The Maryland Black Bears are a 2018-19 expansion team in the North American Hockey League (NAHL), a developmental junior "A" hockey league for some of the top 17-20 year-olds in the world. Celebrating its 42nd season in 2017-18, the NAHL, the only USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier II Junior league, offers junior hockey players the opportunity to develop, learn, train, grow and succeed, while playing for free. The NAHL is unique in the fact that a vast majority of players begin their NAHL careers without an NCAA opportunity, but earn one through the course of their development in the league along with exposure to professional scouts. During the 2017-18 season, the NAHL set a new single-season record with 307 NCAA commitments, with 70% of those being NCAA Division I commitments. Nine NAHL players were selected in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. Over the course of the last five seasons, 1,200 NAHL players have made NCAA commitments and 17 have been drafted into the NHL. The Black Bears are based out of Piney Orchard Ice Arena in Odenton, MD, former practice facility of the Washington Capitals.