Junior Hockey will be making its way into the area this coming week when the National College Prospects Hockey League will hold a trio of playoff games at the Steele Hall Ice Arena.

“It’s right in our footprint,” NCPHL president Bob Black said of using SUNY Fredonia’s facilities for two quarterfinals on Thursday and a semifinal on Friday. “We have teams in Toronto, Ottawa, Rochester, Pittsburgh and Erie. And we’ve been looking to push the academic side to these kids, so any chance we get to tie in the academic experience and make that experience real, we will do it. (The players) can walk on campus and it might just fit. Those are the types of things that you can’t see on (a college’s) website. Until you actually step on a campus and look at the locker rooms, that to me is really a factor, and if we can tie-in what we do with those kinds of experiences, well that’s basically our job.”

The NCPHL’s mission, according to its website, is to develop and prepare players ages 16-20 who are planning on, “…continuing their careers at all levels of college hockey or beyond.”

Fredonia men’s hockey coach Jeff Meredith is plenty familiar with the NCPHL, as he spoke at its combine last year in Niagara Falls.

“I’m excited to see the games,” he said, before mentioning that his son Mike participated in the end-of-the-year showcase as well. “I think that it will give us (the Fredonia men’s coaching staff) a good idea to see some guys that maybe are some younger guys that we will be able to follow throughout their junior careers. And it gives us additional people to put in our database, so we can follow them and see where they’re playing next season.”

Like at last year’s combine, Meredith expects to meet and speak with the players and their families.

“I haven’t actually spoken with Bob Black or any of his representatives yet,” Meredith noted. “But I plan on speaking to the teams and to be around to see the games and be there for the parents if they have any questions, as well as to help people and give them information that will be beneficial to them.”

The two teams playing on Thursday will be the Ottawa Sharpshooters and the Pittsburgh Kings. The first game is set to begin at 2 p.m., with the second one having a face-off set for 9 p.m. Then, on Friday, the quarterfinal winner will take on the Lake Erie Eagles in the semifinals at 3:45 p.m.

“We’ve had some teams go up to Fredonia to do some campus tours and the staff was fantastic,” Black, who played college hockey at Geneseo, said. “They were very hospitable and we don’t take that for granted and we are respectful of the fact that we have a place like this to go to for our playoffs.”

The NCPHL is in its second year and Black mentioned that it has been able to weather any storms that have come its way.

“The first year we had challenges, but we worked through them,” he said. “This should be a real fun tournament and with this tournament, with these teams, we have some really good goal tenders and at any given time a team could steal a game.

“One game could be the difference,” Black added. “But we’ve been very blessed with great goal tending. Our all-star game was 1-1 until midway through the third period, so anyone who enjoys a good goalie, we would be the place to come this week.”

Meredith may have his eye on some of those goalies, or any of the other players that will be in town.

“It’s awesome,” he said of the ability to do some possible recruiting in his own backyard. “It’s right in the confines of Steele Hall and it’s exciting to have three or four teams right on our campus. There’s 120 perspective students, so to be able to show the campus to them and to show them the program and see the facilities is, I think, a great opportunity.”

Having seen the caliber of players last year in Niagara Falls, Meredith knows what type of hockey people can expect to see.

“I think they’re obviously going to see junior hockey at a level higher than they’re used to seeing,” Meredith said. “They are 18, 19 and 20 year olds playing juniors, so it’s going to be faster, more physical and the skill level is going to be higher.

And with hockey being as popular in the area as it is, Meredith thinks it would be a good idea for the youngsters with dreams of playing high-level hockey, to get out and watch what these players coming to town have to offer.

“Every level higher that you get exposed to, I think it lets you know that their are a lot of good players out there,” he said. “And if you aspire to continue to advance, this is what you will be competing against, so it will give them a good idea of what they have to do to get there.”

“What junior hockey does is that the players that come out of high school, if they need one or two more years academically or they socially need to grow and mature, then we are a good fit for those players who are possibly undecided,” Black added. “Or if they need an extra year, we allow for that and maybe we can open up many other opportunities than they would have had a year ago, whether it’s Division I or Division III.”

One thing is for sure, if the NCPHL playoffs go off without a hitch, Meredith sees no reason why they shouldn’t come back again in the future.

“It would be a fantastic opportunity,” he said. “I think that it falls in an interesting time, because we’re on spring break, so there will be plenty of parking in the Steele Hall and Dods Hall lots. And it will be a little bit different, because without the students around, it will lack that college atmosphere, but we hope this is just the first year of having them here, because having this league on our campus is a great opportunity.

“I think logistically, Black is based out of Pittsburgh, and (the NCPHL) has teams in Erie, in southern Ontario, so this might just be a real central location,” Meredith added. “And there’s the fact that our seasons are done, so there is a lot of availability for ice here, so I think there were a lot of things that really worked out well for them.”