Scouts at College Games

Question
I have a son who is a goaltender playing NCAA D3 hockey and is doing extrmely well. My question is what are his chances that he will get noticed by pro scouts and invited to a development camp and is there anyway we can get him noticed? Thanks.

Answer
Hi Paul!

Unfortunately D3 teams are not that popular to Scouts.  Some may attend large high profile tournaments or multi team playoffs where they can see alot of players with one visit.

Lower level Minor teams just don't have the budgets to go out and look at players.  They rely on watching games nearby or going to very select venues!

Now you may be able to get the attention of a Scout by mailing out a resume, a schedule of the games along with a video of your son.  If a Scout's interest is perked by this, then he may just show up at one of the games.  (You may never know - most don't like to be noticed)... The closer you are to where a Scout will be at any of the games the better.

Typically, it's usually the lower level Minor Hockey League Scouts that will attend D3 games.  There are some scouting agencies that work for several teams.   You can try to google that to if there are any near you and where your son plays!

The key here is to aggressively promote yourself.  

And then of course - performance will keep the interest and maybe get you an interview or invitation.  

Now some teams will hold open tryouts or camps to raise funds for the team.  While the odds of making a team that way is slim - it IS a way to get in front of some scouts.  So you may just want to mail each of the teams your son may want to tryout for and see what they say.   Be persistent -- 'the squeaky wheel will get the grease'!  There are ALOT of unscouted players wanting few spots and have to be able to really compete against the Scouted players.

It is NOT impossible though.  With determination you will get your foot into doors and get opportunities!

Hope this helps... Feel free to ask a follow up question if you wish for me to share more thoughts!

Good luck!

Thank you

Martial