JUNIOR HOCKEY IN EUROPE

Depending on the team, they may (or may not) help cover a number of these

Team Fees

In our experience, junior teams in Europe that have a season fee for players are usually quite reasonable (generally ranging from a few hundred dollars to maybe 1500euro on the high side).

This helps cover everything from team ice fees, bus transportation, etc.

Flights

Some teams in the higher tiers may help to cover some of this part depending on their budget, but if not, there are many one-way (or two-way flights) to most European hubs that are quite affordable.

When you’re a player under 25, there are several student aged flight discount sites that help cut the costs here even further.

Housing/Food

With so many junior teams, some will help cover housing and food while others don’t. When a team shows interest in you, they’ll be able to share with you if they can (or can’t) cover this aspect. For past players that needed to cover this, many teams make this very manageable.

Depending on the players age and preferences, some teams have dedicated staff that can house a player in-season (similar to a billet family in N. America) where other teams have nice apartment or team housing setups for teammates to live in-season. A number of teams have this right next to the ice rink.

So in all, there may (or may not) be some of these costs above associated with playing junior in Europe.

In our experience, players/families have told us two things:
1) It was a lot more affordable for the year than they thought to play juniors overseas (compared to North American alternatives)
2) They didn’t need to spend too much in-season

With the above, you can roughly gauge the range of what it may cost.

You also want to keep in mind that any costs are going towards you (or your player) getting to live in an amazing country while playing hockey…that’s often worth it (more on this later in Chapter 6).

Whereas in Europe, players will often move directly from juniors -> pro senior level. Unless European players aim to play in N. America, collegiate hockey isn’t common overseas. Players all aim to play at the highest level they can and then move to the pro level. Many college-aged European players will go to university and continue to do coursework in parallel to playing.

So we can help you get an idea of the caliber/skill in some European junior hockey leagues, we’ll try to give a couple comparisons per the various tiers.

Top Tier

At the very top of junior level hockey in Europe, you have leagues like U20 Nationell in Sweden, U20 SM-sarja in Finland, DNL U20 in Germany, Extraliga junior (U20) in Czech Republic, and U20- Elite in Switzerland to name a few.

Although it’s not a part of Europe, the MHL in Russia is considered an elite junior league that’s closely comparable to major junior leagues in North America so it’s worth mentioning.

These types of teams are at an elite junior level caliber.

Many players in the top tier leagues above aim to go on to play at the next level. It’s not apples to apples, but you could broadly compare the level of junior players here to a strong NAHL or middle of the pack USHL player. We're painting a broad stroke in the comparison...but trying to give you a better idea.

Many junior clubs across European have direct affiliations with parent clubs in the cities they play in. We go more in-depth on these pro levels in our guide on professional European Hockey Leagues.

Playing juniors in the EU offers direct exposure based on this proximity.

The top junior leagues in Europe are very much about speed, skill, and finesse more so than the physicality and hard nosed play you’ll see in North America.

Yes, the style of hockey differs a bit depending on the region...but the level of junior hockey overall in both continents is good.

We just mentioned a number of the very top European junior leagues above, but if you’re reading this, there are a ton of junior leagues that fall just slightly below this where the level of hockey is high quality and teams are based in great locales.

Whether it’s a league like U20 Mestis (Finland), U20 Region (Sweden), Norway U20, Italy Junior League (U19), or one of the many other main junior leagues in a country like Germany, Switzerland, or Austria, there’s many great places to play. The educational system for secondary schools and universities across Europe is second to none which allows players to continue in their academics if that’s an aim of yours.

The caliber of playing juniors in Europe on the ice may be similar (or greater) to what you might have in a good junior league in North America, but the added experience living wise off the ice goes unmatched.

Depending on your age as a player, the initial stepping stone may be at a U16, 18, 20 level, etc depending on where you’re coming from.

Getting your foot in the door to play in Europe can open up many doors for you once you establish yourself whether it’s attracting attention from the cities main pro team or garnering interest to play at the next level back in N America with newly established European playing experience on your resume.

