CHL to NCAA Recruiting Megathread

cinnamoroll said:

06 D Alexis Lemire commits to BGSU, plays for Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. played w incoming Falcon Thomas Verdon, I think he is going to spend his OA season in the Q though

07 F Alex Donovan commits to Providence, plays for Saint John Sea Dogs. He was previously committed to DU

08 F Zach Lansard commits to UMD, plays for Regina Pats. 2026 3rd round pick to Canes

09 D Kaden Aucoin commits to BU, plays for Sarnia Sting. Son of former Terrier Adrian

09 F Louis-Émile Dumais commits to Quinnipiac, plays for Shawinigan Cataractes.

09 F Sawyer Schmidt commits to Quinnipiac, plays for Saginaw Spirit.

08 G Xavier Wendt commits to St Thomas, plays for Tri-City Americans. His nickname is Ferb. no real reason to share that beside finding it really funny,

08 F Parker Vaughan commits to UMass-Lowell, plays for North Bay Battalion.

Bunch of commits who havent played CHL but are expected to play there this season
09 D Whitaker Rewertz- UMD- Penticton
09 F twins Benjamin and Peyton Collins- Cornell- Brampton

Some guys slated to come this year who are not longer coming-
Josh Evaschesen was traded to his hometown Medicine Hat Tigers so will go back for his OA season before coming to RPI
Sam McCue is no longer going to UVM

Misc trades:
07 F Cash Koch (UNH) to Vancouver
08 F Ty Meunier (Omaha) to Swift Current
08 D Landon Pickersgill (LSSU) to Sarnia as part of the return for...
08 D Nick Bogas (Michigan State) to Flint, this is just trading his rights. he played NTDP U18 last year and isnt going to college until 2027. I'd imagine he's going to sign

Also, St Lawrence is bringing in two players with the same name. William Bishop is transferring from Clarkson while Will Bishop is an incoming freshman. They're both defensemen and wear back to back numbers. Sophomore Bishop played QMJHL and is 6'0, Freshman Bishop played OHL and is 6'6. They're also opposite shots so you could see a defense pairing of Will Bishops. makes sense they play for the Saints.

good luck ECAC announcers

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Is Sam McCue going to RPI? We have a open top 6 role for him lol

07 F Nicholas Sykora flips to Western Michigan, previously was going to Quinnipiac but not this year. Played for Owen Sound and will join the Broncos this season. Son of Petr Sykora who had 1017 games in the NHL and 2 Stanley Cups.

08 F Dima Zhilkin commits to Michigan for 2027-28, captain of Saginaw Spirit and a top prospect for the 2027 draft. Younger brother of Jets F Danny Zhilkin. He probably should make Canada's WJC team this winter, he was great in the showcase and is super talented. Bit of a pest too, does not shy away from anything... in 59 games he had 75 points and 100 PIMs

FYI - Any thoughts on Owen Phillips and Parker Vaughan?

Barry Scanlon
Halifax Mooseheads star defenseman Owen Phillips commits to UMass Lowell. Will captain Halifax next season, then arrive in Lowell in 2027. Pocketed 41 points in 64 regular-season games. Expected to make immediate impact with River Hawks.

boblav1 said:

FYI - Any thoughts on Owen Phillips and Parker Vaughan?

Barry Scanlon
Halifax Mooseheads star defenseman Owen Phillips commits to UMass Lowell. Will captain Halifax next season, then arrive in Lowell in 2027. Pocketed 41 points in 64 regular-season games. Expected to make immediate impact with River Hawks.

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Both are solid guys.

Owen Phillips- Second season as captain of the Mooseheads, who are a great organization having a few down years of late. He's shouldered a ton of responsibility as a result of the young roster, but by all accounts he's done an admirable job. He shows high end flashes on occasion but most of the offensive D-man air is taken up by 27 draft eligible Malik L'Italien. Could unlock that next level of impact in college if he's given the opportunity

Parker Vaughan- Great shot, many people think the skill is greater than the production. Finishing is the concern. Uses his physicality well. Apparently he and BU's Tynan Lawrence are cousins. Look for him to have a big jump in opportunity. If you are looking for reasons besides watching Vaughan to check out North Bay games, he is teammates with Alexander Karmanov (Penn State). Thats the 7'1 Moldovan defenseman.

