Happy New Year everyone! From everyone here at TJHN, we hope you and yours have had a happy and safe holiday season.
For months now, conversations have been taking place concerning the ability of the NJHL to ice teams when the player pools in their areas of operation are so limited. People throughout the hockey business really couldnt understand how this was possible.
So we did some looking and came up with some interesting facts.
The NJHL is built on a model that allows players who are 21 years old to play in the league. And if that were not bad enough, there is no limit to the number of 21 year old players a team can have on its roster at any time.
Think about the mental and physical maturity differences between a person who is 21 turning 22 and a person who just turned 16 this year. There are reasons why there are age cut offs in junior hockey, and there are even more reasons why leagues implement rules not only to protect young players physically, but to protect them as they grow socially.
The Edson Eagles, who are in first place in the NJHL have twelve 21 year old players who are turning 22 in 2024. They also have seven 20 year old players turning 21in 2024. Is there really any wonder as to why they are in first place with a goal differential of +118?
Is there a question as to why the High Prairie Red Wings are in second place and have the second highest number of twenty one year old players at 5?
With a league total of twenty nine players aged 21 and turning 22 in 2024, we now know exactly how the NJHL is able to operate as a league. Eliminate those twenty nine players, and you eliminate two teams from this gong show of a league.
While there are some leagues that allow a limited number of 21 year old players to play in Canada, they are limited in number. Those same teams and leagues do so usually when asked to by a Canadian University program, or they are a local player who lives in the community.
The NJHL though is another story. Based on the numbers, the NJHL uses these players to keep the league afloat and create rosters that otherwise would not exist.
Sources in Alberta are also saying that these players who are 21 are not paying to play, while the younger players are paying all of the bills for the team. Some teams charging well over ten thousand dollars per player.
Other sources in Alberta are telling TJHN that some players are being paid cash under the table to play games. Where is that cash coming from? If true, then once again the younger players and parents of those players are footing the bill.
The existance of this scam of a league is something that no real hockey people even understand. It serves no development purpose. It is not scouted. There is no movement of players up that is of any significance. The player advancement list is misleading at best, and a tool used to mislead unsuspecting players and parents.
But the player advancement list is funny as much as it is a fraud. The NJHL claims to be “Junior A” or “Tier II” when on its advancement page it lists players as having advanced to the SIJHL when in fact they played in the SIJHL before playing one game for a team in this league.
Even funnier, on the advancement page, this joke league lists players as being advanced to the USPHL Premier, which is Tier 3. If an advancement to the USPHL Premier from the NJHL is upward, then doesnt that make the NJHL Tier 4? Yeah, thats probably it.
It is unfortunate, that on New Years Day in 2024, thousands of people will read this article and do nothing about what they know this league does and is. They will say its not their responsibility to warn other players and parents, or warn their community they live in. And that is why this abomination continues to exist.
