CHL to NCAA Recruiting Megathread

[cinnamoroll]

05 F Zack Shantz commits to St Cloud State, plays for Everett Silvertips

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Bemidji State recruit Brett Wilson has been picked up by the Brandon Wheat Kings. He was with Okotoks Oilers in the BCHL, where he had 11 goals and 22 assists in 36 games.

 

[cinnamoroll]

Bemidji State recruit Brett Wilson has been picked up by the Brandon Wheat Kings. He was with Okotoks Oilers in the BCHL, where he had 11 goals and 22 assists in 36 games.

Brandon recently learned it is losing Carter Klippenstein for the rest of the season due to injury- he's a Wild 4th round pick this past summer, alternate captain, top 6 center, last played January 13th. It's tough to replace that sort of presence in a lineup, so Wilson having multiple junior seasons and being Okotoks captain made him a prime target. Potential WHL debut Saturday in Prince Albert. Luckily for him, they already did their Western/US road trips for the season so he avoids the worst bus rides.

other commits on Brandon- Ferris State commit Nicholas Johnson, ASU commit Jimmy Egan, CC commit Joby Baumuller, Maine commit Luke Mistelbacher, Princeton commit Max Lavoie, and RPI commits Grayson Burzynski, Jordan Gavin, and Caleb Hadland.

Another commit who signed in the WHL and made his debut Friday- 07 F Ryan Oothoudt signed with Kelowna Rockets, was with Trail Smoke Eaters. Played Minnesota HS for Little Falls High and is committed to Air Force. He picked up an assist on the game-tying goal, Kelowna beat Prince George 3-2.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Brandon recently learned it is losing Carter Klippenstein for the rest of the season due to injury- he's a Wild 4th round pick this past summer, alternate captain, top 6 center, last played January 13th. It's tough to replace that sort of presence in a lineup, so Wilson having multiple junior seasons and being Okotoks captain made him a prime target. Potential WHL debut Saturday in Prince Albert. Luckily for him, they already did their Western/US road trips for the season so he avoids the worst bus rides.

other commits on Brandon- Ferris State commit Nicholas Johnson, ASU commit Jimmy Egan, CC commit Joby Baumuller, Maine commit Luke Mistelbacher, Princeton commit Max Lavoie, and RPI commits Grayson Burzynski, Jordan Gavin, and Caleb Hadland.

Another commit who signed in the WHL and made his debut Friday- 07 F Ryan Oothoudt signed with Kelowna Rockets, was with Trail Smoke Eaters. Played Minnesota HS for Little Falls High and is committed to Air Force. He picked up an assist on the game-tying goal, Kelowna beat Prince George 3-2.

It is mentioned near the end of the embedded video in yesterday's boxscore https://chl.ca/whl/gamecentre/1022685/ that Brandon is injury riddled, but since the three RPI recruits you named all played, it was not worth my time to figure out who it referred to. Also. the recently injured RPI recruit Harrison Lodewyk scored the game winner for Calgary.

Those bus rides must be horrid.

 

[cinnamoroll]

It is mentioned near the end of the embedded video in yesterday's boxscore https://chl.ca/whl/gamecentre/1022685/ that Brandon is injury riddled, but since the three RPI recruits you named all played, it was not worth my time to figure out who it referred to. Also. the recently injured RPI recruit Harrison Lodewyk scored the game winner for Calgary.

Those bus rides must be horrid.

Portland is the southernmost WHL franchise, Brandon to Portland is under 22 hours straight shot. closest is Regina, roughly 4 hours away.

prince george is the other dreadful travel location in the WHL since it is the most remote. closest whl franchise is kamloops and it takes 7+ hours. they’re also forced to always take buses so no one gets an unfair advantage- the one exception is the ferry to Victoria for obvious reasons, and once the conference finals begins everyone flies to locations

the tough travel leads to longer recovery periods. McQueen and Lindstrom come to mind as WHL players who made the jump to college after significant injury concerns and im sure the travel is much more conducive to recovery. both have looked good especially in the second half

the QMJHL has tough travel and it got considerably more complicated with the addition of Newfoundland. Quebec is a larger province than most realize, and then you have the maritimes which involves multiple ferry rides plus the bus rides before and after. the cross division travel ends up pretty unique. the second the playoffs begin they allow charter flights

compared to all of this, the OHL travel is rather cushy. worst is maybe Erie to Soo, which is under 9 hours through Michigan or roughly 10 hours through Ontario, but most of it is fairly close

 

[cinnamoroll]

06 G Jack Lisson commits to Canisius, plays for North Bay Battalion.

06 F Landon Hanson commits to Sacred Heart

 

[cinnamoroll]

09 F Ryerson Edgar commits to Michigan, 38 points in 47 games with Niagara. Leads all 16 year olds in the OHL. Should go very high in the 2027 draft class. 5 star pickup

 

[cinnamoroll]

08 F Weston Cameron commits to UMass, plays for Kitchener Rangers. 6'4 C, bit of an agitator with some scoring ability- missed time with injuries.

