NCAA / CHL Lawsuit

[AUS Fan]

More overage CHL players who have opted for the NCAA:

Daniel Hauser, G (Wenatchee) - University of Wisconsin
Sam Oliver, F (Drummondville) - University of New Hampshire
Noah Morneau, F (Windsor) - Bowling Green State
Carlin Dezainde, F (Swift Current) - University of Connecticut
Cedrick Guindon, F (Kingston) - University of Vermont

5 more who could have gone to CIS teams

 

[FreddyFoyle]

5 more who could have gone to CIS teams

USports might just see them a year later, if they don't manage to play well enough to keep their Div I scholarship. Coaches can be cynical with their scholies.

 

[AUS Fan]

USports might just see them a year later, if they don't manage to play well enough to keep their Div I scholarship. Coaches can be cynical with their scholies.

Possible for sure. Will they even have a full ride or will they eat a year of CHL money? Once again, a lot of moving parts.

Edit: Just noticed that NCAA scholarships will increase from 18 to 26 in 2025-26.

Also

Full-ride scholarship offer: Men’s full-ride ice hockey scholarships are reserved for recruits that competed in the USHL junior hockey league. Though, this does not mean that recruits who didn’t play for a tier 1 junior hockey league won’t receive a full ride. Division 1 hockey programs also recruit athletes from tier 2 junior hockey leagues.

 

[bungdropper]

If these guys are committing now, they're getting full rides.

 

[JMCx4]

Edit: Just noticed that NCAA scholarships will increase from 18 to 26 in 2025-26.

You need to keep up.

 

[dm8895]

5 more who could have gone to CIS teams

Is worth noting , it’s early and they could end up cleaning house on overages for all I know but these guys have all been the cream of the crop guys (UNB/Alberta , AHL/Europe) who we’d be discussing as potential CIS players if they don’t get good pro offers.
I stand by what I’ve said , I think the people who think CIS is going to become a Jr.B retirement league are insane and the people who think that it will have zero impact aren’t much brighter . I could be wrong but I think we are going to see the top 5% of players skimmed off the top going forward.

 

[AUS Fan]

Is worth noting , it’s early and they could end up cleaning house on overages for all I know but these guys have all been the cream of the crop guys (UNB/Alberta , AHL/Europe) who we’d be discussing as potential CIS players if they don’t get good pro offers.
I stand by what I’ve said , I think the people who think CIS is going to become a Jr.B retirement league are insane and the people who think that it will have zero impact aren’t much brighter . I could be wrong but I think we are going to see the top 5% of players skimmed off the top going forward.

I said something like that a week or 2 ago, without the insane bit. The top guys who would have gone to UNB or UofA, will now try NCAA and the next tier will be the top guys.

I think the overall result may be a slightly less competitive game, because of the top players leaving, but certainly not Beer League hockey.

 

[dm8895]

I was looking at the 2003-2004 UNB roster tonight because it keeps coming to mind for me that this is what I think a good USports team will look like in 10 years, 7 players played at least their over age year in tier 2 , 3 older guys who had pro experience .
Despite what a certain twitter account would tell you that CIS hockey is going to die , everyone in Fredericton says that the best hockey game ever played in this city involved this team…
The hockey can still be great even if we don’t have 100 point CHL stars playing .. I think of some of my favourite players to come through UNB - Craig Perry , Lachlan MacIntosh , Dion Campbell etc and I don’t even know in 2024 if any of those guys would get a shot in the top half of the AUS but they all developed into good players who by year 4 were good enough to play on the modern team.

Conversation has moved beyond this but was digging around last night… reference point for what I was talking about

 

[FreddyFoyle]

I said something like that a week or 2 ago, without the insane bit. The top guys who would have gone to UNB or UofA, will now try NCAA and the next tier will be the top guys.

I think the overall result may be a slightly less competitive game, because of the top players leaving, but certainly not Beer League hockey.

Might be a slight advantage for Moncton, UQTR and uOttawa, as they will still probably be able to recruit the top-end francophones who prefer to study in French.

