With the recent news that the EHL Premier’s New Jersey Renegades franchise will be leaving the EHL Premier at the conclusion of the season to join the USPHL Premier, the number of teams competing in the USPHL Premier in 2025-26 will again be north of 70 teams. The largest league in North America.
When does a league become too big?
Started in 2012 the USPHL Premier began as a “Super League” shrinking the size of it’s predecessor the EJHL. In its first season, 2013-14, this league was a quality of quantity pursuit. Placing an emphasis on stable ownership, high end players, and limited travel with its 9 founding members.
2013-2014 USPHL Premier Standings
# | Team | GP | W | T | L | OTW | OTL | GF | GA | +/- | TP | PPG | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Boston Jr. Bruins | 48 | 36 | – | 8 | – | 4 | 184 | 103 | 81 | 76 | 1.58 | Champion |
| 2. | New Jersey Hitmen | 48 | 36 | – | 11 | – | 1 | 209 | 106 | 103 | 73 | 1.52 | Final loss |
| 3. | South Shore Kings | 48 | 31 | – | 13 | – | 4 | 166 | 139 | 27 | 66 | 1.38 | Semifinal loss |
| 4. | Philadelphia Flyers Elite | 48 | 28 | – | 17 | – | 3 | 176 | 141 | 35 | 59 | 1.23 | Quarterfinal loss |
| 5. | Islanders Hockey Club | 48 | 23 | – | 21 | – | 4 | 159 | 157 | 2 | 50 | 1.04 | Semifinal loss |
| 6. | P.A.L. Junior Islanders | 48 | 22 | – | 21 | – | 5 | 134 | 147 | -13 | 49 | 1.02 | Quarterfinal loss |
| 7. | Bay State Breakers | 48 | 18 | – | 23 | – | 7 | 132 | 161 | -29 | 43 | 0.90 | Quarterfinal loss |
| 8. | Portland Jr. Pirates | 48 | 14 | – | 30 | – | 4 | 97 | 186 | -89 | 32 | 0.67 | Quarterfinal loss |
| 9. | Connecticut Yankees | 48 | 8 | – | 39 | – | 1 | 120 | 237 | -117 | 17 | 0.35 | Did not make playoffs |
Today, 10 years later, only 5 of these original members still compete at this level.
In year one, future Pro and NHL Players such as John Marino, Callahan Burke, Robert Carpenter, Logan Day and others competed in this league. Today, ACHA or College Club hockey commitments outweigh NCAA commits by a metric of nearly 2 and a Half times, meaning for every 1 NCAA Player committing to school out of this league 2.5 players are committing to ACHA. Compare this to the numbers of the EHL and NA3HL using 3rd party numbers provided by AHA Advising in a recent post about the 2023-24 season:
EHL- 21 teams- 154 commits= 7.33 per team
NA3HL- 34 teams- 38 commits= 1.11 per team
USPHL Premier- 73 teams- 82 commits= 1.12 per team
With continued diminishing results, what does this mean for the future of the league? When will expansion stop? What is the criteria or standards to join the league and operate a franchise?
Expansion Franchises have had difficulties fielding competitve teams and healthy roster sizes (see rosters here by clicking on teams on website- Premier Team Stats Premier 2024-2025 | USPHL Premier Division) … Will the league continue to try to siphon off EHL Premier- only organizations (such as the NJ Renegades) to try to strength the league?
Tony Zasowski, Deputy Commissioner of the USPHL, stated, “We are excited to add the Renegades as the 12th team to the highly competitive USPHL Premier Atlantic Division. SportsCare Arena will be a perfect location and venue for the Renegade athletes to develop and showcase their talents.” New Jersey Renegades To Join USPHL Premier Conference In 2025-26 | USPHL Premier Division
Stay tuned in the coming months as this story continues to unfold…
By Andrew Trimble
To purchase Andrew Trimble’s new book, the Hockey Planner, click on link here- The Hockey Planner: A Year by Year Plan to Assist You on Your Hockey Coaching Journey: From Learn to Play to Junior Hockey: Trimble, Andrew: 9781963743395: Amazon.com: Books
