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CHL to NCAA Recruiting Megathread

07 C Liam Kilfoil of Halifax Mooseheads commits to Northeastern

the next blog post will be on B1G classes

update on CHL recruitment/retention efforts:

OHL seems to be the league most aggressively cracking down on standardizing the quality of the league. the OHL had that updated player agreement earlier in the year with better academic support and then a league wide "player experience enhancement recommendations". those are a list of 20 items that the ohl board of governors agreed on and teams are required to meet them by the 26-27 season. The items came from a Player Experience committee that was apparently started before last season. some teams already have these but others are behind. they include things like: strength/conditioning coaches, team nutritionist, off-season training support, more medical/therapy services (massage therapist, physio, etc), billet standards and support, minimum travel accommodation standards. certain teams have more work to do on these than others of course, or have partial pieces of the services (as needed physio or massage therapy but not consistently available, strength coaches not around for off season)

another initiative is an official partnership between the OHL and GOJHL, naming it as their first official development league. many teams will send down affiliate players to the closest GOJHL team, but it was an unofficial relationship. the GOJHL is Southern Ontario-based, so not all OHL have a close enough team to send their players to. apparently there are discussions for other junior A leagues in Ontario, but the work

facilities wise: apparently last november Bryan Crawford met with the mayor of Peterborough who pledged to build a new arena within 5 years, and said something to the effect of 'shit or get off the pot' with other markets being more ready to have a team if they don't get it together. he clarified later that he has no intention of relocating the franchise unless absolutely necessary, and seems progress is going on. The Peterborough Petes are the oldest franchise in the league and play out of the Peterborough Memorial Center which is 70 years old, which is not up to standard and has fallen behind in the sorts of renovations that wouldve improved its longevity. a location has been designated for a new event center. there are 3 other cities with new arena constructions farther along in planning. yesterday Sudbury released architectural renderings of their new arena, which is sorely needed- their old one is kinda falling apart. you might be familiar with it, the Blueberry Bulldogs also play out of that arena (Shoresy is filmed there). also getting new arenas are Ottawa and Brantford.

the QMJHL's efforts can be harder to follow because I need to seek out quebec media but some of the teams getting arena upgrades and/or working on new arenas include Halifax and Drummondville. on expansion to the US, the Mariners just signed an extension with their arena so it seems the ECHL franchise has a hold on the Portland market, probably no room for a Q team there. lewiston and manchester appear to be the likely spots, but Cecchini has implied that USA Hockey is making the process a lot harder than they expected.

the WHL im worried about because the teams aren't exactly known for... cooperation, or listening to their commissioner. and they have the least professional commissioner as well. some teams really don't like other teams or league execs poking around and its reported to be a clash of egos at times. the exception is discipline like suspensions and fines, which are posted publicly. something tells me eventually it will squeeze out a few teams that aren't willing to adapt on their own initiative.
 
cinnamoroll said:
07 C Liam Kilfoil of Halifax Mooseheads commits to Northeastern

the next blog post will be on B1G classes

update on CHL recruitment/retention efforts:

OHL seems to be the league most aggressively cracking down on standardizing the quality of the league. the OHL had that updated player agreement earlier in the year with better academic support and then a league wide "player experience enhancement recommendations". those are a list of 20 items that the ohl board of governors agreed on and teams are required to meet them by the 26-27 season. The items came from a Player Experience committee that was apparently started before last season. some teams already have these but others are behind. they include things like: strength/conditioning coaches, team nutritionist, off-season training support, more medical/therapy services (massage therapist, physio, etc), billet standards and support, minimum travel accommodation standards. certain teams have more work to do on these than others of course, or have partial pieces of the services (as needed physio or massage therapy but not consistently available, strength coaches not around for off season)

another initiative is an official partnership between the OHL and GOJHL, naming it as their first official development league. many teams will send down affiliate players to the closest GOJHL team, but it was an unofficial relationship. the GOJHL is Southern Ontario-based, so not all OHL have a close enough team to send their players to. apparently there are discussions for other junior A leagues in Ontario, but the work

facilities wise: apparently last november Bryan Crawford met with the mayor of Peterborough who pledged to build a new arena within 5 years, and said something to the effect of 'shit or get off the pot' with other markets being more ready to have a team if they don't get it together. he clarified later that he has no intention of relocating the franchise unless absolutely necessary, and seems progress is going on. The Peterborough Petes are the oldest franchise in the league and play out of the Peterborough Memorial Center which is 70 years old, which is not up to standard and has fallen behind in the sorts of renovations that wouldve improved its longevity. a location has been designated for a new event center. there are 3 other cities with new arena constructions farther along in planning. yesterday Sudbury released architectural renderings of their new arena, which is sorely needed- their old one is kinda falling apart. you might be familiar with it, the Blueberry Bulldogs also play out of that arena (Shoresy is filmed there). also getting new arenas are Ottawa and Brantford.

