NCAA hockey's best players are getting younger, and that's a good thing

This article is presented by Everything College Hockey

College hockey used to be a game dominated by older players. Guys who were 21, 22-years-old, or more, were routinely the nation's leading scorers, best goalies, and juniors and seniors tended to take home awards like the Hobey Baker.

More recently, though, that's become the exception, rather than the norm. A decade ago, only one player in the top 10 in national scoring and four in the top 20 were sophomores. None were freshmen. The highest-scoring U20 player in the nation was Riley Barber, who had a very respectable 44 points as a sophomore at Miami, but that number only tied him for 15th nationally.

Today, with the NCAA regular season winding down, the rarity is upperclassmen in the top 10: Just four currently sit top-10 in total points,