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CHL to NCAA Recruiting Megathread

05 F Alex Pharand commits to Clarkson, played for Hamilton, Sudbury, and Windsor during his 5 year OHL career. He was drafted in the 4th round of 2023 by Chicago. An obvious choice here- sister Kalia Pharand is a 08 goalie who was already committed to Clarkson, it looks like she will also arrive in the fall. I'm a sucker for hockey player sibling pairs so this makes me very happy.

Here's a fun one- Marco Mignosa tells the Sault Star that fellow Greyhound Quinn McKenzie spent the entire season lobbying for him to come to Penn State. McKenzie committed to Penn State in 2024 and joined the Greyhounds this season after his time at SSM. Like a lot of other players, he didn't do a ton of recruiting engagement until the season ended, but evidently he was already primed for the occasion thanks to McKenzie's efforts.

Maybe it's just me, but I love hearing the sorts of ways a commitment comes together. If you ever hear about some interesting ones, please let me know in direct message or in a comment here if theyre a CHL commit
 
5/10 recap

KIT 4-3 BAR in 2OT, KIT leads 3-0, Edwards (Quinnipiac) 2g2a including his 2nd OT game winner of the playoffs, Kirsch (Quinnipiac) 36 saves on 39 shots, Schneid (UConn) 1g

There was one goal scored in the entire first 2 and a half periods. 5 goals were scored before regulation ended and then Edwards popped in a rebound when the Colts couldn't clear. Hrebik saw 50 shots tonight. I was expecting the Colts to come out with more energy but they seems to start slow and would go long stretches without shots. While those can lead to a cold goalie, Kirsch was able to stay engaged like in previous games.

Cannot say I was expecting a potential sweep, but the Rangers have been pretty clinical. Impressive pivot in the plans from them mid-season has led them to a potential trophy on Tuesday, and 3 more attempts if that one fails.
 
05 D Zackary Sandhu commits to Clarkson, played for Guelph, Oshawa, and then Brantford through his 5 year OHL career. with Oshawa he went to two straight league finals in 2024 and 2025, losing both to London.

07 F Kieran Witkowski commits to RPI, plays for the Steelheads.

07 F Aiden Grossklaus flips commit from Minnesota State to St Thomas, plays for Wenatchee Wild

06 F Kuzma Voronin flips to UML from Maine, currently playing in the QMJHL finals with Moncton
 
5/12 preview

Mon/Chi 7pm, game 3, series tied 1-1
Moves to Quebec so it will be EST and home broadcast will be in French so be sure to switch to away stream, Chicoutimi rink is Olympic sized

KIT/BAR 7pm, game 4, KIT leads 3-0
J Ross Robertson Cup will be in the building and awarded in case of a Kitchener win.

EVT/PA 9:30pm, game 3, series tied 1-1
Daxon Rudolph has been suspended 1 game, might be an uphill battle for PA

If Kitchener finish the sweep, the front-runners for the Wayne Gretzky Trophy (Playoff MVP) are likely Sam O'Reilly (TBL ELC) or Dylan Edwards (Quinnipiac). O'Reilly is going for his 3rd straight OHL title, leads the playoffs in goals, and last game had more faceoff wins on his own than the entire Barrie lineup. He went 32/46, the colts won a total of 29. Edwards has been coming in clutch, with multi-point games at critical points, including a hat trick game 3 vs Soo, 3 point nights on the last two series clinchers, and two OT GWG. Last night he was in on all 4 goals. Big game kid

Ty Halaburda (CC) has returned to Kelowna, won't be back to playing in time for the Mem Cup but will be rehabbing around the team. In Everett, he was hospitalized after a really brutal hit. It caused a small brain bleed that resolved fairly quickly, so he left the hospital the next day and was recuperating at home. Not sure if he'll be ready for contact by the time school starts, but he's skating and doing light workouts. Could have ended up way worse.
 
OHL finals game 4 will be on NHL Network if you have cable or if you sail the seas

08 F Ethan Belchetz to Michigan State is official after rumors, Windsor Spitfires forward who was reportedly close to returning from an injury before they got eliminated. Potential 1st round pick with very high upside, he was picking up the pace after a meh start before the injury which originally felt like a season ender. His biggest issue is being 6'5 and getting there quickly- growth spurt was pretty rapid and that can take time to adjust. With more polish and strength, he could be a great power forward. Going to college is the easy choice here imo

Caleb Malhotra confirmed on a podcast he's going to BU next year, despite OHL 'insiders' reporting a handshake deal for him with Guelph in the off-season for a few months.

