Shattuck-St. Mary’s is lone Minnesota program selected

by Bryan Zollman, Let’s Play Hockey

USA Hockey announced the launch of the USA Hockey Development League today and also announced 29 programs throughout the country to host 15U and 17U teams.

Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Minnesota was the only program from the State of Hockey selected amongst the 80 programs nationwide who applied to be part of the initial phase of the DL.

The USA Hockey Development League is a national framework of high-performance youth hockey programs, each fielding one 15U team and one 17U team. DL programs identify, train and develop players from across the country to advance to junior hockey, including the USHL and the NAHL, as well as USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, college hockey and the NHL.

USA Hockey’s Assistant Executive Director of Player Development Bob Mancini suggested there was less of a need for DL programs in states with strong development paths already in place, such as Minnesota.

“In parts of the United States where high school hockey (and) prep schools dominate the landscape, that path is very, very clear and it’s been very successful,” he said. “But for a large part of the country who has Tier 1 hockey the path wasn’t as clear. We had too many programs at the top. USA hockey recognized right away that if we could redefine the pathway and show everybody a true American pathway then hockey at every level was going to be better.”

Mancini said the Development League is aimed at the country’s top 2 percent of players in the 14-17-year-old age groups.

“We really had to redefine the high-performance development pathway,” he said. “We realized there was no real clear direction, especially for the top 2 percent, especially at the 14s and 17-year age group. We had to have programming in place so those players and their parents understood what that path may be.”

Michigan led all states with four DL programs (each program consists of two teams –  a 15U and a 17U team). New Jersey will have three programs and California, Illinois, Colorado, New York, and Pennsylvania each will have two. Other states with one program are: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Texas, Arizona, Rhode Island, Indiana, Tennessee, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Missouri, and Wisconsin.

DL PROGRAMS

USA Hockey’s Director of Player Development Scott Paluch said the teams in each program will be aligned by scheduling which will consist of 60 percent of their regular season games against development league opponents. Paluch will serve as the commissioner of the DL.

“I think the most important thing about this is teams will compete in a consistent game and scheduling format that will really enhance player development,” Paluch said.

The Development League is the third development program instituted by USA Hockey, preceded by the National Team Development Program (NTDP) in 1996 and the American Development Model (ADM) in 2009.  Mancini touted the success of the United States National Team Development Program over the past 30 years.

“USA Hockey decided we had good players at the very top, but we didn’t have enough and they didn’t really have a training ground where they could excel at the very highest levels of the sport, the NHL and international hockey,” he said. “And that’s really what was behind the NTDP. Let’s bring them together, let’s train them in the right manner, let’s put development first so we can raise the bar of all hockey in the United States.”

After the success of the NTDP, USA Hockey launched the American Development Model in 2009.

“Fast forward to 2009 and we are having a tremendous run in the NTDP in terms of number of players in the NHL, number of drafted players, success on the international stage,” he said. “What was clearly next was the American Development Model. Let’s get more kids in the game. Let’s make more kids stay in the game. The ADM was always about as many kids as possible in the best environment as possible for as long as possible. Once we do that everything falls in place.”

Paluch said a development league was considered back in 2009 when they instituted the ADM, but they weren’t quite ready to launch.

“We weren’t ready for it then, but we are clearly ready for it now,” said Paluch.

Mancini said the DL is the next “logical step” in player development within USA Hockey.

“I expect the Development League to have the same impact on USA Hockey, youth hockey and junior hockey and beyond as the NTDP does and the ADM does. And there’s a reason for it and it’s a simple reason. All three of these initiatives were born out of putting the player first.”

The programs that applied were deeply vetted by committees, sub-committees and USA Hockey officials who met with Tier 1 clubs from around the country.

“What was becoming very clear was there were a lot of inconstancies at the Tier 1 level in our player development pathway,” said Paluch. “We needed to address that.”

USA Hockey assigned a Tier 1 task force to head the selection process.

“Those conversations and that feedback got us to where we are today in launching the United States Development League,” Paluch said.

Criteria included team performance in the regular and post season, history of player advancement, operations, leadership, facilities and overall stability. Paluch added geographic representation was also an important piece.

With Shattuck-St. Mary’s as the lone Tier 1 program selected in Minnesota, it doesn’t appear the new Development League will have much of an impact on youth and high school hockey in Minnesota.

Shattuck-St. Mary’s currently has teams that compete at the prep level, 18U, 16U, 15s and 14U and play up to 65 games and travel throughout the U.S. and Canada.

The USA Hockey Development League will begin in the fall of 2027.

“The DL is the next evolution of player development in the United States, and we are thrilled to provide another pathway for players to reach the USHL, NAHL, college hockey and the NHL,” said Kris Knauss, vice president of USA Hockey and co-chair of the DL Joint Subcommittee. “We had more than 80 applicants from around the country and narrowing that group was a difficult process. We’re grateful to every program that made an application, and we’re excited to get started and build toward the inaugural season.”

DL COMMISSIONER, REGISTRAR NAMED

Scott Paluch, USA Hockey’s director of player development, will serve as DL commissioner. Paluch joined USA Hockey in 2009 as an American Development Model regional manager and moved into his current role in 2022, where he works closely with local associations and programs on age-appropriate training, competition and long-term athlete development.

A Bowling Green, Ohio, native, Paluch spent seven seasons as head men’s ice hockey coach at Bowling Green State University (2002-09) and eight as an assistant for the Boston College men’s ice hockey program (1994-2002), where he helped the Eagles reach four consecutive Frozen Fours and win the 2001 NCAA championship. Internationally, he led the U.S. to gold at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games and coached U.S. Under-17 and Under-18 Select Teams. As a player, he skated four seasons at Bowling Green, played two pro seasons with the Peoria Rivermen of the International Hockey League and won bronze with the U.S. at the 1986 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Erin Mensay, USA Hockey’s manager of member services, will serve as the DL registrar, overseeing rosters and player changes. She was elevated to her current role in March, 2026, after serving as the organization’s regional specialist of member services beginning in 2020.

A native of Albuquerque, N.M., Mensay’s previous experience includes serving in USA Swimming’s SafeSport department as well as a student technical consultant for the University of New Mexico, her alma mater.