major started receiving attention from nhl scouts while playing for the don mills flyers of the mthl in 1986. he advanced to the north bay centennials of the ontario hockey league for the 1987–88 season and put up 33 points in 57 games to go along with a whopping 272 penalty minutes (pim). major averaged almost 5 penalty minutes a game, but his hard-nosed style was admired by nhl scouts and major was selected 25th overall by the pittsburgh penguins in the 1988 nhl draft. now as an nhl prospect, major gained confidence and began the 1988–89 season again with the centennials before being traded 11 games in to the kingston raiders. he would remain in kingston for that season and the next (when they were renamed the kingston frontenacs), scoring 112 points and 361 pims, before moving up to the muskegon lumberjacks of the international hockey league. major remained with the lumberjacks for three seasons, scoring 77 points and 617 pims. he led the team in penalties during the 1991–92 season with 302 and would add another 29 pims in the lumberjacks' playoff run which saw them lose four games to none in the finals to the kansas city blades. after his last season with the lumberjacks, that included a relocation to cleveland, major was let go by the parent club pittsburgh and quickly signed as a free agent by the boston bruins on july 22, 1993.