Feature Stories
What Scouts Look For: Player Edition
Posted on March 8, 2024
The Neutral Zone staff take incredible pride in our work and we love what we do. Throughout the course of the season, we often get asked by players, parents, and regular hockey fans alike, “What do you look for in a player?” It is a fair question, but honestly, it is hard to pinpoint anything…
January Commitments: Two 3.75 Star Players Highlight
Posted on February 14, 2024
January’s Commit list is a short one, as NCAA and Usport Universities are nearing a full roster. But rest assured, many are still holding a few spots open to see what the rest of the season may bring them. This month is highlighted by a couple of 3 ¾ stars as well as a French…
December Commits: Six European Players Highlight this Month’s College Commitments
Posted on January 29, 2024
December’s Commit list is very international and is highlighted by 11 Canadian players, 6 European players, and 5 Americans. The European players are a sign that the game is growing overseas, as seen by the results of this year’s IIHF U18 World Championships. Amongst those six European players are a plethora of medals, championships, and…
The Landscape of Women’s Pro Hockey
Posted on January 12, 2024
It has now been a week since puck drop on a new era of women’s professional hockey. And to tell the truth, it’s been an exciting week. On January 1st, 2024, the inaugural game for the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) was played between Toronto and New York in front of a sellout crowd of…
USA Selects U18 Camp Preview
Posted on July 18, 2023
As the USA Hockey Player Development Camps for 15/16/17’s, we now begin the U18 Selects Camp to determine who will done the USA sweater and represent their country in International play. Thirteen players from the 16/27 Player Development Camp were selected to join the U18 Selects camp and will will round out four team for…
Nela Lopušanová: The 14 Year Old Who Dominated the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship
Posted on January 30, 2023
By Nicole Haase Nela Lopušanová burst into collective consciousness at the 2023 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championships in Östersund, Sweden in mid-January when she scored a beauty of a “Michigan” lacrosse-style goal in a quarterfinal matchup with Sweden. The goal itself would have been enough to make the international hockey community pay attention, but it…
U18 Worlds USA/CAN Pre-Tournament Report
Posted on June 4, 2022
The IIHF U18 Women’s World Hockey Championship is set to take place in Madison, WI from June 6th-13th, 2022. After the cancellation of last year’s event, we are thrilled to see the event back to showcase the best U18 female hockey players in the world. At Neutral Zone, we are fortunate to scout these players…
From the Archives – Beijing 2022 – Canada vs. United States
Posted on February 7, 2022
With Neutral Zone’s expansion into women’s hockey in 2017, we began writing amateur scouting reports on female players born in 1999 or later. There are a total of 8 players on the Canada and US Olympic rosters who are young enough to have been scouted by NZ. In 2018, there was only 1 rostered player,…
Neutral Zone’s 40 for 4
Posted on May 17, 2020
This is 40 for 4. The following are a list of 40 of the top girls’ high school hockey players throughout the State of Minnesota in the four years since Neutral Zone’s existence. This was not an easy list to narrow down, and there were a number of girls on the bubble that unfortunately aren’t…
NAPS Tournament
Posted on July 20, 2018
Neutral Zone covered the NAPS tournament, which was held the weekend of June 22nd through June 24th in Rochester, NY. Neutral Zone focused on the 2004 age group. Most of the games were played at the Bill Grays Regional Iceplex, with the exception of a few games that were played at Thomas Creek Ice Arena….
