Do you follow the USHL?
 

Just wondering how many people out there who use these forums follow the USHL? If so, what team? and how long have you been following them?

Feel free to include any other info as well, such as how many games you attend a year, etc.

I follow all teams....the league in general.

10+ years.

Since I played in the league I do.

I like Waterloo because they have a very respectable franchise. But now I have a few friends that play in it so I watch them more than teams.

Fargo Force Season Ticket Holder.

Will be our first and only season as such as well. Nothing against the players or the league, we just can't tolerate the team and arena staff.

I follow the USHL pretty thoroughly. I'm a season-ticket holder for the Lincoln Stars, and I run a unofficial fan blog devoted to the team.

http://www.lincolnstarsblog.com/

I was a season ticket holder the first few years ('96-99) then I moved to Seattle for 6 years. I moved back to Lincoln and have been a season ticket holder since 2006. Love the USHL! Junior hockey is really fun to watch, in my opinion. Best bang for the buck.

After a somwhat tumultuous offseason and a rough start to this season, Lincoln has had a run of good luck lately. They've smartly infused some new blood - and young blood at that - into the lineup and while hesitating to credit those players for the team's overall better play, one cannot help but notice the resurgence of John McCarron. Maybe he doesn't feel like the "youngster" any more!!!

I see that TI's Cole Martin showed up on the score sheet the other day and NJ Rocket's Zack Aston-Reese seems to be fitting in. Those are two players that I have followed through their various teams [and geographic locations in Martin's case!!!] since Squirts. Big jump in level for both of them but I considered both to be in the Top 50 of their age group.

I know that the staff and ownership of the Stars were concerned about the age of the team. It's good that they've addressed that. The Steel and Youngstown should learn from that. Some of us have been working hard to get all of these teams to make sure that they have youth on the team and that they maintain interest with their affiliate and futures list and that, when rostered, they develop these players.

Do you run the Black and Blue blog?

When my hometown had a USHL team (Rochester Mustangs) I did but have been away from the league for awhile until recently. As much as I would like incarnation #3 of the Stangs, I doubt the USHL will come back because the Ice Hawks (MNJHL team) have a very strong following; especially with the national tournament coming to Rochester this season.

Yes I do. It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun also.

McCarron really turned it around this season. From what I heard, he worked very hard in the offseason to get in tip-top shape, and it shows. He currently has 30 points in 39 games, while last season he struggled a bit with only scoring 26 points in 58 games. Along with forward Brent Tate, McCarron has to be one of the most improved played on the Lincoln roster. Cornell is getting a heck of a player.

The Stars recently called up defenseman Zach Frye, who like Cole Martin and Zach Austin-Reese is a 1994 birthdate. Frye is a former futures draft pick, and was performing very well as a rookie with the Wenatchee Wild (NAHL) before being called up by the Stars last week. Martin is going to be fun to watch develop the next couple of years. He's not flashy, but he can provide some offense when needed. Really excited to see how these two youngsters (Frye, Martin) progress the next couple of seasons on the blueline.

Heard the level of play is pretty decent. Is this league pretty much on par with all the leagues in the CJHL?

Are you the same Yeti from the Finish Your Check Forum?

Always enjoy your insightful comments and observations.

my hometown team is the USNTDP.

Yup, that's me. I've read your articles....great stuff.

Go to as many Waterloo games as I can. Really keep up with them and any SCSU recruits.

I go to about 15 Indiana Ice games a year. I especially love the 2 games we play at Conseco Fieldhouse. The kids love playing in front of 10-12k instead of the normal 3.5k at Pepsi Coliseum.

It's less on PAR with the "O". I believe most OHL teams would beat, some even smoke, a USHL team. It's a different game at the blueline with the "O" being far more physical. It's a different game at the top lines as well. You take the top 15 forwards in the USHL and compare them to the top 15 in the "O" and you're going to see a fairly disparate level of talent by the time that you get to foward number 8 or 9.

The USHL's goal isn't to develop pro players and it doesn't have the incentive that the "O" has to do so. In fact, I'd hesitate to call it a development league at all. On the other hand, the USHL prides itself on its D1 commitments and there are numerous overlapping relationships between coaches in the USHL and NCAA.

But, as we saw at World's this year when TeamUSA eschewed rostering a few outstanding US players playing the OHL in favor of D1 players, you see a tangible example of what I've illustrated above: The USHL dvelops D1 players - the OHL develops pros.

You have a player on that team who is probably the Top 1995 in the US, if not North America.

The poster wasn't asking about the the CHL, but the Junior A leagues (BCHL, AJHL,MJHL, SJHL etc). I think the USHL is on par with the top junior A leagues.

How is the USHL not a developmental league? Just because the USHL doesn't have the number of pro players as any of the the three CHL leagues, but the USHL helps develop kids for DI. What's wrong with that? You see more of influx of kids going to the USHL at 16-17 because of the development the league provides. The number of USHL players drafted into the NHL is on par with the QMJHL the last few years.

I think down the line you can see the USHL champion maybe play in the Memorial Cup. It's easier said then down. Obviously any CHL team will have the luxury of having the elite 18-19 years olds because the elite 18-19 year olds in the USA are in college or in major junior. But the USHL champion would most likely be an older-veteran squad with a lot of college commitments that would hold their own.

....

Oops...sorry...I missed the "J" in there.

