Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories analyzing junior hockey in Maine.

The Maine Nordiques and Twin City Thunder organizations have both started Tier II junior hockey teams in Lewiston and Auburn this season.

So, what exactly is Tier II junior hockey?

Nordiques coach Cam Robichaud yells instructions to his players during a practice in March 2019. Robichaud was the coach of the Tier III L/A Nordiques the past two seasons and is now an assistant with the Tier II Maine Nordiques. (Sun Journal photo by Russ Dilli Buy this Photo

To start, it’s important to know that all forms of junior hockey are played by 16-to 20-year-olds before they play college hockey.

Under the USA Hockey umbrella, the governing body for hockey in the country, there are three tiers of junior hockey that conform to amateur rules so players can maintain their NCAA eligibility.

The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the lone Tier I league in the United States. Most USHL players will go on and play NCAA Division I hockey, and the league has had at least 25 players drafted in each of the past five NHL drafts. That includes a record 44 this past summer, including the No. 1 pick Jack Hughes, who went to the New Jersey Devils.

USHL teams are responsible for the players’ equipment costs and billeting costs.

The North American Hockey League (NAHL), in which the Maine Nordiques play, is the lone Tier II league under the USA Hockey umbrella.

Most NAHL players will play at the NCAA Division I and III levels, while some of the younger players on NAHL teams’ rosters will move up to the USHL in future seasons before going to college.

The NAHL has had 17 players drafted directly out of the league into the NHL the past five years. It had five players apiece selected in the 2015 and 2016 drafts.

NAHL squads can have an unlimited number of 20-year-olds, but only four imports (non-U.S. citizens). The league’s teams pay for the players’ equipment and travel, while the players are responsible for the billeting costs, which is roughly $2,400 per season.

“It’s a high-paced, physical, demanding league that’s stockpiled with Division I talent,” Maine Nordiques director of hockey operations and head coach Nolan Howe. “A lot of these young men will go on to successful NCAA collegiate careers.

Nolan Howe is the first head coach of the Maine Nordiques of the NAHL. Submitted photo

“This is really the primary stepping stone once they finished high school and are transitioning to college,” Howe said. “This is kind of like that gap year for them, whether it’s a year or two years. But, it’s the premier destination for elite college-aged players.”

There are three Tier III leagues: the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL), in which which the L/A Nordiques play; the Eastern Hockey League; and the Eastern Hockey League Premier.

In these three leagues, the players are mostly looking to earn opportunities at the Division III level. The younger players are trying to climb up the junior hockey ladder.

Tier III is full pay-to-play, so players and/or their families are responsible for all of the associated costs, including coaching, equipment and travel. Tuition can range from $5,000-12,000 per season.

The United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL), home to the Twin City Thunder, isn’t governed by USA Hockey at the junior level. Instead, it operates as an independent league.

At the midget hockey level, it is governed by USA Hockey. It tries to follow the USA Hockey rules when it comes to junior hockey, but unlike the NAHL, the USPHL teams are limited to six 20-year-olds on the roster but can have unlimited import players.

The National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC), which was established in 2017, is what the USPHL considers Tier II, and like NAHL, its players usually go on to play Division I and Division III college hockey.

Prior to 2017, the Premier League, which is Tier III, was the USPHL’s highest-caliber league. The Twin City Thunder also have a Premier League that is playing its second season in 2019-20.

The USPHL has had one player drafted directly from one of its junior leagues by the NHL in the past five years. The NCDC-level teams are responsible for equipment and travel costs, while players or their families roughly pay $2,400 a year in billeting costs.

Twin City Thunder head coach Doug Friedman talks to his players during a game at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn in October 2018. Friedman coached the Thunder’s Tier III team in 2018-19 and has moved up to coach of the Tier II team this year. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

“Tier II hockey for us is getting quality young men ages 16-20 who have a goal of playing at the collegiate level and want to work on developing their game through on- and off-ice steps with our program,” Twin City Thunder NCDC coach Doug Friedman said.

The Premier and Elite levels under the USPHL umbrella are akin to Tier III, and like USA Hockey’s Tier III leagues, the Premier and Elite levels are fully pay-to-play, with similar costs of roughly $5,000-12,000 per season.

NOT THE Q, BUT ELITE

The Lewiston Maineiacs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL, or the Q) called the Androscoggin Bank Colisee home from 2003-11.

The Q is part of the highest level of junior hockey in the world, the Canadian Hockey League, which also includes the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League.

Those three leagues are breeding grounds for future NHL players. For example, Jaroslav Halak of the Boston Bruins, David Perron of the St. Louis Blues and Jonathan Bernier of the Detroit Red Wings all wore a Maineiacs sweater during their junior hockey days.

Other players who spent time in the Q include Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Brad Marchand and David Krejci of the Boston Bruins and Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers. Those are some of the to current stars of the NHL, and all played against the Maineiacs.

