For Immediate Release: January 11, 2023
Neutral Zone Partners with 200×85 Hockey and the CCM 68 Combine
Neutral Zone, amateur hockey’s leading scouting organization, and 200×85 Hockey, one of the largest tournament organizers in North America, today announced a new joint partnership to further bolster the prestigious CCM 68 Combine, the premier 14U hockey camp in North America for both boys and girls.
“We are excited to partner with 200×85 Hockey to add additional resources, support and evaluation to various aspects of the well-known CCM 68 Combine,” said Steve Wilk, President and Founder of Neutral Zone. “The CCM 68 Combine has been long-known for assembling the top 14U hockey players in the United States, and Neutral Zone is thrilled to become an official partner for the event as it expands this year to include the very best 14U prospects from across Canada as well.”
The CCM 68 Combine, which will now include the top 68 2009-born boys and girls respectively from the United States and the top 68 2009-born boys and girls respectively from Canada, provides athletes with premier coaching, training, competition and accommodations, as well as state-of-the-art education and on and off-ice testing.
For 2023, Neutral Zone is partnering with 200×85 Hockey to support the identification and selection process of players invited to the combine, lead the combine testing portion of the camp, and have its scouts on site to complete evaluations of all players participating in the combine.
At present, the Neutral Zone team includes over 100 experienced scouts across North America, as well as skilled combine testing staff who in recent years have conducted amateur hockey player testing throughout the United States and Canada. Neutral Zone has combines are run by former National Hockey League (NHL) strength and conditioning coach, Mark Fitzgerald, who has conducted player testing in both the NHL and the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), has designed the testing processes for the upcoming 2023 CCM 68 Combine.
200×85 Hockey, which has coordinated the renowned camp for nearly a decade, is able to limit costs for participating players year in and year out thanks to continued support from CCM Hockey.
“This is a collection of the top future prospects in the game who are able to compete, test, learn and train alongside each other at an affordable cost (90% subsidized), a true win-win scenario for all involved. We believe that the Neutral Zone team will bring yet another layer of expertise to the CCM 68 Combine moving forward,” said Kevin Mann, President & CEO of 200×85 LLC. Neutral Zone, which was established in 2015, is a first-of-its-kind hockey scouting website which identifies, ranks and profiles NHL Draft, NCAA (Div. 1 & Div. 3), CHL, and USport prospects from across North America & Europe. The innovative site leverages top quality, unbiased scouts to profile players and track their progress over the course of their amateur careers. Visit neutralzone.net to learn more.
200×85 Hockey, which was launched in 2003, began with the mission of delivering excellence in youth hockey experiences. Over that time, 200×85 has grown to positively impact more than 65,000 hockey athletes and 3,000 hockey teams annually through programs that have become the benchmarks of the youth hockey industry. Visit 200×85.com to learn more.