Thank you.

07 Liam Lefebvre flips commit to BU and will return to Cape Breton for the season

09 G Mason Courville commits to Penn State, plays for Flint Firebirds. One of the very rare cases where a goalie goes from OHL Draft to spent most of the year with the OHL team, he was the backup for incoming Stonehill goalie Mason Vaccari. Ok numbers in 18 games, but considering he was 16 it's promising. Pennsylvania native, his dad Larry ended his career with Reading Royals and held various roles in the org for a long while. He was part of team USA for this year's Hlinka Gretzky Cup, split time in net on the way to silver.

08 F Thomas Rousseau commits to UConn, plays for Sherbrooke Phoenix. Younger brother of Samuel Rousseau, who will be attending LIU.

07 F Julien Maze commits to Quinnipiac, plays for Calgary Hitmen

08 F Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll rumored to commit to Michigan, plays for Med Hat. also 2027 draft eligible like Dima

Guelph loses potential OA F Leo Serlin as training camp starts- most likely he will fill in one of RPI's open forwards spots.

cinnamoroll said:

Guelph loses potential OA F Leo Serlin as training camp starts- most likely he will fill in one of RPI's open forwards spots.

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With Victory Plus being shut down, the WHL has announced that at least for the start of the season games will be streamed on Youtube so they remain free.

09 F Tyler Cooper commits to Miami, plays for Erie Otters.

09 D Cameron Minella commits to Northeastern, plays for Halifax Mooseheads.

CHL are fully underway and some teams have finalized their lineups, if you have any specific recruits you want to hear about re: how they did or aren't sure where they're playing, feel free to ask here or message me individually.

Same goes for incoming classes

word is Ben Veitch will commit to Boston College. 09 F, hometown kid playing for Newfoundland Regiment, and very very talented 2028 eligible. was dynamite at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup this year

Brantford Bulldogs PR announced the lineup with the school logos. only ever seen it from penticton, who wouldve needed to actively stop the practice after being a BCHL program for a long time

07 F Philip Govedaris commits to Niagara, plays for Brantford Bulldogs. Cousin Wolfgang went to Northern Michigan in 24-25, now in USports.

09 F Kayden Stroeder commits to Notre Dame, plays for Edmonton Oil Kings. 2027 draft eligible, prob early 2nd day

08 F Cruz Pavao commits to Merrimack, plays for Tri City Americans.

who is ready for the season????
we're seeing a bunch of CHLers get letters, makes me think of all the ridiculous things people used to say about the CHL kids before the rule change about them being bad at school and questioning if they'd fit in... i think they're doing just fine lol

not a full list by any means-
captains: Omaha Marc Lajoie, BSU Oliver Peer and Hudson Thornton (co-captains), LSSU Tyson Galloway, NoDak Cole Reschny
alternates: Omaha Luke Woodworth, Max Pellerin, Miami Ethan Hay, Northeastern Jacob Mathieu, RIT Ben Roger, BGSU Brayden Crampton, UML Josh Mori, DU Kyle Chyzowski, LSSU Nolan Seed, Calem Mangone

of the captains, all but Reschny are USports transfers. in the alternates 3 are transfers but the rest are sophomores.

G Owen Nelson is leaving Peterborough for Augustana as the 4th goalie. not totally clear what is up in the goalie room but they will have 4 guys on the roster.

lets do some preseason poll shoutouts-

CCHA:
Rookie: BGSU D Mazden Leslie (Media and Coaches), FSU F Nathan Leek, LSSU F Cooper Foster (Coaches)
Player of the Year (Media and Coaches): BSU F Oliver Peer

NCHC:
Preseason Team of the Year: NoDak F Cole Reschny, D Keaton Verhoeff, G Jan Spunar

B1G:
Preseason First Team: Michigan D Landon Dupont, G Jack Ivankovic
Second Team: Penn State D Jackson Smith

here's a video of William Lacelle talking about his hearing loss, and here's an adorable video of two young Omaha fans w hearing loss meeting and skating with him. no, i will not shut up about him, thanks.