 

[AUS Fan]

But UNB fans today don't want to wait 3 or 4 years for players to develop.

Might be a slight advantage for Moncton, UQTR and uOttawa, as they will still probably be able to recruit the top-end francophones who prefer to study in French.

Yeah, possibly. This from the 2022-23 season -

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is proud to announce that 192 of its former players are listed on U Sports hockey program rosters for the 2022-2023 season.
A total of 27 universities from Quebec, Atlantic Canada, Ontario and Western Canada are represented, with no less than 22 QMJHL alumni attending the Université de Moncton and Concordia University, while 21 play for the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and 17 at McGill University.

 

[Boonk]

Question - If a player was playing Junior A/USHL and hadn’t been previously drafted by a CHL team….and now wants to go to the CHL, are they essentially free agents and can pick what team they want to play for (within the appropriate CHL league)?

Any player undrafted in any of the CHL leagues can sign anywhere. The most notable is Claude Giroux, he was OHL jurisdiction property but wasnt drafted, so he signed with Gatineau in the Q after his U17 season.

 

[dm8895]

 

[Rob]

Might be a slight advantage for Moncton, UQTR and uOttawa, as they will still probably be able to recruit the top-end francophones who prefer to study in French.

There is still a lot of uncertainty about what is going to happen in the coming years but I think this may be accurate. The three Francophone schools will probably end up with a competitive advantage.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Conversation has moved beyond this but was digging around last night… reference point for what I was talking about

Two things immediately stand out to me after looking at that roster:
- Not a single player from the QMJHL...but nine from Alberta and four from Saskatchewan (not sure if they have had four players total from Saskatchewan over the last decade). UNB had a bunch of Alberta guys 10-15 years ago (Bailey/Wright/Stamler/Yeomans/Aldred/etc.)...but the last number of years it has been almost exclusively OHL/Q players.
- There are players from 10 different leagues on the team - the OHL/WHL/MJHL/CJHL/AJHL/SJHL/ECHL/UHL/U SPORTS/NCAA. This speaks to the point I made earlier where, moving forward, teams may have to really broaden their search, or dig a little deeper, to find recruits.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

There is still a lot of uncertainty about what is going to happen in the coming years but I think this may be accurate. The three Francophone schools will probably end up with a competitive advantage.

UNB has had good success luring some of those top end francophone players to Fredericton over the past decade (Maillet/Halley/Clapperton/Dubeau/Harvey/Goulet...and now Savoie/Richard/Corbeil).

 

[dm8895]

Two things immediately stand out to me after looking at that roster:
- Not a single player from the QMJHL...but nine from Alberta and four from Saskatchewan (not sure if they have had four players total from Saskatchewan over the last decade). UNB had a bunch of Alberta guys 10-15 years ago (Bailey/Wright/Stamler/Yeomans/Aldred/etc.)...but the last number of years it has been almost exclusively OHL/Q players.
- There are players from 10 different leagues on the team - the OHL/WHL/MJHL/CJHL/AJHL/SJHL/ECHL/UHL/U SPORTS/NCAA. This speaks to the point I made earlier where, moving forward, teams may have to really broaden their search, or dig a little deeper, to find recruits.

Talent definitely exists , I remember saying to someone Spencer Blackwell was good enough to play for a UNB but was playing in the wrong league for them to even look at him, now near a point a game in the OUA. I feel like people underestimate how much talent depth we have in Canada… Go watch a Beausejour Senior game , we have accountants playing for fun who are national team players in some countries.

 

[JMCx4]

... I feel like people underestimate how much talent depth we have in Canada… Go watch a Beausejour Senior game , we have accountants playing for fun who are national team players in some countries.

Juggling the books by day, juggling the pucks by night ...

 

[Corso]

Another honest question for those who follow U-Sports closely. What are the facilities like at the higher end U-Sport programs? Do those teams offer the full range of development options to their players? Sports Phycologists? Dedicated strength and conditioning coaches? Sport nutritionists? Exclusive gym access/rights where the equipment and training resembles what is found in the pro ranks? Do you feel that a UNB or an Alberta can compete with most NCAA programs in what they offer?

