Legitimate pathway to professional ranks or career termination?

Abstract

The purpose of the current investigation was to empirically evaluate the career progression of USPORTS men’s varsity hockey players to understand if USPORTS men’s hockey is a legitimate pathway to a professional playing career. To address this, USPORTS men’s varsity hockey rosters, from 2000-2018, were captured and analyzed for athletes who progressed to play professional hockey. Findings indicate that 1,391 USPORTS athletes progressed to professional ranks between 2000-2018, a number representing approximately 70 players, on average, per season. Drawing on expectancy value and legitimacy theories, the findings revealed that USPORTS men’s varsity hockey is a legitimate athlete pathway for players to reach professional levels of competition.