The USHL Phase I Draft is complete, and 20 Massachusetts 2010-born players have been claimed by Tier I junior hockey teams. Two were tendered before the draft — guaranteed commitments that cost their teams first-round picks. Eighteen more heard their names called across 15 rounds and 239 total selections.
This is the only Tier I junior hockey league in the United States. The pathway that has produced more than 285 NHL Draft picks since 2020. And tonight, 20 kids from Massachusetts prep hockey and club programs were told: you belong.
Round 4 was the Massachusetts explosion. Five players went in a single round — Frick, Felt, Walsh, Needham, and Wu. No other state had that kind of run. By the time the draft was over, Massachusetts players were spread across 10 of the league's 16 teams.
Tendered (2)
Drafted (18)
By the Numbers
The Minutemen Flames dominated. Nine of their players — nearly half the Massachusetts draft class — were tendered or drafted. The #1 ranked 15U AAA club team in Massachusetts sent players to 7 different USHL franchises. That's not a feeder system to one team. That's a program producing Tier I talent across the entire league.
The River Rats weren't far behind with 6 selections. Between the Flames and River Rats, 15 of the 20 Massachusetts selections came from the state's top two club programs. The pipeline from Massachusetts club hockey to the USHL is real, and it runs through these two organizations.
Sioux Falls loaded up on Massachusetts. Three Flames players — Fishbone, Porter, and Calla — are now Stampede property. Cedar Rapids grabbed four Mass kids including their tender (Wilichoski). Omaha took three. When USHL scouts came to Massachusetts this season, they liked what they saw.
What this means for prep hockey: Being drafted doesn't mean these players are leaving Massachusetts tomorrow. Most will return for at least one more year of prep hockey before reporting to their USHL teams. But their rights are now owned by Tier I franchises — and that changes the calculus. Every game they play next season at prep school is being watched by a USHL front office that invested a draft pick in them.
20 Massachusetts 2010s. 2 tendered. 18 drafted. 10 USHL teams. 12 prep schools. 4 club programs. From Needham to Natick to Norwood to Dedham to Wayland to Lynnfield — the Massachusetts 2010 class just announced itself to the USHL.
Add this to the NTDP selections (Queally and Lee), and 22 Massachusetts 2010-born players are now committed to or drafted by Tier I programs. That's 22 out of 51 players we tracked this season — 43% of the entire class. State of Hockey will continue tracking every one of them.