07 D Holden Carter signs with Peterborough Petes, Army commit. He played in the BCHL with Cranbrook. Adds to their blue-line depth for the playoff push. They're almost certainly going to get the 4th or 5th seed in the East Last week saw Air Force commit Ryan Oothoudt sign with Kelowna (scored his first WHL goal tonight too!) afaict they are the first two commits to each school to sign in the CHL.

The top teams in each league have begun to clinch their playoff spots.
WHL: First was the Prince Albert Raiders on the 4th (1st in East), on the 10th the Everett Silvertips (1st in West) and Medicine Hat Tigers (2nd in East) joined.
OHL: the top 3 teams in each conference have clinched- Eastern: Ottawa 67s, Barrie Colts, Brantford Bulldogs. Western: Kitchener Rangers, Flint Firebirds, Windsor Spitfires
QMJHL: Only the top two teams, both Eastern conference teams, have clinched. Moncton Wildcats and Chicoutimi Saguenéens.

 

[cinnamoroll]

06 F Hudson Darby commits to Ferris State, captain of the Swift Current Broncos

05 F Connor Dale commits to Merrimack, currently on Tri-City Americans after starting with Swift Current. 53 points in 47 games

05 F Benjamin Brunelle commits to Canisius, plays for Rouyn-Noranda

06 D Parker Alcos commits to Quinnipiac, plays for Kelowna Rockets, 2024 6th round pick by Vancouver.

 

[cinnamoroll]

09 F Liam Armit commits to Northeastern, plays for Baie-Comeau Drakkar. Having a very solid rookie campaign on a bad team.

06 D Jakub Fibigr commits to Ohio State, plays for Windsor after being a star deadline add from Brampton. He’s been playing in the OHL for 3 seasons. 2024 7th round pick by Seattle that has raised his stock significantly since then. Also on the Czech WJC team in 2025 and 2026 (wore an A), winning Bronze and Silver respectively, plus Silver at Hlinka Gretzky in 2023. Unfortunately for Mr Nestrasil Sr, UMass will not be hoarding the entire Czech WJC roster like he hoped. Fellow countryman 07 G Tobias Tvrznik is also an Ohio State committed but isn’t set to arrive until 2027.

 

[cinnamoroll]

06 F Renaud Poulin commits to Northeastern, plays for Drummondville with head coach Jerry Keefe's son Owen. Will come in 2027. This is the second Voltigeur teammate Owen has lured to the Huskies after Maxim Lafond.

06 Félix Lacerte committed to UVM earlier this year, he has confirmed that he will be enrolling in the fall instead of staying for his OA season with Shawinigan

05 F Ethan Neutens commits to Alaska Anchorage, alternate captain for Medicine Hat Tigers. He won the WHL championship with them last year and is going for the repeat.

Profile from Erie News Now on 05 F Andrew Kuzma re: health journey- he's the Penn State forward that found a heart defect and red shirted his entire freshman season, went to the OHL to get back into game shape. afaik he's going back to Penn State.

Also very interesting is these interviews with JP Hurlbert's (Michigan) parents during the Kamloops Blazers parents' weekend. Very obvious Kamloops bias of course- I don't think Hurlbert stays, he's been so dominant this season.

 

[cinnamoroll]

07 D Maddox Labré of Victoriaville Tigres spoke on a French podcast about committing to Ohio State, confirmed that the plan is to enroll next year. With the 3 year age difference and Dawson deciding on the college route early on, Maddox never got to play with him so the opportunity to join him in a top league was a 'no-brainer'.

05 F Kyle Powers commits to Alaska, plays for Baie-Comeau Drakkar

07 F Émile Ricard commits to Omaha, plays for Chicoutimi Saguenéens

05 D Aleksey Chichkin commits to Mercyhurst, plays for Red Deer Rebels. 6'5, 225

05 F Coster Dunn commits to Northern Michigan, plays for Seattle Thunderbirds. Won the WHL title with them in 2023 as a rookie, second season wearing an A.