06/18/2026
Repost USHL Commissioner Glenn Hefferan asked Alex Pelletier a great question at the 2026 High Performance Camp this past weekend — and the answer is a masterclass in growth
Pelletier was just voted the best player in the USHL — the top junior league in the United States. USHL Player of the Year
But here’s what most people miss: he didn’t start there.
Asked what he’d tell his 14-15 year old self, Alex didn’t talk about talent. He talked about the mindset he carried through every single stage of his development — and how he kept practicing that same growth and dynamic mindset the entire way up.
At Avon, he started buried on the fourth line. His mindset wasn’t “why am I down here?” It was: be the best fourth-line winger in the building. Master that role, develop in the process, and be ready the moment the guys ahead of him moved on. That mindset moved him up — fourth line to third to second to first. By his senior year, he was the top-line scoring winger.
Then he got to the USHL — third line again, behind two NHL draft picks. He didn’t change who he was. He brought the exact same mindset: be so good at this role the coach has no choice but to play me every night. A year later, those guys moved on, and Alex was ready — he took over that first line and dominated it.
That’s the part to sit with: the mindset never changed, only the role did. At every stage, he attacked the job in front of him like it was the most important one in the league — and that’s exactly what kept earning him the next one.
His message is simple: whatever your role is right now, be elite at it. Stay-at-home D? Be the best in the league at killing penalties, blocking shots, making the first pass. Goal scorer? Go score goals. Whatever your game is — get as good as you possibly can at it. That’s what earns the next opportunity.
So here’s the real question for every player reading this:
How often do you actually stay focused on being the best at the role you’re given right now? Or do you keep asking why you’re not on a higher line — without doing the work to prove you belong there?
The line you’re on t