I agree that the USHL is on par with the CJHL Junior A leagues and, in fact, the top USHL teams are better than the tops in those leagues. I believe that the USHL is overall better than the "Q" and possibly the WHL. Just not the "O".

First off, I haven't seen more of an influx; in fact, it's been fairly steady at 2 to 3, in rare cases, 4 per roster, if that. And of those players, they are most often the first to sit or denied ice and are simply thrown into the mix with no orientation.

The Major Junior leagues, which the USHL DOES compete against directly for players, have rookie camps. They stay on top of their players "in the system" and scout them regularly - especially around roster deadline times. The USHL doesn't do any of those things.

Also, the Major Juniors have affiliate Junior teams that are well stocked and more competitive than the nonUSHL options in the US. Those Junior A rosters have 16 and 17 year olds playing regular shifts across the board. In the US, what is the option? The NAHL doesn't have as near as many teams. There's the EJ but that is an 18/19 year old league with no limit on 20 year olds.

So, what's left? Midgets?!? A player who is a step away from the USHL or, by right of play, should have been rostered but, because of his age, was not, is not going to be well served playing mm or, in some Districts, MM.

The biggest joke going, I believe, is the USHL's Futures Draft. I advise players that they are better off NOT being affiliated with a USHL team because of their revolving door nature of the coaches and players.

The second biggest joke is the combine. It's a schmooze and a money maker. There's no serious scouting being done there. The guy who runs it totally dedicates himself to putting a good event together and does; but, guess what, players who show well there but were relatively unkown are still probably not going to be drafted.

Cody Payne was a no-show there and got drafted. He's up in Oshawa. Andreas
Athanasiou was the fastest skater there and might have been the leading scorer at the combine. Undrafted. Impressive player but no one knew who he was. He's in London playing for the Knights, getting a regular shift and has been putting up some points.

The USHL website says that a team usually returns about 14 players. I challenge that as being high. And because of the turnover, teams put a premium on the older players available and discount the younger talent.

I will stipulate that there are younger players getting ice - especially up in Dubuque. Ray Pigozzi in Des Moines is an exception as well. But the USHL is, by and large, an 18 and 19 year old players' league.

We mentioned Lincoln earlier. A player like Cole Martin should have been getting a regular shift on that team - especially given the plus/minus of some of their regulars. I see Aston-Reese is now sitting for whatever reason. I saw them play the Indiana Ice a few weeks ago and he was all over the ice making plays. And look at Indiana. Adam Erne, he should be a regular second line player on that team. He's 3 and 3...third line and sits every third game. Ian Spencer has totally disappeared and is playing MM. Those are but two examples of teams which should be giving these younger players a chance.

Again, I simply point to World Juniors as proof that the D1 track, for which the USHL prides itself, is inferior to the Major Junior track because of the league structures. Last year was an outlier as the team's backbone was a Bona Fide NHL player - who scored the tournament winning goal. But look at TC's roster over the last several years and the impact players they have in the NHL and then look at TUSA's and do the same.

BTW, I am in no way disparaging the USHL - and if you knew me off board you'd know why, which is all I will state - I see several games in various venues over the course of a month and the hockey is usually very good, often times GREAT and there is a TON of talent in the league. Just player for player, it's not there with the OHL. My beef, and I've put this out there on this board before, is how they develop their younger players. For all intents and purposes, they don't.

Im a Green Bay Gambler fan, and I follow the league in general. I haven't made it to many games this year, mostly because the team attitude has changed since Coach Cooper moved on and the atmosphere just isn't as awesome as it was.

Agreed that it is a better league than the Canadian Junior "A" leagues, that's pretty much accepted now. The "Q" argument is getting stronger all the time. However you lost me at the suggestion that the USHL is quite possibly better overall than the Dub. Seriously? First off, the OHL is not conclusively better than the WHL, in fact many would argue that it's the other way around. No scout I've ever talked to - and I've spoken with many over the years - has ever suggested the USHL is in the same class as the WHL. Could their top teams challenge the worst squads? Sure. But you could say that about pretty much any league.

In a PM exchange, I stipulated that my exposure to the Dub is limited. I further observed that in the limted games I have seen that it was not unusual to see very good players and very bad players rostered on both teams. Thus, seing a GREAT game and a CRAPPY game all in one game was possible. I then contrasted that to the OHL games I have seen in which the play is fairly even throughout.

The last games that I have seen with WHL teams was the pre-season tourney last Fall in Everett. What everyone knew was going to be a bad Soo team did fairly well there.

Look, I also said what I said about the "Q" mindful of the fact that no one may stop St. Johns this year at the Memorial Cup.

So, I apologize for speaking in generalities about the "W". I also had a feeling that the statement about the Dub could bite me in the butt because I just don't have the experience with the league.

That all said, I speak with scouts, too, and most put the CHL pecking order as O, W, Q. The "*" there is that most of these scouts are East Coast/Midwest based.

1. Yes, buy a pair of fan handz and get something that is being given away to people spending no money, FREE!

2. They have already given out fan handz(and thundersticks) this season and are just pawning off the left overs to make a profit.


Absolute. Morons.

I root for the Sioux Falls Stampede. Lots of good players have come from the team. Dan Sexton, Chris LaRose, Nodl with the flyers, and Thomas Vanek!

Living in Indianapolis, I follow the Indiana Ice.