The Thunder and Nordiques organizations both agree Tier II junior hockey is closer to what fans saw with the Maineiacs than the Tier III-level teams that have played in Lewiston-Auburn the past several years (L/A Nordiques and their predecessor, the L/A Fighting Spirit, and the Thunder’s Premier team).

“It’s closer to the Q,” Maine Nordiques director of player recruitment and advancement and assistant coach Cam Robichaud said. “Take away the NHL draft picks in the Q, you have the North American Hockey League.”

While it may be closer, there is a difference between Tier II hockey and the major junior level in Canada, which features those players who are the elite of the elite.

“The Q is a whole other level,” Friedman said. “Anybody that’s going to tell you it’s the same, it’s not right. The USHL is a whole other level, but I think for the Tier II, I don’t care if it’s the NCDC or the NAHL, whatever it may be, you are going to see an increase of compete level, speed and skill set, IQ, just overall play — the game is going to be faster, sharper than the Tier III level.”

MORE ROSTER TURNOVER

The Q has cycles in which teams, especially those in small- and medium-sized markets such as the Lewiston Maineiacs, build for a “run year,” when veteran-laden rosters attempt to make a deep run in the playoffs, with a goal of winning the league championship and getting to the CHL’s Memorial Cup, the four-team tournament featuring the three league champions and a host team.

A cycle is a three- to five-year process. It can be one to three years of rebuilding the roster and maybe two years of deep playoff runs. When the veteran roster ages out, the process starts over again.

That won’t be the case at the Tier II level because, unlike the Q, teams can’t draft a 15- or 16-year-old to build their rosters around for the next three or four seasons. In Tier II, the roster construction is geared mostly toward 18-to 20-year-olds.

“I think that plays into what type of league and what the players are trying to achieve,” Robichaud said. “In the Quebec Major Junior (Hockey) League, players are playing there to be seen for the NHL Draft. They are looking to be seen at 16 and 17.

“In the North American League and Tier II, players are looking to be seen by Division I colleges,” Robichaud said. “The average incoming freshman is 20 years old. The players on our team are 18-19, taking that gap year or two between high school years and before earning a commitment to enter the collegiate game.”

The goal is to move most, if not all of the players to the next level, whether that’s college hockey or to the USHL.

“We will have some players, if we are doing a good job with our recruiting and our drafting, (who) we may have for a year and they make that jump to Tier I,” Friedman said. “We have already seen it with a couple of our draft picks (this past spring). I am not sure where Oscar Plandowski is going to land. I believe he was drafted by a Q team in (Chicoutimi). When you have a player like that (who) was a draft pick is now sort of potentially making the jump to not attend (an) NCAA (school).

“That’s one example. I think at the Tier II level you will have players that their goal is to play the highest level possible for juniors. Maybe, it’s a year at the Tier II then a year of Tier I, then they get onto college from there,” Friedman said.

Plandowski, a Thunder futures draft pick, will be playing in the Q this year after his rights were traded from the Chicoutimi Sagueneens to the Charlottetown Islanders, formerly known as the Prince Edward Island Rocket, last month. He forfeited his commitment to play college hockey at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, because the NCAA considers the three major junior leagues to be professional leagues.

The NAHL has a working agreement with the USHL wherein players can be called up or sent down during the season. So, a player might get out to a fast start in the NAHL and get called up by the USHL team that owns his playing rights. He will either stay in the USHL, if he’s playing well enough, or he’ll be sent back to the NAHL if he was just filling in for a player who was injured.

ROLE OF TIER III

Both the Thunder and the Nordiques use Tier III as that steppingstone for the players, especially those who are playing junior hockey for the first time.

“Overall the speed is a bit quicker at the Tier II level — by two, three of steps, even —the thought process as well,” Robichaud said. “So, the thinking is faster. The Tier III is a good ground to learn the game, to get stronger and faster — improve on the thought process and speed that up, hopefully transition to Tier II.”

From last year’s L/A Nordiques team, Alex Rivet and Cole Ouellette made the jump to the Tier II level with the Maine Nordiques. Valeri Rykov, who also played for the L/A Nordiques, made the Fairbanks Ice Dogs after they drafted him in the NAHL draft in the spring.

Two other former L/A players, Donovan Tehan and Colby Audette, committed to Becker College in Worcester, Massachusetts, a Division III school.

The Thunder, meanwhile, had Lewiston native Jeromey Rancourt, Tristan Mock, Zach Desmarais, Drew Gardner and Nicolas Poirier all make the jump within the organization from the Tier III to the Tier II team this year.

Other former Thunder Premier division players moved on: goaltender Jaxon Friedman made the Austin Bruins of the NAHL, and Nick Malik returned to the Boston Junior Bruins organization to play for its NCDC team. Tanner Ames is playing for the Northern Colorado Eagles of the Western States Hockey League which considers itself Tier II but isn’t USA Hockey sanctioned.

Étienne Crouslé committed to play at McGill in Montreal this season, while Alex Schnieder will play for the club team at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virgina.