the QMJHL's efforts can be harder to follow because I need to seek out quebec media but some of the teams getting arena upgrades and/or working on new arenas include Halifax and Drummondville. on expansion to the US, the Mariners just signed an extension with their arena so it seems the ECHL franchise has a hold on the Portland market, probably no room for a Q team there. lewiston and manchester appear to be the likely spots, but Cecchini has implied that USA Hockey is making the process a lot harder than they expected.

the WHL im worried about because the teams aren't exactly known for... cooperation, or listening to their commissioner. and they have the least professional commissioner as well. some teams really don't like other teams or league execs poking around and its reported to be a clash of egos at times. the exception is discipline like suspensions and fines, which are posted publicly. something tells me eventually it will squeeze out a few teams that aren't willing to adapt on their own initiative.
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Not sure why USA hockey would be fighting QMJHL expansion into the US. There are plenty of other major junior teams in the US. In my opinion, merging USHL with major junior and expanding the major junior into the US would be great for US hockey. Otherwise kids will just go north to major junior anyways. It really is best for the US to try to coexist and intermingle with major junior.
 
Sparkee said:
Not sure why USA hockey would be fighting QMJHL expansion into the US. There are plenty of other major junior teams in the US. In my opinion, merging USHL with major junior and expanding the major junior into the US would be great for US hockey. Otherwise kids will just go north to major junior anyways. It really is best for the US to try to coexist and intermingle with major junior.
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USA Hockey would lose it's grip (i.e., $$$$) on the top end junior league in the US. Having to turn those teams over to the CHL, or at the very least have a power sharing agreement with the CHL, would hurt their egos and their pocketbooks.
 
Chris Peters said in todays Called Up podcast episode (is a good listen, they do over under on point totals on some high end freshman) that the free games will be on Thursday for QMJHL games and Friday for OHL games. Yesterdays was Rouyn-Noranda v Québec, was in french.

Tonights is Oshawa at Guelph

Oshawa:
Brooks Rogowski (Michigan State)
Lucas Teixeira (UVM)
Collin Feeley (Harvard)
Porter Byrd-Leitner (Colgate)
Rowen Sang (Dartmouth)
Leo Laschon (Northeastern)

Guelph:
Christopher Soares (Mercyhurst)
Eric Frossard (Notre Dame)

Oshawa's Haoxi Wang (BU) is still at Sharks camp, is actually injured
 
Important profile on Gavin McKenna, specifically his hometown of Whitehorse, Yukon, and his indigenous heritage. September 30th is Canada's National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, which recognizes the Canadian Indian residential school system and the children affected by the atrocities associated with it. McKenna's grandfather is a survivor of this system.

I think this aspect of it is lost in a lot of the CHL hubbub. At least 5 incoming CHL players have indigenous heritage- Penn State's Gavin McKenna from Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation, Michigan State's Cayden Lindstrom from Driftpile Cree Nation, Merrimack's Hunter Mayo (Métis) and Nolan Flamand, and UMass Lowell's Dalyn Wakely of Curve Lake First Nation. Some current NCAA players of indigenous heritage include Michigan's Jayden Perron, St Thomas' Aaron Trotter, and St Cloud State's Daimon Gardner. Notable former NCAA players currently in the NHL include Bemidji State's Zach Whitecloud and UMass' Brandon Montour, plus NoDak's TJ Oshie who just retired. Other notable former NHLers include Grant Fuhr, Craig Berube, Jonathan Cheechoo, Carey Price, among many others.

