NAHL or OPJHL move on to NCAA and/or OHL, so does the OPJHL work closer with the OHL?

Question

Just looking for a few opinions all the following leagues.

I pretty much know how the NAHL works, but I don't know much about the OPJHL league.

How would you compare the two leagues? Pros and Cons

It looks like both leagues moves players to the NCAA.

But it looks like the OPJHL leagues moves more players to the OHL league along with NCAA and division 2 colleges. True?

How would you compare the talent between the two leagues or any other comparisons would be interesting?

So if you had a choice to play for the NAHL or the OPJHL league which one would you choose and why?

Thank you!

Answer 1

The talent level between the two leagues is extremely similar.  The purpose of the OPJHL (as well as the BCJHL, AJHL, SJHL, etc) is to give players from Ontario the ability to play hockey at a very high level while retaining their eligibility for the NCAA.

The OPJHL has a limit on the number of imports each team can have.

Which one to choose

If you live in the US, you can choose either league, but most likely will choose the NAHL

If you live in Ontario, you will choose the OPJHL

Note #1: Prior to 1992, there were several leagues that were classed as Junior B Leagues in Ontario (Metro Jr B, Central Ontario Jr. B, and Golden Horseshoe Jr. B).  In 1992, these leagues were merged, and re-classified as Tier 2 Junior A (a haf step below Major Junior A).

Players who felt they

a) had no chance at a hockey scholarship

b) could play in the NHL at age 18

would choose Major Junior A

Players who

a) felt they had a chance at a hockey scholarship

b) felt they weren't good enough to play in the NHL at age 18

would choose Tier 2 Junior A

In the last 20 years, the number of players from the OHL Midget Draft who have decided to play in the OPJHL or equivalents has risen from 2% in 1985 to 28% in 2005

As a side note

Kyle Turris was drafted from the BC's Tier 2 Junior A program last year............so the level of hockey is improving!

Note #2: The reason the NAHL/USHL doesn;t move as many players to the CHL as the Canadian Tier 2 Junior A Leagues is that the CHL also has an import limit, and some of these spots are taken by Europeans like Jakub Voracek, etc.

Answer 2

i don't know much about the nahl, so you can explain that to me, but the opjhl is tier 2 division a hockey that was made by the ohl, but the opjhl although affiliated with the oha, is split from them so there are multipe divisions of tier hockey in the ontario junior major junior hockey system. it's all really confusing, but just know that they're different levels. so in the chl, when they reorganized major junior hockey they created the ohl, whl, and the qmjhl and they're major junior a leagues. there used to be an old tier 2 league before the creation of the major a leagues, but they weren't unified under the oha banner.

the opjhl is made up of four leagues, the metro junior a league, southern ontario junior a/western ontario junior a, ontario provincial junior a (which used to be a division b league), and the oha's junior a league + now 1 team from the ontario midwestern junior b league.

if you want to understand this all better with dates, facts etc...

http://www.opjhl.ca/page/show/20033

pros about the opjhl, is that it's all good competitive hockey at a young age. it's the top a league in ontario, so that basically means that you'll be playing with your future ohl counterparts. it's also true that opjhl players go on to play in the ohl, because if they want to continue playing competitive hockey and they have dreams of reaching the nhl, there's nothing better than playing in a chl league and our ohl league is one of the oldest, and best (haha don't tell that to all the whl, q lovers. i like those leagues too). most players would rather stay at home, play hockey, get their education, and also get good exposure to scouts. most of the nhlers from ontario go through the whole oha/chl system.

in the 2008 nhl draft the chlers from ontario are products of the oha/opjhl system ie. steve stamkos and mike del zotto and a few others who will be in later rounds are all former markham waxers of the opjhl, and the ohler's in the first round are also products of the oha system.

i can't compare the talent, cause i don't know much about nahl, ncaa hockey or about divison 2 hockey programs, and if i could play hockey (and i was good at it), i'd probably end up playing for the ohl (proximity)...but if i lived in western canada i would most definately want to play in the whl.

here's my ranking of the chl team

1-ohl (ontario bias...i live here)

2-whl (they have good coaches, systems)

3-qmjhl (they're only at the bottom because i think the other two outrank them, but they're the one with all the hidden talented players who grow up improving on their great skills).