If you’re an import player who’s planning to play juniors across the pond, you probably want to know what to expect upon arrival, right?

For starters, seasons in Europe start about a month earlier (give or take) than many seasons in North America do.

If the club doesn’t keep the arena's ice frozen year round, many rinks will put their ice back in around the end of July or in early August. The month of August is when most teams gear up and have ice available again.

Training + Pre-Season

Depending on the league and country, a couple weeks of initial off-ice training kicks off the very beginning of the training period for locals and some imports. If you’re an import, teams will generally communicate with you and you can sometimes fly over a little bit later depending on your ability to arrive and the team's preferences. This will vary of course per team.

On-ice training will begin shortly after depending on when the ice is in.

During this training period, teams will likely begin to play a select number of exhibition matches. In Europe, these are sometimes referred to as “friendly's" as it’s a pre-season friendly exhibition match.

These matches allow clubs to see how prospective players perform in the lineup and provide more veteran players with the much needed ice time to get back into hockey shape for the coming season...

On practice days during these early pre-season training periods, it’s common for teams to have a more intense off-ice training element. You might have a morning training session on ice followed by a short team workout. The off ice aspect will continue in season, but it should definitely lighten up a bit to be more geared around maintaining strength and reducing injuries.

The period of official on-ice training beginning to exhibition matches concluding usually lasts a few weeks to a month.

Once the few exhibition matches conclude, it’s about time for the start of the regular season.

Regular Season

Different junior clubs across all of Europe have different daily/weekly schedules, but a good chunk of matches are set around the weekends between Friday-Sunday. Some clubs will have a mid week game too…but it all depends on the league/tier.

Practices will take place in the week based on that weeks game schedule and many clubs will have one dedicated off day each week (ex: Mondays).

In terms of number of games throughout the regular season, junior teams in Europe have a bit lighter game loads compared to in North America.

To give you a quick example, the USHL may have 60+ regular season games. Most leagues in Europe at the junior level will play anywhere between 40-50 regular season games (not including playoffs).

As we mentioned in an earlier Chapter, European junior leagues have several mid-season breaks which allow players a few days to rest/recover or travel if they’re not partaking in international tournaments.

Atmosphere Playing Juniors in Europe

In terms of the fans and atmosphere in many rinks in Europe, junior players of ours have told us that their local fans to their team brought an electric energy and motivation to home games.

Junior leagues may not all have the same high fan attendance numbers as the pro hockey leagues in Europe do, but we’ve seen this firsthand many times where the local support for junior clubs is strong.

Attendance numbers vary depending on where the team is based and at what level it is, but it’s not uncommon for local hockey supporters to stand and chant all game, have signs/flags, and instruments (drums/horns) to support the club at home and on the road.

It’s much like what you might see at a European football (soccer) match.

It can be a great atmosphere to play in front of at any age.

Halfway point of the regular season

Once the season hits around the half way mark, you’re nearing the holidays in late December.

Europeans take holiday periods and breaks very seriously (in terms of time off) so your team may give you a few days to over a week off easily depending on the game schedule. During this time, we’ve had many players who either fly home for the holidays or if the break is a bit shorter, a family member(s) will fly over and they’ll together enjoy an amazing European experience, often travelling for a few days and then pairing it to stay and watch their player play for the 2nd half. Others get to know people within the hockey organization and they welcome them into their homes for the holidays. Europeans are first-class in this regard.

For imports playing in Europe, this time of the year can be quite special all around between being in the heart of the hockey season feeling good on the ice and off the ice, enjoying Christmas Markets, holiday festivities, and much more.

As the holidays wrap up and the New Year begins, the 2nd half of the season is in full motion for junior teams across the continent.

Much like at the pro levels, signing deadlines for the majority of junior leagues here takes place on January 31st so that gives room for clubs to piece on added strength as they near in on the end of the regular season.

Side note: if it falls between the end of January-February as you’re reading this, the aim will be for the following season as teams start to focus on early recruiting for the next season at the start of March and beyond (depending on if they’re making a deep playoff run).

