial hierarchy. The top of this hierarchy, however, was codified in the most recent NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement. In the top two minor leagues, the American Hockey League and the ECHL, teams act as a development farm system for the major league and the players are represented by the Professional Hockey Players' Association. While players are often sent between major and minor league teams, the teams themselves are never promoted or relegated. In minor leagues, similar to their counterparts in other sports, the salaries are often much less than what the NHL pays, but in the AHL, compensation is higher than the overall median U.S. annual income, and accounting for room and board, ECHL compensation is comparable to the national average.[5][6]
Today, the 32 teams of the American Hockey League (AHL) are considered to be the highest-level minor league.[1] All current AHL teams, other than the Chicago Wolves, have affiliation agreements with NHL teams, and many are owned by the same owners as the parent team.[7] Most prospective NHL players will enter into a two-way contract, in which players can be sent between the NHL and AHL teams at will. Many AHL players enter the league after being drafted from juniors or college, or after being scouted and signed by an NHL team and being assigned to the affiliated team to develop as a player. The AHL also recognizes a 'standard contract', which signs a player directly to the AHL though the affiliated NHL team has negotiating rights and can upgrade a player to a two-way contract if they so desire.
The ECHL, formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League, is considered a mid-level minor league with 28 teams, 26 within the United States and two in Canada.[1] Most of the teams of the ECHL have affiliation agreements with NHL and AHL teams, although it is not a requirement and independent ECHL teams can have players from any NHL/AHL team assigned. Generally, players will be promoted to the AHL before moving on the NHL and non-entry-level NHL players must consent to being assigned to the ECHL.[8]
USA Hockey also operates the National Team Development Program, based in Plymouth, Michigan. The program's goal is to prepare student-athletes under the age of 18 for participation on U.S. national teams and continued success throughout their future hockey careers. The NTDP consists of two teams; the U.S. National Under-18 Team, and the U.S. National Under-17 Team.[12] These teams compete in the United States Hockey League (USHL) in addition to playing NCAA colleges and in international competition.
College ice hockey is ice hockey played between colleges with their teams composed of enrolled students. In the United States, college hockey is played between colleges and universities with the competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA).
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has conducted national championships for men's ice hockey since 1948, and women's ice hockey since 2001. U.S. college hockey players must be deemed eligible for NCAA competition by the NCAA Eligibility Center, a process that examines a student-athlete's academic qualifications and amateur status. Players who have participated in major junior ice hockey or any professional hockey league are considered ineligible to play in the NCAA.[13] The NCAA currently has three divisions for ice hockey, Division I, Division II and Division III. Of the three divisions only Division I and Division III have a championship sponsored by the NCAA. The NCAA's top level, Division I, has 59 teams in six conferences: Atlantic Hockey, Big Ten, ECAC Hockey, Hockey East, National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and Central Collegiate Hockey Association. The NCAA Division I Championship is a 16-team, single-elimination tournament, divided into four, 4-team regional tournaments. The winner of each regional advances to the Frozen Four to compete for the national championship. In Division III hockey there are 74 programs in 9 conferences. The current Division III national championship format is an 11-team, single-elimination bracket.
The separate American Collegiate Hockey Association was formed in 1991 and is a chartered non-profit corporation that governs non-varsity or club-varsity college ice hockey in the United States. The organization provides structure and regulations, promotes the quality of play, and sponsors National Awards and National Tournaments. The ACHA's policies cover team and player eligibility, rules of play, ranking procedures, national tournament procedures, and other administrative issues, although the ACHA parallels the NCAA Division III with most eligibility requirements, gameplay rules, etc. The ACHA currently has three men's and two women's divisions and includes approximately 450 teams from across the United States. Teams offer no athletic scholarships and typically receive far less university funding.[14] The ACHA offers an opportunity for college hockey programs that struggle with large budgets and Title IX issues, as an alternative to the NCAA structure.[15] Many schools field separate teams in both the NCAA and ACHA.
Men's U.S. college hockey is a feeder system to the National Hockey League and collegiate athletes who meet eligibility requirements can enter the NHL Draft. As of the 2010–11 season, 30 percent of NHL players (a total of 294) had U.S. college hockey experience prior to turning professional.[16]
The majority of current NHL players came through major junior hockey. For a while, some NHL teams had agreements with amateur teams to help them develop players that would later play professionally, however, this practice was stopped when the NHL expanded in 1967.[citation needed]
Minor hockey in the United States is played below the junior age level (16 years old). Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body contact, vary from class to class. Unlike most American sports, athletes participate in minor ice hockey as part of clubs as opposed to schools.
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The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) is a college ice hockey association. The ACHA's purpose is to be an organization of collegiate affiliated programs, which provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes quality in collegiate ice hockey. The ACHA currently has three men's and two women's divisions and includes approximately 450 teams from across the United States and Canada. Most ACHA teams offer few athletic scholarships and typically receive far less university funding. The ACHA offers an opportunity for college hockey programs that struggle with large budgets and Title IX issues, as an alternative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) financial structure.
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College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America.
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