HC Sports Management

10/09/2026

Ava plays D1 in goal at Bemidji State. She remembers how overwhelming the recruiting process was.

Now she works with U16 and U19 players going through the same thing: club and prep decisions, college recruiting, reaching out to coaches, and figuring out which program actually fits the player, not just which one has the best banners.

HC Sports Management is independent. We’re not affiliated with any program or league, and we’re fee-based, not tied to future pro contracts. That means the advice is built around your daughter’s situation, not ours.

If you’re trying to figure out your next steps, DM us or book a call with Ava through our website: hcsportsmanagement.com

09/15/2026

Heads up for hockey families. A new bill in Congress, the TEAM USA Act, would cap international athletes at 20 percent of a college varsity roster, with a proposed start date of 2029. It's brand new, introduced this week, and has a long way to go before it could ever become law. But given how many NCAA hockey rosters include Canadian and European players, this is worth watching if your son or daughter is in the recruiting process. We'll keep you posted as it moves, or doesn't.

09/14/2026

AAA, prep school, and junior hockey get treated like three separate decisions. They're not. They're one connected pathway, and the choices made at 14 shape which doors are still open at 16.

New on HC Insights: how AAA, prep school, and junior hockey actually connect, how CHL geography plays into it.

Most families treat AAA, prep school, and junior hockey as three separate decisions made at three separate times. They’re not. They’re one connected pathway, and the choices made befor…

08/03/2026

A tender gets a player into the room. It doesn't get him a jersey.

Most NAHL main camps run 40+ players for about 25 spots once you count returning players, tenders, and draft picks. We broke down the roster math nobody explains before camp, what coaches actually watch for over a 4 to 6 day camp, and what to do if the first team doesn't work out.

A tender or a draft pick gets a player into the room. It doesn’t get them a jersey once the season starts. Every fall, good players walk into USHL, NAHL, and BCHL main camps assuming the har…

07/29/2026

"No athletic scholarships" is the one thing everyone knows about D3 hockey, and it's usually where families stop reading. Here's what gets missed: merit and need-based aid at strong academic D3 schools can rival a partial D1 offer, D3 coaches aren't bound by the same contact rules as D1, and the new D1 roster cap (26 players, down from 28-30) just narrowed the walk-on path considerably. New post breaks down D1 vs. D3 across scholarships, roster rules, recruiting timing, and academic certification.

Read it here:

NCAA D3 doesn’t give athletic scholarships, and families treat that as the whole story. It isn’t. What the D3 hockey pathway actually offers, and how it just changed.

07/23/2026

The Mental Game is out.

After years working with hockey families, here's what I keep seeing: the players who keep climbing aren't the most talented ones. They're the ones who know what to do after a bad tryout, a benching, a slump.

That's the whole book. Pressure, confidence, injuries, coaches, recruiting, and what players actually need from parents.

Live on Amazon, $9.99, free with Kindle Unlimited. Free first two chapters at

The Mental Game is a hockey mental performance book for players and parents. I’ve wanted to write this book for years. Something always got in the way: a family in the middle of a tryout cyc…

07/20/2026

Off-Season Training and Nutrition: What Actually Gets a Hockey Player Ready for Camp

Off-season training only works if nutrition backs it up. Here's what a real off-season plan for a hockey player actually includes — and the questions worth asking before you build one....

Off-season training only works if nutrition backs it up. Here’s what a real off-season plan for a hockey player actually includes — and the questions worth asking before you build one.

07/16/2026

Most hockey families track development camps and tryout results way closer than they track grades. That's a mistake. The NCAA Eligibility Center doesn't look at your player's overall GPA, it only counts specific "core courses," and there's a rule (the 10/7 rule) that locks in seven of those grades before senior year even starts.
We learned this the hard way with our own daughter. A pass/fail class and her school's non-standard grading scale nearly cost her eligibility, and her counselor had no idea until it was almost too late.
New post covers the 16 core courses, GPA minimums by division, and the mistakes we see most often.

The NCAA Eligibility Center checks more than credits. A firsthand account of what actually goes wrong with grades, core courses, and Clearinghouse paperwork, and what to do differently.

07/13/2026

How to Choose a Hockey Family Advisor: Questions to Ask Before You Hire One

There's no certification body for hockey family advisors, which means the vetting is on you. Here's what to ask, what to verify, and the red flags worth taking seriously before you hire one....

There’s no certification body for hockey family advisors, which means the vetting is on you. Here’s what to ask, what to verify, and the red flags worth taking seriously before you hir…

07/10/2026

Our website is officially updated.

You'll find everything in one place now — Men's and Women's Programs, the Training Program, Professional representation, and NIL/NCAA compliance info. We also added HC Insights, where we're posting articles on youth hockey development, junior hockey, recruiting, and NIL for families going through the process.

Take a look at hcsportsmanagement.com. First consultation is always free if you want to talk through where your player is at.