August 12, 2013  - Gig Harbor, Was. - The NPHL (Northern Pacific Hockey League) announced today Everett, WA will join Bellingham, Bremerton, Eugene, Kennewick, and Vancouver to complete the six team Pacific Northwest based league. "Everett is yet another step towards expanding premier USA Hockey sanctioned junior hockey in our region," commented Derek Donald, "This gives another place for young, committed, and elite hockey players a place to hone their skills before going on to NAHL, USHL, WHL or College Hockey."

Everett boasts a strong hockey presence already as host to the Everett Silvertips a Major Junior hockey team that plays in the Western Hockey League of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). Unlike the NPHL, the Silvertips' play as a professional junior league whose players are not NCAA bound. The presence of the NPHL in the Everett area increases the opportunities for young athletes when it comes to safe, sanctioned, elite level hockey.

The new NPHL franchise will release the name and logo of the Team this Friday and is in the final stages of hiring a Head Coach.  With the Puget Sound region well versed in hockey, Donald anticipates that this will be a very successful team in our league.  It will play a forty game regular season schedule seeing each of the other five opponents four times at home.

In recent years, the NPHL has moved to focus the league on localized competition in order to maximize player development opportunities. In the spirit of USA Hockey American Development Model (ADM), the league has looked to increase the time each player has to work with first class coaches in practice and in off-ice facilities. "This just wasn't possible when we operated with a larger footprint. We spent too much of our time on the road," remarked Flint Doungchak, General Manager of the Eugene Generals, "Plus, our players sat on buses instead of going to school or practicing.  We are extremely focused on the importance of our player’s education and skill development."

This season, all NPHL teams will be practicing on ice at least 6 hours a week plus additional off-ice practices to include strength and conditioning programs and skill development. All totaled a NPHL player will be spending 20 hours a week on their craft. "Generally, the NPHL player is a younger, elite hockey player with high potential, but still needs a lot of development, maybe a late bloomer," said Donald. This year also brings a new roster rule to the NPHL where each team is limited to only four twenty year old players. There was no limit in the past. "We are the place for the development of the young player and not the outgoing burn-out goon, so a 20 year old limit is a natural progression." The NPHL is host to players between the age of 16 and 20 years.

Everett will join a league that stretches north to Bellingham, Washington, east to Kennewick, Washington, and South to Eugene, OR. The farthest trip for any team will now be 7 hours with the average at just over 3.5 hours. Last season, the NPHL spun off a team into the AWHL. That trip to Whitefish, MT was over 15 hours one way for most teams. In most cases, the continued shrinking footprint will mean day trips for games for the average team. In theory, that will lower operational costs and allow teams to continue to focus resources on player development. Donald sees the league adding two more teams within the next year and hopefully capping the league at 10 to 12 teams located in either Washington, Oregon, and Idaho by the 2016 season.