If you don't care much about it, that's fine, I just think it is worth highlighting. It is a big part of these players' identities and it means a lot to young indigenous youth to see players going to the highest levels of hockey. Gavin McKenna in particular means so much since he will likely be the first ever 1st overall pick of indigenous descent and to be from Yukon. The only other player from Yukon to go in the first round is Dylan Cozens in 2019. Both had to leave Yukon when they were very young to find high level hockey with kids their age (an adult broke Cozens' leg in a house league when he was 12). McKenna is working to get a new rink built in Whitehorse so kids might not have to leave so early.

I hope this puts into context why he has so many eyes on him besides being so talented, he represents a lot to two groups of people who are underrepresented in a lot of high level sports. He's cognizant of that and is proud to represent his hometown and his heritage.
 
Sparkee said:
This is good for college hockey. Hopefully it draws interest from ncaa-casual fans interested in college hockey.
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same. Hockey East, ECAC, AHA, and Independents are all fairly accessible for hockey fans being on espn plus and flohockey respectively. NCHC and CCHA are probably the least accessible. you gotta go out of your way for it. hopefully this inspires more of these collabs, even if its focused on schools that have higher end guys. i could see the nhl network aiming for a Michigan State game or Providence game. can market around Martone/Lindstrom or McQueen.

as much as people might moan about it all being focused on certain players, how many people are going to tune in to see McKenna only to recognize a few players as picks from their own team, or just get caught up in the excitement of it? Penn State had 3 total draft picks last season and they've doubled that. Calgary fans can tune in and see Cullen Potter and Luke Misa, fans of the CHL teams some new players come from can tune in as well. Mullet is a great building to showcase this imo. casual fans might just think of it as the place the coyotes played in which was not up to nhl rink standards. now they can see what it is actually meant to be used for, and it's a great college atmosphere.

think of it like a gateway drug for casuals 😆

B1G Network has already picked up Penn State's home opener next Thursday vs Clarkson.

side note- i know a few of yall have seen practices or scrimmages of teams and ive seen individual posts on it. im curious to hear which CHL players have stood out and how, if youve seen some pls DM me any observations you have
 
Happy first day of college hockey season!

05 D Jack Martin of Rimouski Océanic commits to Holy Cross

I'll try to get the B1G post done tonight or tomorrow.

If you want a straight up list of guys in NCAA, the OHL has a convenient list up of their alum in college, plus number breakdowns. They usually do this for USports too. 78 total OHLers, AHA leads with 19, followed by B1G with 15. I'm missing a few independents it looks like.. will have to add those in
 
After day 1 of the new college season, here are some standouts I was able to catch- and since i cannot be everywhere at once feel free to add some of the others I inevitably missed

UML freshman goalie Austin Elliott- 17 save shutout in his collegiate debut vs Merrimack. Oilers prospect Dalyn Wakely had 2a, Tnias Mathurin with a shorthanded goal, Luke Shipley had an assist. Also the Buttazzoni brothers are linemates now
Wisconsin freshman goalie Daniel Hauser with a 22 save shutout in his collegiate debut vs Lindenwood, Oliver Tulk with 2a
Michigan smoked Mercyhurst 11-1, Malcolm Spence had 1g2a, Jack Ivankovic with his first win making 15 saves on 16 shots
From CC I liked what I saw from Brayden Schuurman (1g1a) and Brandon Lisowsky (1a)
Bemidji State- Connor McClennon with 2 goals, Max Namestnikov and Oliver Peer both had 2a
Penn State... Gavin McKenna, doing Gavin McKenna things. 2 assists and they had an overflow section for scouts at Mullet. One guy who didn't score but looked really good in terms of pro habits is Luke Misa.
Quinnipiac had Vidicek with that first point, Graham Sward scored as well, 1a for Antonin Verreault
Miami ends their winless streak at 26, putting up their first win in 342 days, with a 6-4 win thanks to efforts from USports transfer Matteo Drobac in net, stopping 32 of 36 shots, plus a very balanced attack with only 5 players in the lineup ending without a point. Their CHL freshman Ryder Thompson, Kocha Delic, Ethan Hay all had 1 point each.
CHL contributions in losing efforts: Alaska's one goal came from Braden Birnie with an assist from Dylan Sydor, Oren Shtrom had a goal for AA, Matthew Mayich had Clarkson's one goal, UConn Carlin Dezainde had an assist and was notably good in faceoffs for a freshman
Michigan Tech- goals from Rylan Gould, Ryan Abraham, 1a for Teydon Trembecky, Reid Andresen, and Kalem Parker
ASU- Sam Alfano had 1g1a, and USports transfer Sean McGurn (who already has a letter) scored his first goal. Another USports transfer Ty Nash had an assist, and he gets the hometown bump as Tyson's son. (For those curious, Jack Beck has to sit out 6 games)
 
cinnamoroll said:
After day 1 of the new college season, here are some standouts I was able to catch- and since i cannot be everywhere at once feel free to add some of the others I inevitably missed