07 F Kade Stengrim commits to St Thomas, Medicine Hat Tigers forward who recently decommitted from SCSU.
 
06 D Charlie Michaud commits/transfers to Penn State. He was one of the players who left school and spent the rest of the year in the CHL instead of their old team, going from Miami to the Penticton Vees.
 
5/12 recap

Chi 5-4 Mon in OT, Chi leads 2-1, Huang (Harvard) 4a, Tourigny (Northeastern) 2g, Bleyl (Michigan State) 3a, Mutryn (BC) 2g
One of those OT games where its very lopsided on one side only for a flukey goal to go in at the other- so flukey it needed a review to declare it went in at all. Bonus for the tying goal also being flukey.

EVT 3-2 PA, EVT leads 2-1, Liske 2a, Heise (DU) 1g, Orsulak 44 saves on 41 shots
Orsulak kept them in this. Lotta special teams, PA went 1/6 and EVT 0/5. Very physical game. You could definitely feel the void Daxon Rudolph left.

and finally....

With a 4-2 win in game 4, the Kitchener Rangers are officially the 2026 OHL Champions, lifting the J. Ross Robertson Cup. Barrie put up a good fight but they needed to be perfect without Beaudoin. Kitchener had the depth they didn't. Kitchener lost 2 games in the entire post-season.

Masterful job from GM Mike McKenzie to pivot midseason after losing the Memorial Cup bid. The all-in push paid off and they get to go to the memorial cup anyways a year early. Also big props to head coach Jussi Ahokas- he was a really unique hire in the CHL as an established Euro pro coach, first Euro to be hired as HC in the OHL. He's done a masterful job with the Rangers.

Sam O'Reilly won the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award for Playoff MVP, no surprise there. He and Jared Woolley become the second and third ever players to win 3 consecutive OHL titles. The first one was Scott Timmins, who was on Kitchener's last championship in 2008 plus two in Windsor 09 and 10.

congrats to the following commits who got some hardware:
  • F Christian Humphreys, Minnesota, 06
  • F Weston Cameron, UMass, 08
  • F Dylan Edwards, Quinnipiac, OA
  • F Haeden Ellis, Northeastern, 07
  • D Max Dirracolo, St Lawrence, 06
  • D Cameron Reid, Michigan, 07
  • G Christian Kirsch, Quinnipiac, 06
some recruiting targets:
06- D Carson Campbell
07- F Luca Romano, F Tanner Lam, F Cameron Arquette
08- F Avry Anstis D Alexander Bilecki, G Jason Schaubel
 
07 F Jordan Charron flips commit to UMass from St Lawrence, plays for Soo Greyhounds, pens 5th round draft pick

06 D Jan Goličič commits to Quinnipiac, plays for BLB Armada, 24 TBL 4th round pick. He’s from Slovenia
 
5/13 recap

Mon 4-3 Chi, series tied 2-2, Lounsbury (Holy Cross) 2a, Chudzinski (BU) 1g (game winner), Bulans (BGSU) 1g1a, Vermette (Sacred Heart) 1g, Lecompte (Northeastern) 1g

weird game. Sags started slow but they had the only goal in the first half, Moncton was consistently dangerous and eventually broke through Beckman.

EVT 5-2 PA, EVT leads 3-1, DuPont 2a, Busch (Penn State) 1g, Gorzynski (ASU) 1g

Rudolph returning and Gorzynski back from injury helped a lot, but they lost the special teams battle with some undisciplined penalties. Felt like a missed opportunity.

i could easily see the QMJHL series going either way, but feels inevitable that Everett gets that first title.

some OHL misc housekeeping: Barrie sale has reportedly already gone through and the ink is dry, just wasn't announced earlier because they were Preoccupied... Owen Sound sale is ready pending official Board of Governors vote, the city council agreed to transfer the lease and unlike previous buyers they have committed to keeping the franchise in town. they're the smallest market in the league and have been in danger of relocating before. new ownership group includes a former OHL player turned hockey agent somewhere in the structure, but main money behind it comes from Donald McClure, who made his money in forestry, and some other hedge fund founder... who is rumored to be a former hockey player, an NCAA alum too! need to confirm if it is actually him though
 
