NA3HL Weekend Preview
November 23, 2018
It is a smaller schedule in the NA3HL this weekend as some teams are off for the Thanksgiving break, while others are battling out on the ice.
This weekend marks the final games before the standings freeze on Tuesday, November 27th as all NA3HL teams will be locked into position and ranked by winning percentage in order to determine match-ups of like teams for the 2018 NA3HL Showcase, which is just three weeks away.
The 2018 NA3HL Showcase will take place from December 16-18, 2018 at the Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota. This season marks the ninth straight year the NA3HL will hold a league-wide Showcase, which features some of the best junior talent in the United States. All NA3HL teams will play three regular-season games at the Showcase, which is annually one of the most well-attended and scouted events of the entire season for the league, attracting college and junior scouts alike. The NA3HL Showcase brings every NA3HL team under one roof, which allows scouts to see all the great talent the league has to offer. Not only does the showcase see a large presence of NCAA scouts but NAHL Central Scouting is also in attendance, furthering the chances for players to earn a call up to the NAHL.
The 2018 NA3HL Showcase schedule will pair up evenly matched teams against one another based on the current standings and is also designed to have cross-divisional games with balanced competition.
As for this weekend, there are some intriguing match-ups, including big ones in the South Division between Mid-Cities and Texas and Atlanta and Louisiana. There are also a couple of marquee match-ups in the West as Alexandria is in North Iowa on Friday and Granite City is in Rochester on Saturday.
The 2018-19 season marks the ninth for the NA3HL, which is one of two USA Hockey-certified Tier III junior leagues. This past season, no other league has had more movement and advanced more players onto play in the NAHL than the NA3HL.
The NA3HL is also the only league that has an exclusive NAHL tendering system available only to NA3HL players. This sets the stage for a proven and quantifiable NA3HL-NAHL pipeline as the NA3HL continues to make their mark in advancement of players. A total of 51 former NA3HL players played in the NAHL during the 2017-18 regular season. In addition, 24 more current NA3HL players were tendered by NAHL teams to play in the NAHL for the 2018-19 season.
The NA3HL also saw over 150+ college commitments in 2017-18. Almost 70% of those college commitments were NCAA commitments.
FRI, NOVEMBER 23
Mid Cities at Texas - 2:15 PM CST
Willmar at New Ulm - 7:10 PM CST
Alexandria at North Iowa - 7:30 PM CST
Wausau at Milwaukee - 7:45 PM CST
Butte at Bozeman - 7:30 PM MST
Gillette at Great Falls - 7:30 PM MST
Helena at Yellowstone - 7:30 PM MST
SAT, NOVEMBER 24
Mid Cities at Texas - 2:15 PM CST
Atlanta at Louisiana - 4:05 PM CST
Milwaukee at Wausau - 5:00 PM CST
Niagara Falls at L/A - 7:00 PM EST
Granite City at Rochester - 7:05 PM CST
Breezy Point at New Ulm - 7:10 PM CST
Alexandria at Willmar - 7:30 PM CST
Bozeman at Missoula - 7:05 PM MST
Gillette at Great Falls - 7:30 PM MST
Helena at Yellowstone - 7:30 PM MST
SUN, NOVEMBER 25
Niagara Falls at L/A - 2:00 PM EST
Mid Cities at Texas - 2:15 PM CST
Cape Cod at Northeast - 3:30 PM EST
Atlanta at Louisiana - 4:05 PM CST
MON, NOVEMBER 26
Atlanta at Louisiana - 6:00 PM CST