UML freshman goalie Austin Elliott- 17 save shutout in his collegiate debut vs Merrimack. Oilers prospect Dalyn Wakely had 2a, Tnias Mathurin with a shorthanded goal, Luke Shipley had an assist. Also the Buttazzoni brothers are linemates now
Wisconsin freshman goalie Daniel Hauser with a 22 save shutout in his collegiate debut vs Lindenwood, Oliver Tulk with 2a
Michigan smoked Mercyhurst 11-1, Malcolm Spence had 1g2a, Jack Ivankovic with his first win making 15 saves on 16 shots
From CC I liked what I saw from Brayden Schuurman (1g1a) and Brandon Lisowsky (1a)
Bemidji State- Connor McClennon with 2 goals, Max Namestnikov and Oliver Peer both had 2a
Penn State... Gavin McKenna, doing Gavin McKenna things. 2 assists and they had an overflow section for scouts at Mullet. One guy who didn't score but looked really good in terms of pro habits is Luke Misa.
Quinnipiac had Vidicek with that first point, Graham Sward scored as well, 1a for Antonin Verreault
Miami ends their winless streak at 26, putting up their first win in 342 days, with a 6-4 win thanks to efforts from USports transfer Matteo Drobac in net, stopping 32 of 36 shots, plus a very balanced attack with only 5 players in the lineup ending without a point. Their CHL freshman Ryder Thompson, Kocha Delic, Ethan Hay all had 1 point each.
CHL contributions in losing efforts: Alaska's one goal came from Braden Birnie with an assist from Dylan Sydor, Oren Shtrom had a goal for AA, Matthew Mayich had Clarkson's one goal, UConn Carlin Dezainde had an assist and was notably good in faceoffs for a freshman
Michigan Tech- goals from Rylan Gould, Ryan Abraham, 1a for Teydon Trembecky, Reid Andresen, and Kalem Parker
ASU- Sam Alfano had 1g1a, and USports transfer Sean McGurn (who already has a letter) scored his first goal. Another USports transfer Ty Nash had an assist, and he gets the hometown bump as Tyson's son. (For those curious, Jack Beck has to sit out 6 games)
Click to expand...
In exhibition action between Maine and UNH some former CHL Got on the board:

Sam Oliver(UNH) formerly of Drummondsville(QMJHL) scored a power play goal.
Nick De Angelis(UNH) formerly of Sudbury(OHL) scored and assist on that power play goal.
Simon Motew(Maine) formerly Kitchener(OHL) scored a goal from the point through a screen.
Jaden Lipinski(Maine) formerly of Vancouver(WHL) got an assist on that goal.
Mathis Rousseau(Maine) formerly of Moncton(QMJHL) got scheduled half game time giving up 1 goal on 20 shots for a .950 save percentage and a 2 gaa.

Oliver the best of the CHL newcomers in this game followed closely by Rousseau.

If anyone is interested in footage shot from a cell phone you can view it here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566753691409

I’m not sure why there was no regular video broadcast for this exhibition seeings it sold out in 15 minutes when they put the tickets online.
 
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Lots of fun all weekend! College Hockey is so back.

