Vancouver Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher (51) controls the puck against the Calgary Flames during the first period at Scotiabank Saddledome on Dec. 23, 2016.Sergei Belski
Some of the best young players who will soon be in the NHL spent this past month writing college exams in the United States.
The established road to hockey success for Canadian teenagers has always been the major-junior leagues across the country. But an alternative route has quietly gained ground, one that runs through the National Collegiate Athletic Association. On this path, aspiring teens in Canada play Junior A hockey – long considered second-tier – before collegiate hockey and a possible career in the NHL.
The British Columbia Hockey League is at the centre of the shift.
Last season, the BCHL featured 123 players who had been recruited to play at NCAA Division I schools. Then, in June, the league scored its best-ever showing at the NHL draft, when three of its players were selected in the first round, led by Tyson Jost, chosen 10th overall by the Colorado Avalanche.
"I knew where I wanted to go with my hockey career," said Jost, who played for the BCHL's Penticton Vees and is currently a star freshman at the No. 8-ranked University of North Dakota.
He is the sixth-leading scorer among Division I freshmen and is set to be a key player on Canada's world-junior team later this month.
"I have nothing against major junior. But a lot more kids should take a harder look at the NCAA. I've been blown away."
The primacy of major junior as the stepping stone to the NHL is not in jeopardy.
But the rising number of NHL players coming out of U.S. universities has changed the game for some players.
Major-junior contracts disqualify players from NCAA scholarships, so to eventually play and study south of the border, Junior A is becoming a more attractive option for teenagers.
"You've got to make some lifetime decisions when you're young," said Jost of his choice in his mid-teens.
The Vees in the BCHL have been a leader in establishing the viability of Junior A for promising prospects.
Fred Harbinson is in his 10th season as Vees coach, general manager and president, and has had more than two dozen players chosen in the NHL draft. Jost and Vees teammate Dante Fabbro, who was picked 17th over all by the Nashville Predators last June, were the latest.
Fabbro, a defenceman, will be another important player for Canada at the world junior tournament and is making his mark as a freshman at No. 6-ranked Boston University.
An important demarcation point for Harbinson and the Vees was 2011-12, when the team went on a record 42-game winning streak and eventually won a national title. The drafting of Jost and Fabbro added to Penticton's profile.
Harbinson has been getting calls from highly ranked bantam prospects about their next step in hockey.
"A lot of players worry about: 'Will I still get opportunities with Team Canada, will I still get drafted?'" Harbinson said. "Jost and Fabbro showed if you're a good hockey player in a good program, they'll find you."
Kirk Lamb, chairman of the Canadian Junior Hockey League, said: "It's becoming much more of an option for high-end players."
In the past, it was rare to see a big name emerge from the Junior A-NCAA route. The likes of Brett Hull and Paul Kariya were exceptions. But the number of players in the NHL coming from the college ranks, the preferred route for many American players, has climbed significantly. Collegiate alumni account for about 30 per cent of NHL players, up from around 20 per cent in the early 2000s.
Troy Stecher, a 5-foot-10 defenceman, has made the leap from Junior A-college to the NHL. He played three seasons for Penticton but went undrafted. He landed at the University of North Dakota, where the team won a national title last season, in his third year. Before signing with the Vancouver Canucks, the 22-year-old fielded interest from about 20 NHL teams.
Stecher started the season in the AHL but was quickly called up when the Canucks dealt with early injuries.
In his first NHL game, Stecher was arguably the Canucks best player, named third star of the game in a 3-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators. He has gone on to solidify his status as a top player on the Canucks roster, as the team struggles through another difficult season.
"Nowadays," Stecher said, "hockey is such a big global market. You can take any route and you can find your way. I wouldn't say it [Junior A] is lower. It's a different route. More and more, guys are deciding to go to college."
The BCHL has long been a leader among Canadian Junior-A leagues in sending its players to U.S. schools on scholarships, a number that has roughly doubled during the decade-plus tenure of BCHL commissioner John Grisdale.
"It's proven that kids can develop anywhere," Grisdale said.
The BCHL is also the Junior-A leader in producing NHL draft picks.
Of 402 players drafted directly from Junior A, 153 of them were in the BCHL, according to hockeydb.com. (Major junior of course is the leader by far, with 5,909 players. Colleges/universities follow at 1,517, and European elite leagues are at 1,260.)
Scouts have an eye on the evolving prospects landscape, investing time at Junior-A rinks.
"We have to give those players their due," said Judd Brackett, director of amateur scouting for the Vancouver Canucks.