08 F Egor Shilov flips commitment to Penn State, draft eligible playing for Victoriaville Tigres was originally committed to BU. Projected 1st round pick. Seems he will join them this season instead, which is likely why he flipped. Tough for Victoriaville though

08 D Sean Matthew Goyette commits to Merrimack, played for Brampton Steelheads as a callup from OJHL Burlington.
 
Ralph Baer said:
According to a post on eLynah, Barrie's Brad Gardiner committed to Cornell. I had heard this about a month ago, but it probably also waited until their season was over.
Click to expand...
in totally irrelevant news, Gardiner is this year's OHL Top Academic Post-Secondary Student. he's kept his grades up :) great pickup for Cornell
 
cavbim said:
Leaman in interview when talking about how they got Simpson said CHL goalie didn’t want to leave his team mid season. Do you think Hrebik was committed at time approached the beginning of 2026?
Click to expand...
not sure, but i wouldn't have been surprised if he was unwilling to leave mid-season. that locker room was really close, and they were good enough to make it to the finals. its a big ask to uproot mid-season
 
07 F Émile Guité commits to UNH, plays for Chicoutimi Saguenéens. He's a little busy right now. 5th round pick of the Ducks in 2025. Had a great rookie year D+1, regressed in production for his draft season. This season he's back on track. great get
 
cinnamoroll said:
in totally irrelevant news, Gardiner is this year's OHL Top Academic Post-Secondary Student. he's kept his grades up :) great pickup for Cornell
Click to expand...
There was discussion at eLynah about whether American Public University was legitimate and whether Cornell would accept credits from there.
 
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5/15 preview

Chi 7-6 Mon, Chi leads 3-2, Bulans (BGSU) 3g1a, Lefebvre (UVM) 1g1a, Mutryn (BC) 1g2a, Bleyl (Michigan State) 3a

That was an obnoxious one. Moncton blew a 4-0 lead, including a near total meltdown to start the 3rd. They get within one, Bulans gets the hat trick with the empty net, and Voronin finally gets one in. Another weird part of this- the fire alarm went off during the 1st intermission, so it took longer than usual and everyone had to leave for a bit. Game 6 in Chicoutimi Sunday

EVT 7-2 PA, Busch (Penn State) 3g, Shantz (SCSU) 3a, Dube (Bemidji State) 1g

Everett wins the Ed Chynoweth Cup, their first time in franchise history. They will meet the Rangers and Rockets in Kelowna for the Memorial Cup. One championship left.

Landon DuPont (Everett) and Brock Cripps (Prince Albert) take over the 1st and 2nd spots on the most points by D-1 defenseman in WHL playoff history. DuPont with 23 points and Cripps with 21.
 
08 F Brody George signs with the Saginaw Spirit, Michigan State commit out of the NTDP. He only got into 30 games this year- He spent his two years there but like a lot of recent NTDP players, could use another year before going to college.

Last year's class who opted for this path included G Patrick Quinlan (Notre Dame) in Sarnia, G Harrison Boettiger (DU) in Kelowna (who is staying another season), F Jacob Kvasnicka (Minnesota) in Penticton, F Andrew O'Neill (St Thomas) in Edmonton, plus a handful of guys who went to USHL teams. There were a few freshmen out of the program who probably could've used another year of juniors somewhere, with at least one actively returning to the USHL. D Carter Amico left BU mid-season (an obvious candidate in hindsight considering the injuries he dealt with in his draft year) and is a big piece of Muskegon's bid for their 2nd straight Clark Cup. BU is expecting him back next season too.

There are rumors of defections a la Hurlbert, particularly around Carter Meyer. I have my own opinions on the NTDP and how they operate even in their times of success, and some of those aspects might be harder for players and their families to overlook when they're not winning. Some of the issues here are circumstantial- a down cycle in US talent right after some dominant classes plus the changing landscape of juniors and college recruiting- but I think some of it is self-inflicted.
 
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