Ranking Canada’s Junior B Hockey League’s

A recent article written by The Junior Hockey News has created considerable discussion about the order and how the league’s are ranked. They used scouts from across Canada & the USA to create their list.

Before we get too far into this post, remember that I am a fan, not a scout, not on any board for a team or league, just a fan. This post is meant to create discussion.

Limitations

First let’s talk limitations of this research. Junior B (or Junior AA in Quebec) have varying purposes, goals, visions, and missions, on top of various guidelines and regulations that are set up by the league and the provincial governing body. For example, how Jr B leagues are run in British Columbia is vastly different from how they are conducted in Ontario and Quebec. Therefore conducting such rankings is full of nuances and is complex, because leagues are not generalized.

Second, despite some leagues having good reputations, their information about commitments, CHL (WHL, OHL & QMJHL) signings and drafts are limited on their website, therefore making it extremely difficult to find such movements.

Third, despite the help of Google Translate, it was difficult to navigate through the Quebec Jr AA Leagues.

Procedure

I compiled the list of 24 Jr B teams from Wikipedia. Then I did the following process with each and every league.

• I then went to Elite Prospects to see their transaction tracker. Looking at movements between July 27, 2015 and August 31, 2014. I looked for:
• Jr. A movements (more than 5 games played)
• US Jr Hockey movement
• CHL signings/draft
• Commitments to Canadian Universities
• Commitments to American Universities
• I searched the leagues Wikipedia page (omitting duplicates)
• I searched the leagues website (omitting any previous duplicates)
• If Elite Prospects, Wikipedia & League showed zero movements, I then went to individual team sites, Twitter accounts, and Facebook pages to track movements.

I kept track of those five movement categories.

Not Ranked Leagues

Due to little or no information (again related to league missions, visions and purpose) the following leagues could not be ranked:

Capitale Junior AA Hockey League
Chaudiere-Appalaches Junior AA Hockey League
Estrie-Mauricie Junior AA Hockey League
Laurentides-Lanaudière Junior AA Hockey League
Métropolitaine Junior AA Hockey League
New Brunswick Junior B Hockey League
North Eastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League
Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean Junior AA Hockey League
St. John's Junior Hockey League
Thunder Bay Junior B Hockey League

*If you are willing to point me where I can find information on those five above categories, please do.

Proportional

As many followers of this blog know, I like to take a balanced, or curved approach to the numbers. So instead of just looking at quantity in each, I did a ratio. The number of players moved on divided by the number teams in the league. Therefore giving us a number of the players moving on per team.

So with that in mind, let’s look at the numbers.

Overall Ranking (in graduating players to higher levels)

I would say overall, the numbers support The Junior Hockey News in many areas with very little variation in rankings, and disagree in others (which I am sure adds fuel to the fire of scouts vs. numbers – that’s a whole other discussion). So I would rank the top Jr. B Leagues as follows (again, remember I am just a fan crunching numbers):

1. Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (TJHN – 1)
2. Pacific Junior Hockey League (TJHN – 4)
3. Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (TJHN – 17)
4. Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (TJHN – 3)
5. Calgary Junior Hockey League (TJHN – 12)
6. Heritage Junior Hockey League (TJHN – 5)
7. Prairie Junior Hockey League (TJHN – 6)
8. Lac St-Louis Junior AA Hockey League (TJHN – 7 [they grouped all of Quebec together])
9. Island Junior Hockey League (TJHN – 10)
10. Central Canadian Hockey League Tier 2 (TJHN – 2)
11. North West Junior Hockey League (TJHN – 16)
12. Keystone Junior Hockey League (TJHN – 14)
13. Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League (TJHN – 8)
14. Capital Junior Hockey League (TJHN – 13)

The remaining 10 teams would be guess work, and as noted above, they will remain unranked.

Player Priorities

When looking at this list, I think ranking the leagues depends on what the player wants to get out of their Jr B experience.

If they are looking to play in the CHL (WHL, OHL, QMJHL), then I would suggest getting into the Calgary Junior Hockey League or the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.

If they are looking to play Jr A hockey (again varies province to province), then I would suggest the three Jr B BC Leagues – Pacific Junior Hockey League, Kootenay International Hockey League, Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League – and the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.

If they are looking to play hockey in University (i.e. get a scholarship), then I would suggest the three Jr B BC Leagues – Pacific Junior Hockey League, Kootenay International Hockey League, Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League –, the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, and the Heritage Junior Hockey League.

So the information below will be more relevant.

Movement to the WHL, OHL or QMJHL (CHL)

1. Calgary Junior Hockey League – 1.50 (12/8)
2. Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League – 0.31 (8/26)
3. Pacific Junior Hockey League – 0.10 (1/10)
4. Central Canadian Hockey League Tier 2 – 0.06 (1/16)
5. Kootenay International Junior Hockey League – 0.05 (1/20)

The remaining nine leagues did not have a reported player drafted or signed into the CHL during the 2014-15 season.

Movement to Jr A Leagues

1. Pacific Junior Hockey League – 2.50 (25/10)
2. Kootenay International Junior Hockey League – 2.50 (50/20)
3. Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League – 2.44 (22/9)
4. Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League – 1.12 (29/26)
5. Prairie Junior Hockey League – 0.46 (6/13)
6. Lac St-Louis Junior AA Hockey League – 0.22 (2/9)
7. Heritage Junior Hockey League – 0.21 (3/14)
8. Central Canadian Hockey League Tier 2 – 0.13 (2/16)
9. Keystone Junior Hockey League – 0.11 (1/9)

The remaining five leagues did not have a reported player sign or move to a Jr A team during the 2014-15 season.

Movement to USA Jr Hockey

1. Island Junior Hockey League – 0.20 (1/5)
2. Capital Junior Hockey League – 0.07 (1/14)
3. Kootenay International Junior Hockey League – 0.05 (1/20)

The remaining 11 leagues did not have a reported player move and sign with a USA Jr Hockey team during the 2014-15 season.

Commitments to Canadian Universities

1. Kootenay International Junior Hockey League – 0.60 (12/20)
2. Pacific Junior Hockey League – 0.40 (4/10)
3. Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League – 0.22 (2/9)
4. Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League – 0.19 (5/26)
5. Heritage Junior Hockey League – 0.14 (2/14)

The remaining nine leagues did not have a reported player commit to a Canadian University during the 2014-15 season.

Commitments to USA Universities

1. Kootenay International Junior Hockey League – 0.35 (7/20)
2. Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League – 0.33 (3/9)
3. Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League – 0.31 (8/26)
4. North West Junior Hockey League – 0.14 (1/7)
5. Pacific Junior Hockey League – 0.10 (1/10)
6. Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League – 0.09 (1/11)
7. Heritage Junior Hockey League – 0.07 (1/14)

The remaining seven leagues did not have a reported player commit to a USA University during the 2014-15 season.

Discussion

I will admit the confusion with the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League, which TJHN ranked 2nd, with the league forming a new league with other teams in the Central Canadian Hockey League Tier 2 it was hard to grab information.

All of this information is dependent on websites (league, team, etc.) sharing the transactions.

For me, all this just speaks to what the player’s priority is given the leagues mission, vision and purpose; which I think is a far more important discussion, what the player wants/needs and which league will meet those wants/needs.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!