2025-26 NCAA Hockey Recruiting Rules and Calendar

When student-athletes think about the college recruiting process, they often think about phone calls with college coaches, visiting college campuses to meet the team and coaching staff and receiving athletic scholarship offers. What student-athletes don’t often realize is that college coaches start recruiting long before they can contact recruits. Leading up to the official start of the recruiting process, college coaches dedicate time to reviewing student-athletes’ recruiting profiles and attending tournaments to evaluate and build a list of prospective recruits. In this section, we breakdown the NCAA men’s hockey recruiting rules and review what steps recruits should take to market themselves to college coaches before the recruiting process begins.

READ MORE: NCAA’s new rules will grant student-athletes the opportunity to earn money from their name, image and likeness (NIL).

What to know about the NCAA hockey recruiting rules and calendar

It can be hard to keep up with all the changes to the NCAA Division 1 hockey recruiting rules and calendar over the years. Below is an outline of what recruits and their families need to know about the NCAA hockey recruiting process.

1. Early Recruiting: Hockey recruits won’t hear from college coaches until their sophomore year, but college coaches will most certainly still evaluate them at tournaments, college camps and combines before then. College coaches may even contact a recruit’s high school and club coaches to let them know they have their eye on an athlete. During the time before college coaches can contact recruits, athletes should attend events to increase their exposure.
2. Communication and Verbal Offers: After Division 1 college coaches can begin contacting recruits starting January 1 after the athlete’s sophomore year, they must wait until August 1 of the athlete’s junior year to make a verbal offer.
3. Official and Unofficial Visits: Hockey recruits can schedule unofficial visits starting January 1 of their sophomore year, but will have to hold off on talking to college coaches on campus until they can schedule an official visit, starting August 1 of their junior year.
4. Accepting Scholarships: Recruits are asked to sign a financial aid agreement to officially accept a scholarship offer with an NCAA sponsored sport. Financial aid agreement can be signed starting in November. View the National Signing dates. View the National Signing Day dates.

When can college hockey coaches start contacting you?

According to the most recent NCAA hockey recruiting rules, NCAA D1 college coaches are permitted to contact recruits after January 1 of the recruit’s sophomore year.

While college coaches may not be able to contract recruits until their sophomore year, there are plenty of steps that student-athletes should take to prepare for the recruiting process. Recruits should dedicate time to creating a recruiting profile and highlight video, as well as researching college hockey programs to build a list of prospective schools.

Junior hockey recruiting rules

Junior ice hockey is one path that student-athletes can take to get recruited for men’s college hockey. Student-athletes can begin playing junior hockey once they turn 16 years old and compete until they are 20 years old. While you can play junior hockey for five years, college coaches don’t care so much about how long you participate, but rather which junior hockey league you were in.

There are three junior hockey tiers that are comprised of various leagues. Recruits that compete for the tier 1 USHL league are most likely to be recruited by a NCAA Division 1 program.

Tier 1: USHL

Tier 2: NAHL and the NCDC.

Tier 3: EHL, USPHL Premiere and NA3HL. 

NCAA rules for men’s hockey

The NCAA regulates when and how college coaches can communicate with recruits. The rules are different for each division, though recruits can reach out to coaches at each division at any time.

• Communication between D1 college coaches and recruits is prohibited until January 1 of a recruit’s sophomore year. This includes contact initiated by the recruit. If a recruit initiates contact with a coach prior to this date, the coach is not permitted to engage in conversation. 
• Most communication between D2 college coaches and recruits is allowed at anytime.
• Recruits can receive their first verbal offer from NCAA college coaches starting August 1 prior to a recruit’s junior year. 

NCAA Division 1 hockey recruiting rules

The NCAA D1 recruiting rules and calendar are the most restrictive in college recruiting.

• Any time: 
  • Recruits can receive non-recruiting materials at any time. (i.e. questionnaires, camp brochures, nonathletic institutional publications and official NCAA educational materials)
• January 1 of sophomore year: 
  • College coaches can begin contacting recruits via phone and digital communication, such as emails, text messages and direct messages.
  • Recruits can schedule unofficial visits after this date.
• August 1 before junior year:
  • Recruits can begin scheduling official visits and meet with college coaches on campus to discuss recruiting.
  • College coaches can begin making verbal scholarship offers.
  • Off-campus contact is permitted at the recruit’s school or home.

NCAA Division 2 hockey recruiting rules

The NCAA D2 recruiting rules are less restrictive than Division 1 rules and apply to all Division 2 sports.

• Any time:
  • Recruits can receive non-recruiting materials, including camp brochures, questionnaires, and NCAA materials and non-athletic recruiting publications at any time.
  • Coaches can begin contacting recruits by phone, email, text message and direct messaging.
  • Recruits are permitted to schedule unofficial visits at any time (except during a dead period).
• June 15 after sophomore year:
  • Off-campus communication at the recruit’s school or home is permitted.
  • Recruits and college coaches can begin to schedule official recruiting visits.

NCAA Division 3 hockey recruiting rules

NCAA D3 schools adhere to the most relaxed recruiting rules of the three NCAA divisions. These rules apply to all D3 sports.

• Any time:
  • Recruiting materials can be sent to athletes at any time.
  • All contact between college coaches and recruits is permitted at any time.
  • Recruits can go on an unlimited number of unofficial visits at any time.
• After sophomore year:
  • Off-campus communication between an athlete and coaches can begin following the athlete’s sophomore year.
• January 1 of junior year:
  • Recruits can schedule official visits to explore campus and meet with the college coach to discuss recruiting. They are limited to 1 official visit per college.

2024-25 NCAA men’s hockey recruiting calendar 

Dead periods: During these periods, coaches are prohibited from contacting recruits and/or their parents. Digital communication between recruits and coaches is still permitted.

Division 1

• November 11-14, 2024 (Monday through Thursday of the initial week for the fall signing of the NCAA financial aid agreement)
• April 9-13 (noon), 2025 (Wednesday prior to the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship to noon on the Sunday after the game)

Division 2

• November 11 (7 a.m.) – 13 (7 a.m.), 2024 (during the 48 hours prior to 7 a.m. on the initial date for the signing of the NCAA financial aid agreement).

Contact period: All dates that are not mentioned as a dead period, should be treated like a contact period, in which all communications between families and coaches are fair game.

View the NCAA Division 1 and Division 2 recruiting calendars.