not a ton of news as the seasons get under way, will be here when there is some

swear to god im not joking- one of the top 2027 OHL Draft eligibles, Jayden Challenger, has reportedly accelerated his schooling and will commit to Michigan State. thats 2011 born. it isn't that wild of a call though since his brother Tyler is also committed there, he's playing for Sarnia this year.

highlighting some top incoming CHLer performances from weekend 1 of college hockey:
Canisius G Jack Lisson (North Bay) with his first win and shutout, plus relief time in game 2. hasn't been scored on yet in 85 minutes of college action
Niagara F Alix Durocher (Val d'Or) had 3 assists in his first NCAA game
Maryville F Antoine Dorion (Québec) had 2g1a in the school's 1st D1 game
DU D Daxon Rudolph (Prince Albert) had 1g4a in their sweep of Alaska Anchorage
Quinnipiac scored 16 goals in their two games, F Alex Kostov (Flint) with 3a, F Dylan Edwards (Kitchener) and D Parker Alcos (Kelowna) with 1g1a

Let's check in on the CHL seasons so far, starting w the OHL...

OHL teams have played between 5-8 games so far. Sudbury hasn't lost and are 5-0. Brantford is the only team with 8 games and are 7-1 with a +20 goal differential despite losing or trading every player on their playoff roster. there are literally 3 player left from that team- 2 forwards and 1 defenseman, who in total played 4 games in postseason... all from one of the forwards. Still absolutely dominant. Sarnia is good for the first time in years. Mem Cup host Guelph are on a 4 game winning streak after losing their first two games. The only team without a win in the OHL is Brampton after 7 games- 0-5-1-1. Windsor (7 GP) might want to fix up their 7.7% power play, esp compared to division rival Saginaw's (6 GP) 42.1%... Though Saginaw could take tips on fixing their 62.5% pk from Windsor.

Point leaders:
BFD Jason Musa (UMass- yes, brother of Jack and Joey), 14 points (t-1st), 8 goals (1st) tied first in points with 14 and leading in goals with 8.
SAG Braidy Wassilyn (BU) 13 points (2nd), 7 goals (t-2nd)
SAG Dima Zhilkin (Michigan) 12 points (3rd), 7 goals (t-2nd)
ER Michael Dec (Cornell) 11 points (4th), 9 assists (2nd)
ER Mclean Agrette (UMass) 10 points (t-5th)
KGN Landon Wright (Maine) 10 points (t-5th)
The one uncommitted player in this mix is BFD 2010 born Aiden Kelly, tied with Musa in points lead, also leads in assists with 10.

uncommitted OAs looking good early:
G SBY Paolo Frasca
F SAR Jack Van Volsen

Challenger commit to MSU is official

OA G Paolo Frasca commits to Yale, he is a lot of why the Sudbury Wolves are currently 5-0. .958 save % and 1.20 GAA so far.

07 F Tyler Deakos commits to UMass, plays for Penticton. 2026 7th round pick by Montreal, 5 points in 7 games this season

WHL so far:

All teams have played between 3-7 games, only one team has only had 3. Only undefeated team is Spokane with a 5-0 record, only Tri-City remains winless after 4 games. Teams trending badly thus far besides TC: Lethbridge, Prince Albert, Prince George. Jury is still out on a few others. Seattle hasn't scored a ppg yet but they're the one team with 3, so they're in the bottom four of the divison but still above .500 point percentage. Power plays are hot for Calgary, Regina, and Kamloops, while the pk is dialed for Wenatchee, Vancouver, and Spokane. Regina is at .500 and tbd on how they do, but people are wondering if they finally have a winning season for the first time since Bedard with the dynamic duo of Maddox Schultz and Liam Pue

scoring leaders:
RD F Poul Andersen (Maine) 1st in points at 14, 1st in goals with 7
RD F Beckett Hamilton: 2nd in points with 11, t-2nd in goals w 5
SAS F Hunter Laing: t-3rd in points w 10, t-2nd in goals w 5
PEN F Gavin Katz (Minnesota): t-3rd in points w 10, t-2nd in goals w 5
SAS D Brayden Klimpke (NoDak): t-3rd in points w 10
CGY F Charlie Kresl (UML): t-3rd in points w 10, 1st in assists w 8
he's only 8th in points but Carter Sanderson (NoDak) has 8 points in only 3 games after coming back from nhl training camp. he's also tied 2nd in goals.
WEN G Tobias Tvrznik (Ohio State) .957 save % in 3 games, 2.02 GAA.
uncommitted top recruits: EVT D Brek Liske, PA D Ben Harvey, BDN F Chase Surkan, CGY F Artem Katsuro, REG F Maddox Schultz and Liam Pue, CGY G Eric (Yueran) Tu

