CollegeHockeyFeature Showcase

At the Devils 2023 development camp, half of its attendees share a common experience: playing college hockey. Out of the 33 participants, half played college hockey last season. The University of Michigan, Michigan State, and Cornell University each had two participants while 13 total colleges were represented.

The college hockey world is a small one especially at a select camp. Despite not playing with the vast majority of attendees, those invited have plenty of experience playing against each other, especially those who attend college in Michigan. With players from Michigan State, the University of Michigan, Northern Michigan University, and Western Michigan University in attendance, these players have to put their competing schools aside for a week.

"We all know each other, especially from the Great Lakes tournaments and the Duel in the D with the Michigan guys," Michigan State forward Erik Middendorf explained. "It'll always be in the back of your head that they play for (another team) but it's funny getting to know them and talk to them and here we're all teammates."

For the players that are teammates at their respective colleges, having a fellow teammate at this year's camp gave some familiarity in a new environment where each player is trying to leave a lasting impression with the Devils.

"Coming in knowing you're going to know a guy you've been with at school for two years is awesome," Cornell defenseman Tim Rego shared. "It's definitely fun. It was nice seeing his face around here."

To see half of the Devils development camp attendees in the college ranks also shows how much college hockey has grown into a path to the NHL. Two decades ago, only one in five NHL players played at the collegiate level, according to College Hockey Inc. Fast forward to now, where 334 former-college hockey players competed in the NHL during the 2022-23 season. What makes college hockey such a successful path to professional hockey?

"You're extending the runway of a player," shared Leon Hayward, an assistant coach for the men's hockey program at the University of St. Thomas. "A lot of these kids that come out of (college hockey) are 23, 24. They're different, their maturity level's different. I really believe you can get better as a player. I think if you take all the access to ice, and lifting weights, and skill development that you have at colleges, you can fundamentally be a different player at 23, 24 than you were at 20."

The players see the benefits of the extended runway every day. The college hockey environment allows a high level of competition from day one, something that Michigan State forward Erik Middendorf appreciated.

"I think it prepares you to play older guys if you go in younger, and play against the best players when you're older," Middendorf explained. "That constant competition that you have, every weekend, feels like it's life or death and you're playing for something that's bigger than yourself and your teammates, you're playing for your University. So I don't think there's a better feeling than that."

Middendorf's college teammate, defenseman Viktor Hurtig, also praised his experience. Hurtig just wrapped his first college hockey season after playing in Sweden throughout his junior hockey career. The 2021 sixth-round draft pick has seen the increased speed in the college game compared to playing in Europe.

"College hockey is way more similar to NHL hockey, which I think is a huge advantage to play there," Hurtig noted. "You get more used to the way they play in the NHL with the speed on the smaller ice … It's faster, you get closer to people all the time, you get someone on you way faster than on the big ice sheet."

Forward Ondrej Psenicka also started his hockey career playing in Europe, however in his home country of Czechia. He got his first taste of North American hockey in the USHL with the Waterloo Black Hawks during the 2019-20 season. After a year back in Czechia due to COVID-19, Psenicka returned to the U.S. to start his college hockey career at Cornell University. His experience in college hockey has allowed him to see the speed and tough competition that pro hockey brings.

"College hockey has done so much for me," Psenicka reflected. "First of all, it showed me how big the competition actually is, all the guys, every team. Players are really good, competitive, hard working, skilled. (College hockey) is also very fast, so it's been a great experience. It shows me how hard we have to work to make it through and how you have to just try to get better every day."

Speed isn't the only similarity the college game has to the NHL according to Hayward. He believes the playoffs showed two additional ways the college game helps prepare players for the pros.

"I think pace and forechecking," Hayward explained. "You saw a lot of that in the NHL playoffs this year, the Stanley Cup Final. There's a ton of forechecking. College hockey is definitely a forechecking, F1, F2 game.

"Some of the players that can bring that to (the college hockey) level with a couple years in the American League can help (NHL) teams out."