At 14, Top Prospects Decide if Path to N.H.L. Runs Through College

Joshua Lott for The New York Times

The Michigan sophomore Cristoval Nieves, 19, said college lets him compete against faster and stronger players than those in the major junior leagues. The Rangers drafted him in 2012.

SARNIA, Ontario — In the hockey-rich swath of North America that encompasses Michigan and Ontario, the Ontario Hockey League and the newly formed Big Ten hockey conference do not compete just for talent at youth tournaments and junior showcases. They also lobby parents about which system is the better final exam for an N.H.L. career.

Few major sports demand life-altering decisions from their adolescent stars quite the way hockey does. The N.C.A.A. regards the Canadian Hockey League's three major junior leagues — the O.H.L., the Quebec Major Junior League and the Western Hockey League — as professional. As a result, top American prospects often face a difficult choice when they are 14: stay eligible for college or bolt to major junior hockey?

Anthony DeAngelo, an 18-year-old from Sewell, N.J., leads all O.H.L. defensemen in scoring this season, with 46 points through 32 games for the Sarnia Sting. He is projected as a first-round pick in next year's N.H.L. draft.

A hundred miles away in Ann Arbor, Mich., Cristoval Nieves, 19, is a sophomore forward for the third-ranked Michigan Wolverines. A native of Baldwinsville, N.Y., Nieves, who is known as Boo, was taken in the second round by the Rangers in the 2012 draft. After collecting 8 goals and 21 assists and playing in all 40 games as a freshman last season, he has one goal and seven assists in 14 games this season.

If not exactly can't-miss prospects, DeAngelo and Nieves are thought to be good bets to be on N.H.L. rosters several years from now. But their potential — and how predictive their current environments are — is a matter of considerable debate.

DeAngelo and Nieves have been focused on hockey since around the third grade, rising to the top of the many-tiered and colorfully named age groups — mite, squirt, pee wee, bantam, midget. By the time the players were 14, agents or family advisers were in the fold, and a whole conversation was heating up around them: Just how badly, and quickly, did they want to get to the N.H.L.?

"From a parent's point of view, it's disappointingly early," Rafael Nieves, Boo's father, said.

Life in the O.H.L.

DeAngelo arrived in Sarnia, a small Canadian city on the southeastern banks of Lake Huron, when he was 15. At 14, he had verbally committed to Boston University, and he then played a season in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the Roughriders of the United States Hockey League, which is considered a Division I primer league.

In Cedar Rapids, DeAngelo broke his kneecap blocking a shot, ending his season. He weighed his options. The less attractive one involved a few more years in the U.S.H.L., going to school year-round to qualify for enrollment at B.U.

"This is the faster route" to the N.H.L., DeAngelo said of the O.H.L. "It wasn't really much of a decision, to be honest with you. It was quick."

History is on his side. Canadian major junior leagues, whose players mostly range in age from 16 to 20, have long been a feeder system for the N.H.L. The Sting, who are at the bottom of their division this season, are known less for competing for championships than for producing the No. 1 overall draft picks Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Nail Yakupov of the Edmonton Oilers.

"I think some guys from this league, if you send them into college, they'd dominate," DeAngelo said.

O.H.L. people refer to college hockey, a little dismissively, as "a weekend league." DeAngelo's regular season in Sarnia stretches to 68 games, nearly twice the number of games Nieves will play at Michigan. On trips, DeAngelo rides a bus back and forth across the border to O.H.L. cities like Erie, Pa.; Plymouth, Mich.; and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

All players live with a local family, or billet, that provides room and board. DeAngelo and a teammate occupy basement bedrooms in the home of Sharron Willock, a retired financial adviser and widow.

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