The Boston Advantage will join the USPHL and NCDC for the upcoming 2020-21 season; the sides announced an agreement last week.
The Advantage will join the Tier-II NCDC along with the USPHL Premier and will have full-season teams at the 18U, 16U and 15U levels.
“We’ve always had a good relationship with the USPHL, especially through [Boston Junior Bruins co-owner] Peter Masters and his tournaments like the Beantown Classic and the Junior Bruins Shootout,” said Lovell Hockey Co-Founder Tim Lovell.
Based in Hingham, the Advantage are near the geographic center of the NCDC, which has teams from a footprint that includes Philadelphia to Maine and west to Utica, N.Y.
“The NCDC is a high-end league, the top junior league obviously on the East Coast,” said Lovell. “I just think it’s an avenue to put our kids in a great situation for colleges to watch them play. I’m excited for our guys to compete with and against the likes of the Islanders Hockey Club, Jersey Hitmen and Junior Bruins as well as all the other professionally-run NCDC programs. Our goal in Year 1 is to sneak into that top four-team grouping.
“We already have 18U, 16U and 15U team rosters for the new season set. The NCDC and Premier teams will bring new challenges and our goal is to put a very strong program on the ice in Year 1. We will utilize some of the players currently in the Advantage program and will work on bringing back Advantage alumni who may have gone to Tier-I or Tier-II hockey to return and help us build. We will use our allotted tenders right away to sign some players before the NCDC Entry Draft, and are already busy working on our draft list to be prepared for June 10.”
The Advantage have a coaching staff already in place to lead most of their USPHL teams. Lovell Hockey Co-Founder Joe Lovell will coach the NCDC team. Joe, an alum of the Boston Junior Bruins and a former Bentley University captain, comes in with three years of coaching experience at the Tier-II level. Joe Lovell is also the Hockey Director for the New England Knights program.
Kevin Poulin will be the Head Coach of the Advantage 18U team. Former Boston Bruin Eric Healey will be the Head Coach of the Advantage’s 16U program and Rob Himburg will coach the 15U team.