I am curious because there is some buzz about some U-Sport teams joining the NCAA.

 

[bungdropper]

A couple more:

- Alex Carr, D (Rouyn-Noranda) - University of New Hampshire
- Tyler MacKenzie, F (Everett) - Merrimack

 

[AUS Fan]

Another honest question for those who follow U-Sports closely. What are the facilities like at the higher end U-Sport programs? Do those teams offer the full range of development options to their players? Sports Phycologists? Dedicated strength and conditioning coaches? Sport nutritionists? Exclusive gym access/rights where the equipment and training resembles what is found in the pro ranks? Do you feel that a UNB or an Alberta can compete with most NCAA programs in what they offer?

I am curious because there is some buzz about some U-Sport teams joining the NCAA.

I'm going to say NO to a CIS team joining NCAA. The travel budget alone would be too much.

Regarding facilities, another NO.
The top-end NCAA schools have facilities that would rival an NHL team. Probably all CIS schools have a gym and some may have strength coach but not to the level of big NCAA programs.

If you have some time to spare, watch this:

I saw another video on UMass, quite similar to this one. Awesome facility.

 

[MiamiHockeyII]

Another honest question for those who follow U-Sports closely. What are the facilities like at the higher end U-Sport programs? Do those teams offer the full range of development options to their players? Sports Phycologists? Dedicated strength and conditioning coaches? Sport nutritionists? Exclusive gym access/rights where the equipment and training resembles what is found in the pro ranks? Do you feel that a UNB or an Alberta can compete with most NCAA programs in what they offer?

I am curious because there is some buzz about some U-Sport teams joining the NCAA.

There is zero buzz about USports teams joining the NCAA. And zero chance.

The only Canadian university that has ever made NCAA overtures is Simon Fraser, but they aren't USports.

To answer your questions about facilities / coaches, most top USports programs have gyms dedicated to their varsity athletes, and they have coaching at the university level, but they do not have the number of coaches or the costly facilities that really impress impressionable young athletes. Canadian universities simply do not spend on varsity athletics.

 

[AUS Fan]

There is zero buzz about USports teams joining the NCAA. And zero chance.

The only Canadian university that has ever made NCAA overtures is Simon Fraser, but they aren't USports.

To answer your questions about facilities / coaches, most top USports programs have gyms dedicated to their varsity athletes, and they have coaching at the university level, but they do not have the number of coaches or the costly facilities that really impress impressionable young athletes. Canadian universities simply do not spend on varsity athletics.

You said it better than me. But, if I was a player, I would rather work out at NoDak than DAL.

 

[JMCx4]

You said it better than me. But, if I was a player, I would rather work out at NoDak than DAL.

Martire Family Arena (home ice for NCAA DI men's & women's hockey opened Jan. 2023 on the campus of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut) is a Ralph Engelstad-NoDak Lite example of how much investment is going into DI programs ...

​

 

[dm8895]

Major junior hockey players can now join NCAA Division I teams; stakeholders weigh in | Globalnews.ca

NCAA Division I hockey is being opened up to Canadian major-junior athletes. That's sparking a wave of change in hockey's development systems across North America.

globalnews.ca

 

[Corso]

There is zero buzz about USports teams joining the NCAA. And zero chance.

The only Canadian university that has ever made NCAA overtures is Simon Fraser, but they aren't USports.

To answer your questions about facilities / coaches, most top USports programs have gyms dedicated to their varsity athletes, and they have coaching at the university level, but they do not have the number of coaches or the costly facilities that really impress impressionable young athletes. Canadian universities simply do not spend on varsity athletics.

It seems that athletics at the university level in Canada take a back seat to academics.....imagine that.
I brought this up because believe it or not, there is some "talk" (none coming from any University administrators however) about the potential for some U-Sports teams to look at joining the NCAA but as you've said, no way they could do so due to budgetary constraints.