uncommitted OAs to watch:
F: Saskatoon Hunter Laing, Brandon Zhoe Kristof Muissu (Russian-Congolese), PA Maddix McCagherty, Lethbridge Owen Berge
D: Everett Mattias Uyeda, Spokane Nathan Mayes
G: Everett Jayden Kraus

evidently i’m great at this. second time in a row i’ve posted about an OA goalie and within the day they’ve announced commitments to a ivy league school.

OA G Jayden Kraus commits to Princeton, plays for Everett.

07 F Phillip Shargorodsky commits to Army, plays for Barrie Colts

QMJHL version:

every team has played 5-8 games with only 1 team at minimum. in the dogfight in the east, by points percentage mem cup host finalists Québec and Moncton have been the best. ahead of them in standings for now with one more game (an OT loss each) is Rimouski and Newfoundland. tied with the Remparts and Wildcats is Charlottetown but they’ve played 8. Saint John with a slower start than they’d like i’m sure. Halifax can’t win in OT, Cape Breton can’t win a shootout. Baie-Comeau is once again the last team winless in the league at 0-6. Chicoutimi is bad but somehow they’re exactly even in goal differential, exact same numbers as 3-1-1-1 Saint John.

In the western conference, Victoriaville has the lead and has played 8 games. very much an outscore their problems team with 38 GF and 35 GA. tied in points percentage with 2 less games are Sherbrooke and Val d’Or. Rouyn-Noranda are better than some might have expected for a specific reason- more on that below. the bad tier consists of Blainville-Boisbriand, Shawinigan, and Drummondville (only 5 games though). big gap from the Huskies to those 3. BLB had attendance issues when they were good last season, i’m sure you can imagine how those numbers look so far…

Moncton, Rouyn-Noranda, and Saint John all have blistering power plays at 45%, 40.9%, and 38.1% respectively. Newfoundland and Baie-Comeau have dreadful 11.1% and 4.3% respectively. Rimouski and Rouyn Noranda both have 85% pk, with Sherbrooke not far behind at 84%. Drummondville has only taken 44 PIM and their pk is 50%. Baie-Comeau and BLB have 68 and 69 respectively while Halifax has a dreadful 63.6. Rouyn-Noranda is being carried to relevance by their special teams

Points leaders:
Vic OA F Thomas Desruisseaux- 5-9-14 in 8 games
Rim OA F Mathys Dubé- 7-6-13 in 7 games
VdO 07 F Philippe Veilleux (Northeastern)- 4-9-13 in 6 games
Cha OA F Matthew Butler- 3-10-13 in 8 games
Vic 08 F Alexey Vlasov (UConn)- 8-4-12 in 8 games
Cha OA D Owen Conrad- 2-10-12 in 8 games

point per game leaders (usually missed time with NHL camps)- Nathan Quinn (Northeastern) 4-5-9 in 5 games, Liam Lefebvre (BU) 4-3-7 in 4 games

goal leaders- VdO F Maxime Sauthier t-2nd at 7, Mon F Niko Tournas (UNH) t-2nd at 7, t-3rd w 6 James Scantlebury (BU), Nolan Duskocy (UMass), Alexis Michaud, Matthew Frost (BU)

goalie leaders-
NFL 08 Antoine Proulx (Clarkson)- .958 in 3 games
VdO 07 Arseni Radkov (UMass)- .910 in 4 games after a dreadful season last year

OAs to watch:
F- Desruisseaux, Dubé, Butler, Rimouski AJ Schaaf, Rou Eliot Ogonowski,
D- Conrad, Vic Mathéo Lepage, BLB Olivier Filaj, VdO Anthony Paré
G- NFL Louis-Antoine Denault

see you tomorrow when Denault inevitably commits to Brown or something