CHL to NCAA Recruiting Megathread

Mem Cup all-star team:
G: Kirsch (Quinnipiac)
D: DuPont, Reid (Michigan)
F: O'Reilly, Pridham, Vanhanen

Kitchener F Jack Pridham to DU, Hawks trade his rights to Tampa at the last moment before his rights expire

Max Heise to DU confirmed, Raiders forward decommitted from MSU a bit ago

G Anders Miller commits to LSSU, starter for the Everett Silvertips. Great get for the Lakers.

Another of the big WHL defensemen has confirmed their commitment- Prince Albert Raider D Daxon Rudolph to DU, joining Ryan Lin.

This takes the Pios out on Landon DuPont. Reportedly Minnesota is also out, so he's down to Michigan or Michigan State.

Kitchener D Carson Campbell will be attending BGSU this fall.

bids are being submitted for hosting the 2028 memorial cup. teams who have submitted/will be submitting a bid: Québec, Gatineau, Moncton, and Newfoundland

on BGSU- two previously committed OHL OA forwards had decommitted at some point, Sam McCue will join UVM. no word yet on Chase Coughlan, who is notably the guy who starred in Shoresy season 4.

NCAA has indicated they will be approving the hockey universe's proposal on the age-based eligibility which would change the clock to start at age 19 or year of enrollment, whichever is earlier. also received support from men's basketball and the service academies (Army, AFA, Navy, etc but from their entire athletics departments). thought it was dead in the water but someone made enough of a stink at just the right people to make this happen.

06 F Kaden Pitre commits to Penn State, his rights just lapsed from Tampa before he committed so he can enter the draft again. He played multiple seasons with Flint before joining North Bay last season.

Per College Hockey Inc: Since May 1, there were 73 college commitments made, 44 of which were directly from the Canadian Hockey League (60.3 percent). Since Jan. 1, there have been 272 total commitments, 132 of which are directly from the CHL (48.5 percent).

The combine has given a lot of clarity on when certain players are coming. Beckham Edwards is joining Notre Dame in the fall. The Ruck twins are going back to Medicine Hat, Mbuyi and Bleyl confirmed again that they're enrolling 2027.

Some people were making fun of McKenna not gaining much weight when that is part of the reasoning to go to college, but he was top 10 in 5 events (including the Vo2 max) so I think the strength training worked just fine

The QMJHL draft saw a lot of Americans drafted, just not in the first few rounds. 49 were picked, last year had 37, and before the rule change it was 13.

tonight is the OHL U18 Draft, where teams can get some really impactful players who were passed over previously. Good chance some already committed players get selected. It's only 3 rounds.

A few of the U18 Draft success stories are in college or joining shortly. The most productive points-wise of them in its entire history (since 2017) is LSSU standout freshman forward Calem Mangone, who went 2nd overall in 2021 and won the Memorial Cup with Saginaw in 2024. RPI freshman goalie Nate Krawchuk went 3rd overall to Sudbury in 2022. Peterborough OA F Brennan Faulker went 6th overall in 2022 and will be joining RMU this fall after a standout season.

08 D Michael D’Alessio commits to Quinnipiac, plays for the Erie Otters

07 F Alisher Sarkenov commits to Western Michigan, plays for Prince Albert Raiders. He’s from Kazakhstan, his older brother 06 F Asanali plays for Spokane Chiefs.

Trevor Daley Jr to Soo is official, first NTDP defection but not as big of a deal

07 F Spencer Bowes commits to Providence, played for Ottawa 67's.

06 D Evan Dépatie commits to Northern Michigan, played for Rimouski and Moncton.

The CHL Awards were handed out today, it's basically every individual league's winner against each other. A good bunch of commits were awarded-

Player of the Year: Maxim Massé (UMass)
Rookie of the Year: Tommy Bleyl (Michigan State)
Goaltender of the Year: Ryder Fetterolf (Penn State)
Top Draft Prospect: Chase Reid (Michigan State)
Humanitarian of the Year: Marcus Kearsey (Northeastern)

the OHL Draft matched the exact record of Americans as last year with 79, which was a significant jump in itself. there were 3 Americans taken in the 1st round. One of the early picks in the 2nd was Jake Prunty to Erie, he just won the Clark Cup with Sioux Falls.

Maddox Dagenais is returning to the QMJHL for next year.

07 F Spencer Bowes commits to Providence, played for Ottawa 67's.

06 D Evan Dépatie commits to Northern Michigan, played for Rimouski and Moncton.

The CHL Awards were handed out today, it's basically every individual league's winner against each other. A good bunch of commits were awarded-

Player of the Year: Maxim Massé (UMass)
Rookie of the Year: Tommy Bleyl (Michigan State)
Goaltender of the Year: Ryder Fetterolf (Penn State)
Top Draft Prospect: Chase Reid (Michigan State)
Humanitarian of the Year: Marcus Kearsey (Northeastern)

the OHL Draft matched the exact record of Americans as last year with 79, which was a significant jump in itself. there were 3 Americans taken in the 1st round. One of the early picks in the 2nd was Jake Prunty to Erie, he just won the Clark Cup with Sioux Falls.

Maddox Dagenais is returning to the QMJHL for next year.

07 F Hayden Paupanekis commits to SCSU, longtime Spokane Chief, traded to Kelowna for the Mem Cup. Montreal 3rd round pick in 2025, member of Norway House Cree Nation. He went on MyHockeyHero podcast last month and talked about his experiences as an indigenous hockey player.

cinnamoroll, I truly appreciate all you do here and defer to your expertise completely.​

Could you give us your opinion on as to which schools are doing the best at recruiting the CHL, perhaps the top 10 at it.

BC/HE said:

cinnamoroll, I truly appreciate all you do here and defer to your expertise completely.​

Could you give us your opinion on as to which schools are doing the best at recruiting the CHL, perhaps the top 10 at it.

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thank you for the kind words! glad you find it helpful

do you want it based on last year's or this year's incoming class? or a mix of both? for example, UMass didn't add any last season but their incoming class is very high end. can be tough to measure that against teams who already saw legitimate impact from their CHL adds, e.g. all 4 starting goalies in the frozen four being CHLers.

cinnamoroll said:

thank you for the kind words! glad you find it helpful

do you want it based on last year's or this year's incoming class? or a mix of both? for example, UMass didn't add any last season but their incoming class is very high end. can be tough to measure that against teams who already saw legitimate impact from their CHL adds, e.g. all 4 starting goalies in the frozen four being CHLers.

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I think a mix of both would be good as many of last year's recruits are still on their teams. Having several high end would be similar to having lots of good recruits I would assume. I think some teams are just beginning to stack their rosters while others got a jump last year. Perhaps the assumed impact from both years combined may be what I would like to know.

BC/HE said:

I think a mix of both would be good as many of last year's recruits are still on their teams. Having several high end would be similar to having lots of good recruits I would assume. I think some teams are just beginning to stack their rosters while others got a jump last year. Perhaps the assumed impact from both years combined may be what I would like to know.

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alright, i will work something up shortly. i'll add blurbs on them describing what theyve done right, maybe sort them into categories. prob won't be a traditional top 10 in that sense