WE NEED TO RID TWENTY-BOMBS FROM PAY2PLAY JUNIOR HOCKEY Dang bro, get on with your life already.

IF I WERE THE KING OF HOCKEY, and I’m not, one of the first things we would do is eliminate twenty-year-old players from the Tier III and Pay-to-Play hockey leagues.

I say this almost every year, but for the 2025-26 season, it has never made more sense.

No, that won’t be popular with some folks, and I get it, but for heaven’s sake, get on with your life already. It’s clear that if a player is still at the pay-to-play level of the game, in the last year of his eligibility, he’s simply just prolonging the agony of having to grow up and face reality.

That’s what I got from watching a number of games over the last few years; there are way too many bearded Bobs trying to go out in a blaze of glory after knocking the senses out of a undersized sixteen-year-olds.

Congratulations Bob, now you can go get a job with your name on the front of the shirt instead of the back. Maybe AAU Division I club hockey is about the top of the list for most of these clowns.

Let’s be honest here, teams would be able to get a lot more sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds if the twenty- bombs were eliminated from the equation.

We are about to start a new season, so let’s keep dreaming. While we are at it, let’s also limit the number of players a team can sign during the season. Some of these operators go through more players than KFC goes through chickens. Why do you need four goalies, aside from being able to snag the cash? Maybe limit active rosters to 20, and the number of players used during the season to 35, and some actual development may occur.

It’s amazing how things would be different if coaches were forced to actually develop the players they recruited and collected money from.

As it sits today, teams can contract 40 or more players, completely screw a third or more out of any actual playing time or development, than dump them December 1st and keep the lion’s share of the money.

Roster limits would also create a more competitive environment for roster spots. There should be more to the recruiting process than going out to Vegas and signing any and everyone that’s seen. And we see a lot of that these days.

I am excited for the possibility of the NA3HL and USPHL becoming a bigger part of the ladder of development. Our 17-18 year olds in the leagues have earned opportunities within the NAHL and NCDC and have climbed the ladder to the Tier II level of play with success in the past. This simply proves that parents don’t have to mortgage the house to play AAA for that last year of 18AAAA.

And it’s also very clear our young prospects are going to get a lot further in hockey than any of the twenty-bombs living out their last slice of hockey pie.