Neutral Zone is a first-of-its-kind hockey scouting and news site which identifies, ranks and profiles NCAA (Div. 1 & Div. 3) and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) prospects from across North America. The innovative site leverages top quality, unbiased scouts to profile players and track their progress over the course of their amateur careers.
Our women’s team is made up of 9 experienced scouts who attend games, tournaments and showcase events to discover and evaluate the best players in their respective regions. Neutral Zone scouts come from diverse, high-level hockey backgrounds, most of which include playing, coaching, or scouting at the NCAA, CIS, or other elite level amateur programs.
Leagues We Cover
New England Prep School, Canadian Prep School, Minnesota High School, PWHL, Ontario Midget AA, Canadian Midget AAA, JWHL, HPHL, Tier 1 Elite U16/U19, Tier 2 Elite U16/U19, CEGEP, NEWJHL, and Independent teams.
We cover USA Hockey Player Development Camps, Hockey Canada Nationals, and all other major Fall/Summer/Spring Showcase Events.
Our coverage will expand next year to include more U14/Bantam players and teams and more in-depth CEGEP coverage.
Features
Neutral Zone is designed to provide exclusive, high-quality information to a range of audiences.
The site’s four main sections – player profiles, player rankings, team rankings, and news – features comprehensive content on amateur hockey from throughout the United States and Canada in a single location.
Player Profiles
Individual scouting reports on over 3,500 North American prospects; star ratings; current statistics; evaluations and other player insights.
Player Rankings
A comprehensive ranking system where several scouts review a player and determine a star rating, a regional ranking and a national ranking. These players are compared to players within their age group from across North America.
Team Rankings
Recruiting class rankings for all NCAA (Div. 1 and Div. 3) and CIS teams.
News
Feature and special interest articles; game and tournament recaps; player commitments; Unparalleled analytics and research to help answer some of the greatest questions of players, parents, fans and coaches alike.
What’s Here for You?
Neutral Zone is designed to provide exclusive, high-quality information to a range of audiences.
The site’s four main sections – player profiles, player rankings, team rankings, and news – feature comprehensive content on amateur hockey from throughout the United States and Canada in a single location.
Coaches and scouts
Have access to an unmatched database of scouting reports and player profiles on the best amateur prospects, at various ages, from all over North America. They can keep up on the latest scouting reports from an expansive list of games and showcase events, and get a perspective of how those players stack up against other players in other regions. Contact information, GPA, and SAT/ACT scores are posted on a profile when the information is available, only under the coaches’ subscription. Additionally, Neutral Zone scouts are available to subscribing coaches and scouts for consultation on specific players.
Players and parents
Are able to see how neutral, unbiased scouts evaluate amateur prospects and rank players of each age group. Prospects are also able to complete profile questionnaire forms to provide coaches and scouts with direct, instantaneous access to information such as academic performance records, future goals or plans, upcoming tournaments or showcase schedules, and contact information for current or past coaches along with other important information. Parents, like the coaches, will gain a global perspective of not only what our scouts think of them but how they stack up against other players their age from across North America. Additionally, there will be education articles available to help give information to parents and players making hockey decisions. Examples of these articles can range from University pros and cons, CIS vs. NCAA, a breakdown of the Tier 1 programs in a specific region, etc.
Fans and alumni
Can track their favorite players or teams through Neutral Zone’s in-depth coverage including current statistics, scouting reports, prospect rankings, and NCAA recruiting class rankings among other features. There will also be feature stories about the game, the teams, the players, the coaches and the communities that make it all happen.
History
Neutral Zone was founded in 2015 by Steve Wilk, a Vermont businessman who had a vision to build a revolutionary amateur hockey scouting website that would cover players from all across North America by employing talented, experienced and unbiased scouts.
Steve’s first hire was Brendan Collins, a former NCAA coach and Head Scout for USHR (U.S. Hockey Report). After having worked under two legendary figures in hockey in Bill Bowes and Chris Warner, Brendan joined Steve’s effort and built an original staff of 12 scouts from eastern and western Canada, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, New England, and the Midwest. These scouts have been on the road since early 2015 to prepare for Neutral Zone’s spring 2016 launch. In the meantime, the staff has grown from 12 to 30, and President Steve Wilk is focused on continuing to grow the reach of Neutral Zone to all corners of amateur hockey.
In May of 2016, Neutral Zone hired full-time Director of Women’s hockey, Jess Cameron to being building the women’s website, to launch February 2017.
“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” said Wilk. “We have plans for even more in the months ahead ranging from expanded news to player interaction, team pages, specialized hockey clinics, and recruiting education and data. We are excited about the future and what we think Neutral Zone will bring to the hockey world.”