State of Hockey publishes rankings and analysis about young athletes. That carries an obligation to be accurate, to be clear about what is fact and what is judgment, and to fix mistakes quickly and visibly. This page sets out how we work.
Who Is Responsible
Every article is written and edited by Mike Wallace, who is also the publisher. There is no separate editorial staff. That means there is no ambiguity about accountability: if something on this site is wrong, it is his to fix.
Sourcing Standards
- Statistics come from published records — prep school athletic reports, NEPSAC results, league statistics and published tournament materials. They are not estimated and they are not supplied by families.
- Camp and draft results come from the governing bodies — USA Hockey publications for camp selections, and league announcements for USHL and QMJHL selections and tenders.
- Roster and affiliation claims are attributed to what confirms them. Where a club roster has not been formally published, we say so on the page rather than presenting a projection as a fact.
- Superlatives are checked against the data before publication. Claims like “most goals in the class” or “highest-scoring returning defenseman” are verified against the underlying records, not written from memory.
- We do not publish speculation about a player’s future, including where a player will commit, transfer or be drafted.
Rankings Are Opinion
Our ranking boards are editorial judgment, not measurement. They are built from public data using a stated method that appears on each board, and reasonable people will order the same players differently. A ranking is not a scouting grade, a projection of a player’s ceiling, or a statement about any player’s character or worth. Players omitted from a board are not being judged unfavorably; boards are limited in length and many are limited by what data exists.
College Commitments
Commitments reported on this site are verbal. They are not signed National Letters of Intent and they are not binding on the player or the program. Players decommit and programs change staff. We report a commitment when it is publicly announced or confirmed, and we update the record when it changes.
Advertising and Editorial Independence
Advertisements are visually distinct from editorial content and are not presented as articles. Where a sponsor is also a subject of coverage — which is possible on a site this local — the relationship is disclosed in the article itself.
Use of AI Tools
We use AI tools to assist with drafting, formatting, data organization and publishing. Every article is directed, reviewed, fact-checked and approved by Mike Wallace before it is published, and the underlying data is compiled by him from the sources described in our Data Methodology. AI is not used to generate statistics, invent quotes, or reach conclusions about players. This disclosure appears in the footer of every article on the site.
Corrections
We would rather be corrected than be wrong. Corrections are made promptly and are not hidden.
How to request a correction
Email mike@stateofhockey.us with the page or article, the specific statement you believe is wrong, and the correct information. You do not need to prove anything; if you tell us a player’s school, club or statistics are wrong, we will check it against the source. Target response is three business days.
How we handle it
| Type | What we do |
|---|---|
| Factual error | Corrected in place, with a dated correction note added to the article stating what was wrong and what it now says. |
| Data or roster error | Corrected at the source record, which updates every page that reads it. No note is added for routine roster and statistics maintenance. |
| Typo or broken link | Fixed silently. |
| Error central to a piece | The article is updated and the correction is stated at the top of it, not only in a footnote. |
| Disagreement with a ranking | Not a correction, and we will say so — but we read every one, and we will correct any underlying fact the ranking was built on. |
Takedown and Removal
Requests to remove information about a player are handled under a separate, faster process described on the Player Information and Removal Requests page. Those requests are not treated as corrections and are not subject to editorial debate.
Complaints
If you believe an article is unfair, inaccurate or inappropriate and a correction does not resolve it, write to mike@stateofhockey.us and say so plainly. There is no appeals panel — it is a one-person site — but every complaint is read and answered.