The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) has announced the release of the 2020-21 regular-season schedule, beginning with the Central Division. The Central Division consists of the Milwaukee Power, Oregon Tradesmen, Peoria Mustangs, Rochester Grizzlies, St. Louis Jr. Blues, and Wausau RiverWolves. Each of the 31 teams in the league’s five divisions will play 43 regular season games.
The 2020-21 regular season will commence on October 2, 2020 and end on March 14, 2021. Opening night in the NA3HL will be highlighted with two Central Division games on Opening Night on Friday, October 2nd including the St. Louis Jr. Blues hosting the Rochester Grizzlies at the NAPHL event in St. Louis and also the Oregon Tradesmen, who make their debut by hosting the Wausau RiverWolves.
The NA3HL is entering its 11th season and serves as one of two USA Hockey Tier III junior leagues. No other league of its kind has had more movement and advanced more players onto play in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) than the NA3HL. Thanks to additional and enhanced initiatives in cooperation with the NAHL, more players from the NA3HL play, practice, and earn NCAA Division I scholarships with the NAHL than any other league.
Earlier this summer, not only did 27 NA3HL players sign a tender to play in the NAHL for the upcoming 2020-21 season, but 28 more players were selected in the 2020 NAHL Entry Draft on July 21st. The NA3HL also continues to make its mark and is one of the leaders in junior hockey with the advancement of players onto the NCAA. So far in 2020, the NA3HL has over 120+ college commitments, with almost 70% of those being NCAA commitments.
View the 2020-21 NA3HL schedule here
“We have worked diligently with our teams to get back onto the ice in a safe and responsible manner. We are excited to get back to playing hockey and watching the NA3HL’s advancement numbers continue to grow after another incredible and record-breaking season last year,” said NAHL Commissioner and President Mark Frankenfeld. “We share a common goal for players to advance to college hockey while competing and developing in within USA Hockey Ladder of Development and creating an enhanced level of play and competition.”
In addition to its regular-season schedule and playoffs, the NA3HL, which boasts a geographical footprint with 31 teams in 15 states (Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming) will also participate in the NAHL’s high-exposure events, which attract hundreds of college, junior and professional coaches and scouts.
The NA3HL will have three events during the 2020-21 season. All NA3HL teams will compete in a league-wide Showcase held from December 20-22, 2020 at the Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota, which will be in cooperation with both the NAHL Showcase and NAPHL Showcase. The second event of the season will be the NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament, which will take place alongside the NAHL Top Prospects Tournament in Attleboro, Massachusetts on February 8-9, 2021. The NA3HL will then finish their season with the Fraser Cup Championship Tournament, which crowns the NA3HL’s playoff champion. The event will be held from March 30-April 3, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.