Road to college now starts in juniors.

PositionSPORTS

Byline: Rich Garven

Junior hockey isn't new, but it is something of a new phenomenon.

The Wallace Wallopers, whose alumni includes former U.S. Olympic team goalie Ray LeBlanc of Fitchburg, played out of the Wallace Civic Center in the 1970s and '80s. It was a very good brand of hockey, but the biggest collection of teenage talent in Central Mass. was found in the high schools - be it public, private or prep.

The Wallopers are now known as the New England Junior Huskies, a Tyngsboro-based outfit that recently started playing some games again in Fitchburg. The Huskies and Junior Bruins, who call the New England Sports Center in Marlboro home, are the two local members of the Eastern Junior Hockey League.

The 14-team circuit has become the place to be in the last decade for many aspiring collegians from this area. Thirty-two players from 17 Central Mass. communities are skating for the Huskies and Bruins entries in the top-flight EJHL (ages 16-20) and the Empire League, a sort of feeder system for the 14- to 17-year-old set.

"What they are providing is better competition and more games," Worcester State coach John Guiney said, the junior season running from September to March with approximately 180 days of ice time between practices and games.

Junior Bruins GM/coach Peter Masters estimated 85 percent of the players currently playing in college came through the junior ranks. Scanning the rosters of five Division 1 programs in Massachusetts, including Holy Cross, reveals that estimate to be a tad conservative.

"These guys want to see the elite players versus the elite players and (junior hockey) gives them that opportunity," Masters said of the evaluation process of comparing recruits.

The players have their own reasons for going the junior route.

Some are postgrads looking to catch the eye of uninterested-to-date college coaches. Others have been recruited, but steered to juniors for a year or two of seasoning.

There are high school players who have been snatched up by junior teams because their talent is evident. And there are those good enough to survive a tryout, but will ultimately discover they don't have what it takes to play at the next level.

It's the rising loss of those players that - for obvious reasons - bothers area public school coaches the most.

"If the kid is 17 years old, and he's an elite player, I do believe he should go to the next level and challenge himself," Hudson coach Mike Nanartowich. "It's that third-line player in...

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