FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
National Collegiate Development Conference Announces 2024-25 Event Schedule
BOSTON, MA – July 10, 2024 – Get ready for some of the best weekends of hockey that you’ll see during the 2024-25 season. The National Collegiate Development Conference is excited to announce its unmatched NCDC Showcase Series, plus the dates of the 2024-25 Dineen Cup Championship series.
NCDC Showcase Series events for the 2024-25 season include the NCDC Frozen Futures Showcase (Oct. 2-4 in Idaho Falls, Idaho), the Jersey Hitmen Classic (Oct. 17-21 in Wayne, N.J.), and the South Shore Kings Presidents Day Showcase (Feb. 14-16, 2025, in Foxboro, Mass.) The NCDC/USPHL All-Star Event will take place Jan. 27-28 in Foxboro, Mass. The NCDC Dineen Cup Championships will take place April 25-29, 2025, at the Ice Vault Arena in Wayne, N.J.
Each NCDC event welcomes NCAA scouts to catch some of the best Tier II talent in the country. The NCDC advanced 61 players from the 2023-24 season plus alumni to the NCAA Division I ranks last year, and more than 160 NCAA recruits overall. With the NCDC now growing to become a 21-team league, NCAA scouts will have an even bigger pool of players to scout to build their futures. NCDC alumni last year earned more than 40 Division I conference and team awards, including two conference Players of the Year. Collin Graf won the ECAC Hockey honor and Liam McLinskey was the top player in Atlantic Hockey America. Both players were also All-Americans and Hobey Baker Award Top 10 finalists. Graf went on to sign and play for the San Jose Sharks in the NHL. The NCDC has seen 18 of its players drafted by NHL teams since 2017.
The NCDC Frozen Futures Showcase kicks off the 2024-25 NCDC events calendar Oct. 2-4 with the Mountain Division putting its best talent on display. Each Mountain Division team will play three games, with the host Idaho Falls Spud Kings playing the nightcap each evening in front of their usual capacity crowds of more than 4,100 fans at the state-of-the-art Mountain America Center in Idaho Falls. The Mountain Division established itself as a goldmine of talent that was immediately able to compete with the longer-established Eastern teams, illustrated by the Ogden Mustangs’ epic three-game Dineen Cup Final series against the eventual victor South Shore Kings, including a convincing 7-3 Game 1 victory.
The Jersey Hitmen Classic (Oct. 17-21) has been a jewel of the early season NCDC calendar from the start of the league, and continues to bring all of the Atlantic and New England teams together to battle it out and give the top teams momentum to build upon for the remainder of the season ahead. Located conveniently 30 miles from the heart of New York City, Wayne, N.J., is an easily accessible location for NCAA scouts and the three-sheet Ice Vault Arena makes for an exciting atmosphere with games going on across the dynamic facility.
The NCDC/USPHL All-Star Event will be held Jan. 27-28 in Foxboro, Mass., and will be another great opportunity for NCAA and NHL scouts to get a look at the best the NCDC has to offer from across all of its divisions, with each division fielding its own team. Each team will play two games. There will also be a Prospects team for the league’s top young talent, many of whom will be NHL Draft prospects for 2025 or beyond. The NCDC has seen 18 players selected in the NHL Entry Draft since its founding in 2017-18. All NCAA Division I-committed players will be part of the games.
The South Shore Kings Presidents Day Showcase (Feb. 14-16) is held annually in February amid the late season stretch drive, as teams are jockeying for playoff position, which lends to intense performances from all of the Atlantic and New England teams in attendance. Like the Ice Vault, the Foxboro Sports Center is a three-sheet facility, promising an action-packed atmosphere in which NCAA scouts can view multiple games between the 15 Eastern U.S.-based teams. Foxboro is also conveniently located 30 miles from Boston, making for a convenient take for the more than 60 NCAA teams located throughout New England.
The NCDC Dineen Cup Finals (April 25-29) bring the league’s top four qualifying teams from across the 21-team footprint to the Ice Vault Arena in Wayne, N.J., with a new format for 2025. The 2025 Dineen Cup Finals will be held as a double-elimination tournament featuring each division’s playoff champion, plus one Wild Card team (top regular season points-getter from among teams that lost their division championship series). The NCDC Dineen Cup Championship game will be held April 29, 2025.
Watch for the release of the full 2024-25 NCDC Schedule coming soon!
We invite all scouts and fans to enjoy these exciting NCDC Showcase Series events where you will see talented players giving their all to pave their Pathway To College Hockey.
