Diving into the New England Fall Prep Hockey League Scene
Alright, let’s talk about getting involved with the New England Fall Prep Hockey League, or NEFPHL as everyone calls it. We decided to give it a shot for my kid a couple of seasons back. Heard all the chatter, you know? Supposedly the place to be if you’re serious about prep school hockey down the line. Sounded good on paper.
First thing was figuring out how to even get in. It wasn’t super clear cut. Felt like I was chasing down info from different places, trying to piece together tryout dates, locations, and who was running what. It wasn’t just one central website laying it all out nicely, or at least it didn’t feel that way to me at the time. Spent a good few evenings just digging around online and asking other hockey parents.
Then came the tryouts themselves. That was a whole adventure. Packed up the gear, drove quite a bit to some rink I’d barely heard of. You show up, and the place is buzzing. Lots of kids, lots of parents sizing everyone up. You just hope your kid has a good skate, doesn’t totally bomb it. You sit there, watching, trying to act cool, but you’re just as nervous as they are. After the skate, it’s just waiting. Felt like forever before we got the email saying he made a team. Big sigh of relief, mostly mine probably.
Getting into the Grind
Okay, so he’s in. Now what? Well, now the real fun starts. Practices kicked off pretty quick. The coaching was decent, seemed like they knew their stuff. But the whole vibe was definitely… intense. Faster pace than his regular season team, for sure. You could tell some kids were really gunning for it.
The schedule, though. That’s where it really hits you. It’s a fall league, right? Sounds manageable. But suddenly, your weekends are just gone. Games could be anywhere across New England. One Saturday you’re driving north for an hour, the next Sunday you might be heading south for ninety minutes. Forget relaxing fall weekends doing yard work or whatever. Your life revolves around the rink schedule. Pack the car, drive, watch the game, drive home, repeat. It eats up a lot of time and gas money, more than you might initially budget for.
- Lots of driving, everywhere.
- Early morning games sometimes.
- Late afternoon games other times.
- Basically, blocked out weekends from September to November.
The Real Deal? Observations from the Stands
So, was it the elite prep pipeline we thought? Well, yes and no. The hockey was definitely competitive, no doubt about it. Faster, more skilled than a lot of town leagues. You see some really talented kids out there. But calling it purely “prep” felt a bit like marketing sometimes. Plenty of kids were just there for good fall hockey, not necessarily with concrete prep school plans.
The atmosphere around the rinks was… interesting. Parents can get pretty wound up. Lots of quiet intensity, some not-so-quiet coaching from the stands. You try to stay out of it, just support your kid, but sometimes it’s hard not to get caught up in the pressure cooker feeling. It wasn’t always just about development; you could feel the competition wasn’t just on the ice.
Overall, looking back? It was an experience. The kid got some good, high-level hockey in before his main season started. He definitely got pushed, which was good. But it was a serious commitment, way more than we anticipated in terms of time and just pure logistics. It wasn’t some magic bullet for getting into prep school, felt more like another competitive layer in the already complex youth hockey world. Worth it? Maybe. Just go in with your eyes open about the time suck and the intense vibe.