When regular seasons wrap up in late February or the end of March, one of a few things will happen.

Teams will either:
•enter the playoffs
•miss playoffs (season ends)
•take place in qualifiers or relegation rounds (promotion/relegation)

Much like at the pro levels, signing deadlines for the majority of junior leagues here takes place on January 31st so that gives room for clubs to piece on added strength as they near in on the end of the regular season.

Side note: if it falls between the end of January-February as you’re reading this, the aim will be for the following season as teams start to focus on early recruiting for the next season at the start of March and beyond (depending on if they’re making a deep playoff run).

When regular seasons wrap up in late February or the end of March, one of a few things will happen.

Teams will either:
•enter the playoffs
•miss playoffs (season ends)
•take place in qualifiers or relegation rounds (promotion/relegation)

Final Part of the Season

Promotion and relegation is where teams either move up or down a level isn’t quite as common in juniors in Europe than it is at the pro level, but promotion and relegation takes place each season in many of the top junior leagues (most common in Scandinavia).

We’re very broadly defining it here, but in short, based on team performance during the earlier parts of the season, the team will then be set to either compete in a series of matches either for promotion (move up a league) or relegation (move down a league).

In J20 Nationell for example, the top 10 clubs play for the championship. The lowest clubs may get relegated and compete in what’s called Kvalserien against the top J20 Region teams who are aiming to move up. This is one example, but it’s a somewhat similar format in other countries/leagues here.

Relegation rounds generally take place in parallel or just after playoffs.

In a number of leagues though at this level, junior clubs are soundly affiliated with the senior pro clubs so relegation isn’t always a thing that takes place.

If your club misses the playoffs, your season may end in March. If you make it to the playoffs, maybe a few weeks later or for a deeper run, sometime in April for most.

At the end of a season, players will often either have plans to fly home or use the advantage of being in Europe to do a little end of season travel (mine as well since you’re already there).

If you’ve made it this far in this handbook guide that our teams put together, you now should hopefully know a little bit more on the junior hockey landscape in the EU.

Is it the right path for you though?

If the idea of being able to continue playing hockey at the next level (juniors) while living abroad sounds appealing to you, there’s not a better option around.

We touched on this earlier, but the added aspects of much more affordable education and travel in top ranked countries impacts the choice to.

For players (and parents) reading this, it’s important to remember that you can fully explore the potential of playing in Europe in parallel to exploring North American options.

We’ve gone about the process this way with many players and many will go through it proactively as well (ex: 1-2 years out) which allows you to properly get on team's radar.

Whether a player is 15, 18, or 20 years old, it’s NOT a process where you blindly rush, go through it, and you’re off to some random EU country without planning.

If it first aligns for us to help work with a player, we work through a comprehensive process that helps put you in a position and framing that will best showcase to teams why they should have interest in you over other prospective players they’re reviewing.

There’s no magical guaranteed signing or any of that as teams make that final decision on if a player fits their needs. We have a way of working with players that’s proven based on it being grounded in a way that garners interest from teams and has helped many players reach this level in Europe.

Along with the above, a last major benefit that players (and families) should consider when deciding on if junior hockey in Europe is right for them versus all other options is…

Playing hockey overseas in Europe whether for one season or several is going to make such a positive impact on your understanding of the world, maturity on/off the ice, and expanding your worldview by immersing yourself fully in a region that you didn’t grow up in.

We’ve had countless junior players and their families later tell us in many ways that them making that decision to play in Europe was the best decision they could’ve made.

Because of that, they were able to:
•move up to the pro team based on getting seen in juniors and have a successful career
•have the option to play back in N America at a much higher level after juniors in Europe
•travel abroad in places that never would have been possible without hockey
•make lifelong friends for life, meet significant others, etc
•earn a high paying job many years later because they had a unique life story
•and many more like this

If you are a player (or you're helping one) and you believe you have the combo of ability to play in Europe alongside the desire to have this once in a lifetime opportunity day-to-day, reach out to us introducing yourself.