Dan Replies:
Dear Andy: The decision to try to make the NHL by the college or by Major Jr. A is a personal one, and because I chose the college route, you can expect a biased answer. But one thing is for sure, there's no sure route. But here's my best wisdom that may help you decide what is best for you.
- There's a big difference in the game. In college there is little or no fighting. Major Jr. A is starting to have a reputation of becoming a goon league where players think they have to prove how tough they are and how well they can fight to get into the NHL. If you're 6'3" and weigh 215lbs. you will view your chances differently than if you are 5'6" and 145 lbs.
- There's a big difference in the environment. In college you will be hanging out with kids your age who are serious about professional careers and learning something about all the great ideas of Western civilization. In Major Jr. A you will be hanging out with kids who will be struggling to finish high school and whose whole world is this game - hockey, which, believe it or not, is not the whole world or even a minute fraction of it.
- There's a difference in commitment. In college your coach will be committed to having you around for four years and, assuming you can keep your grades up, getting you graduated (and you can leave early if the NHL comes calling like Rob Blake (my teammate at BGSU and now the Kings) did). In Juniors you can get traded. You may be here today and somewhere else tomorrow and nowhere the next day.
- There's difference in expectations. In college you're not expected to talk to the media, have an agent, make the NHL next year. The pro's and for the most part the media leave you alone. In Majors, you have far more external pressure on you to perform, to make it... pressure that a lot of young players were not mature enough to handle. I believe college gives you a more protective environment in which you can grow emotionally and physically at your own pace.
- There's a difference in the options you'll have. In college, if you can't cut it, you can go play Major Jr. A. If you can't cut Major Jr. A, you cannot go play college in the US (you can play Canadian University after you've played Major Jr. A. but typically you must have had Grade 13 to be admitted to a Canadian University).
- There's a big difference in your window of opportunity. If you go the Major Jr. A route, you have to make your mark by your draft year - age 18. That's a small window of opportunity. In college you have four years to develope and prove what you can do. A good example of that is a teammate - Jason Blake. He is a very small player and I believe that if he had gone Major Jr. A, he wouldn't have been drafted at age 18 (because of his size, teams would be reluctant to risk a draft choice on him), which would have almost certainly sealed his fate. But over four years at University of North Dakota, he developed into a prolific scorer (led the nation in his senior year). He came out of college at age 24 a free agent and the LA Kings bet the bank on him.
- There's a huge difference in the bet you're making. If you go to college, betting that you will make it to the NHL, and you don't make the NHL (and statistically the chances are that you might not make the NHL), you could have a college degree to hand to your first real-world employer. You could be an accountant (like me) or an engineer, or a physical therapist, or who knows what. If you place your bet on Major Jr. A, and you don't make the NHL (and again statistically the chances are that you might not make the NHL), what will you hand to your first real-world employer? What will you be qualified to do? All of this is to say that betting on Major Jr. A is an all or nothing bet. Betting on college is not betting on all or nothing, it may be betting on all or perhaps something better than all.
- Perhaps the most compelling argument I can give you is that most of my teammates would say if they had it to do over again, they would try to go the college route. And I will make a very personal confession. I was promised to be a first round draft pick in the Major Jr. A 16 year-old draft by the Peterborough Petes if I would agree to go the Major Jr. A route. If I had taken that option, I might have made the NHL sooner and maybe I would be a second or first line player instead of a third or fourth liner and maybe would make more money. Of course, maybe I would have sustained a career ending knee injury as well. But knowing what I know now, I would rather be a third or fourth line player and be who I am, than a first or second line player and have foregone my college education. And as for life after hockey... well, I wouldn't be a published author if I hadn't gone to college, I wouldn't be writing you, and I can go back to work on the farm so to speak, but I don't have to.
In addition, I met my wife in college.. a beautiful, gracious, charming, educated, all-conference gymnast... not a bad side benefit.
I hope this helps.