More fun CHL player stuff from saturday and today:
Shutout wins for Bemidji State's Max Hildebrand and Michigan's Jack Ivankovic. Also a win for LSSU's Andrew Oke and a second win for Wisconsin's Daniel Hauser.
Also LSSU- Calem Mangone with 3 goals over the weekend plus 1 assist, Tyson Galloway with a goal
Also Bemidji State- Oliver Peer with a shorthanded goal
Miami's Kocha Delic with a goal, Miami sweeps their opening series for the first time since 2018
Michigan Tech with the upset over Minnesota, Teydon Trembecky with a goal and assist, Noah Reinhart with ENG, Reid Andresen with an assist
UConn's Alexandre Blais with a goal
Niagara's Marshall Finnie with 2 power play goals and 0 elbows to the head so far
Northeastern's Jacob Mathieu with an empty net goal
St Thomas' Nathan Pilling with a goal
Penn State's Gavin McKenna scored, you might have seen it a billion times.
ASU's Sean McGurn and Justin Kipkie with assists, McGurn is also murdering everyone in faceoffs.
Lindenwood's Louis-Philippe Fontaine with a goal

Also: Bowling Green gets a commitment from Shoresy actor Chase Coughlan! also overage forward for the Sudbury Wolves.
Shoresy is set in sudbury and films in the same arena, so plenty of Wolves players have been extras at various times. Coughlan straight up went and got himself a whole speaking part in season 4. He plays Mason, there's even a dance number. you dont see college hockey players with acting credits to their name very often. good pickup on the ice too
 
Some NCAA commits with honors in the CHL:

Jacob Kvasnicka (Minnesota) WHL Rookie of the Week, 3g-4a in 3 games. He's 5th in scoring with 10, Penticton now leads the BC Division

Nikita Klepov (Michigan State) OHL Rookie of the Week, 3g-2a in 3 games, tied 2nd in the OHL in points with 11

Marcus Kearsey (Northeastern) QMJHL Player of the Week, 4g-4a in 4 games. Captain of Charlottetown, who had their first Quebec swing and came away with 3 wins. 2nd in points for defensemen in the Q

Commits in CHL in the early season stats:
JP Hurlbert (Michigan) leads the WHL in points with 14, in goals with 9. absolute tear through the league right now
Shea Busch (Penn State) tied for 6th in points with 9, coming off a hat trick
AJ Reyelts (UMD) has a 0.945 save percentage in 4 games, is 3-0-0-1
Alexander Levshyn (Clarkson) has a 0.942 save percentage in 2 games
Raiden LeGall (Bemidji State) has a 0.923 save percentage in 5 games, is 4-0-1-0

Justin Larose (Michigan) leads the QMJHL in points with 17
Ross Campbell (Maine) and Vincent Desjardins (Omaha) tied for 4th in points with 12
Jesse Allecia (UNH) tied 3rd in goals with 6, tied 6th in points with 9
Also with 9 points like Kearsey and Allecia- Tournas (UNH), Vlasov (UConn), Shilov (BC)
Arseni Radkov (UMass) with a .922 save percentage for the team trying to outscore everything (which usually works, but means his GAA is a little scary!)

Jordan Charron (St Lawrence) leads the OHL in goals with 8, 2nd in points with 11
Egor Barabanov leads the OHL in points with 12. He recently decommitted from Penn State
Caleb Malhotra (BU) is tied for 4th in points with 9
Ryder Fetterolf (Penn State) has only played 2 games (Ottawa has only played 4) but has a 0.947 save percentage and looked solid
Matthew Minchak (Colgate) had one spectacular game with 0.977 where he made 42 saves on 43 shots, but is behind Gavin Betts in the depth chart
Trenten Bennett (St Lawrence) had two great games with a 0.967 save percentage, but has been backup since stud goalie Carter George came back from Kings camp. George could get flipped at the deadline, Bennett would get more time if that happens.
Patrick Quinlan (Notre Dame) was looking more settled in after a tough first start but got ran over in his 4th appearance. Sarnia had to trade for a backup, but he is only listed as day to day.

OHL free game of the week this friday is Kitchener vs Soo
 
And WHL games are for free on Victory+ app. It is even the highest quality broadcast if you ask me. I am judging by quality of picture after casting it to my 60 inch tv. The quality of OHL seemed decent in some rinks but not on others.
 
Sparkee said:
And WHL games are for free on Victory+ app. It is even the highest quality broadcast if you ask me. I am judging by quality of picture after casting it to my 60 inch tv. The quality of OHL seemed decent in some rinks but not on others.
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Not sure how many WHL rinks you’ve seen, but there are certainly a few real crunchy broadcast setups in that league too. Each rink has their own setup and it can definitely vary. Some markets just don’t have the funds for a better setup. Though when the OHL has a game on rogers (at least once per week) it’s much better
 
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