
Each winter, Hockey East coaches scour prep school rinks in search of players who could potentially help their programs down the road.
While there are plenty of good prospects in prep school hockey, it is difficult for college coaches to project who might have potential to be an impact player at the next level.
There are various reasons for this. Being a good prep school player doesn’t automatically translate into being a good collegiate player. The ages of prep school players can vary significantly.
With the phenomenon of early recruiting, college coaches have the more difficult task of determining if a prospect might not have popped yet. Coaches try to gauge whether a prospect who is a good skater and has a good skill set might take off in their development, despite not having put it all together yet.