CHL to NCAA Recruiting Megathread

[boblav1]

he was one of the earlier BCHL guys to jump to the OHL after the rule change, especially considering he was undrafted. standout skill is his shot, notably good in shootouts. NB were 5-1 in games that went to shootouts, and he was always the first guy and he only missed twice. in this season's coaches poll he was named 3rd best shootout shooter in the Eastern Conference. he would've played tonight if not for the major flooding of basically every road around their arena... solid player with finishing ability

the one immediate connection to any current UML guys is a brief overlap with Dominic Payne during 23-24 when both played for the Sherwood Park Crusaders- i think Wellenreiter was traded there at the deadline. could be something else further i haven't found yet

Thank you. The information and insight you are providing is greatly appreciated.

 

[sezenack]

Going to be embarrassing if the Mem Cup host is out in round 2. You're expected to build a much better team than that

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

I always wondered about that. How far in advance are Memorial Cup host bids awarded? As you implied, how serious is the expectation that you'll be icing at least a playoff-competitive team by the time it's your turn?

 

[cinnamoroll]

Going to be embarrassing if the Mem Cup host is out in round 2. You're expected to build a much better team than that

we've seen worse. Saint John lost the 1st round in 2022 (then fired their coach) and ended up winning the mem cup on their home ice, Windsor was the same in 2017. regina went out in the 1st 2018 and were runner-up.

having watched the games kelowna deserved a better fate in some, they've outplayed them in stretches but been unable to score. kelowna relied a lot on their top players in round 1, either the tips are smothering Tij Iginla and/or he's dealing with something. injuries are a big part even if tij is healthy, they just lost Halaburda and earlier this season they traded for D Peyton Kettles only for him to arrive injured.

kelowna was the worst team in 2025, so people had worries that it would be much worse. their first round was a great showing, but Everett is a buzz saw.

I always wondered about that. How far in advance are Memorial Cup host bids awarded? As you implied, how serious is the expectation that you'll be icing at least a playoff-competitive team by the time it's your turn?

bids for the next year are submitted in august, maybe octoberish they announce the 2 finalists, november they announce the host. this year Guelph was announced november 20th. they began immediately preparing for next season, while the losing bidder in Kitchener went all in for this season. kelowna did a fairly speedy job of a turnaround but it took them a while to fall into form, so their seeding led them to face the best team in the league in the 2nd round.

i will note that the last time a memorial cup host won their league was the 2008 Kitchener Rangers. Rimouski got close last year but often the host doesn't go all the way

 

[cinnamoroll]

4/15 preview, italics=potential eliminations

QMJHL:
Mon/VdO 7pm, game 4, Mon leads 3-0
Rou/Sha 7pm, game 4, Rou leads 3-0
Chi/Que 7pm, game 4, Chi leads 3-0

no suspension for Lefebvre

OHL:
BFD/NB 6pm, game 4, BFD leads 3-0

rescheduled from yesterday

WHL:
MH/CGY 9pm, game 4, MH leads 3-0
PA/SAS 9pm, game 4, PA leads 3-0
PEN/PG 10pm, game 4, PG leads 2-1
EVT/KEL 10:05pm, game 4, EVT leads 3-0

 

[cinnamoroll]

I won't go over transfers of CHL guys unless they went back and are transferring, like Cornforth, and...

D Austin Zemlak to Ferris State, left ASU during the season to play w Edmonton Oil Kings

if you have any former CHL transfers you want info about feel free to ask here or dm

06 F Coco Armstrong commits to Cornell, plays for the Spokane Chiefs

 

[cinnamoroll]

4/15 recap

QMJHL:
Mon 4-1 VdO, Mon sweeps, Lounsbury (Holy Cross) 2a, Guimond (Harvard) 34 saves on 35 shots
Rou 4-2 Sha, Rou sweeps, Brunelle (Canisius) 2a, Meloche (Northeastern) 36 saves on 38 shots, Élie (Clarkson) 1g
Chi 5-0 Que, Chi sweeps, Massé (UMass) 1a, Watson-Bucci (Merrimack) 1a, Huang (Harvard) 1a, Tourigny (Northeastern) 1a

Only one remaining series in the QMJHL

OHL:
BFD 5-3 NB, BFD sweeps, Frasca (Quinnipiac) 1g, Benak (WMU) 1a

WHL:
MH 5-2 CGY, MH sweeps, Neutens (Alaska Anchorage) 1g, Davidson (BC) 1g, Woo (ASU) 1g, Stengrim (SCSU) 1g, Moore (LSSU) 1g
PA 5-3 SAS, PA sweeps, Heise (Michigan State) 1g1a, Parr (Union) 1g
PEN 5-2 PG, series tied 2-2, Weber (Penn State) 1g2a, Stevenson (SCSU) 1g1a, Kvasnicka (Minnesota) 2a
KEL 4-3 EVT in OT, EVT leads 3-1, Busch (Penn State) 1a, Leslie (BGSU) 1a

PG got into penalty trouble. two separate 5 minute majors. Kelowna's comeback was pretty spectacular, 3-0 after the 1st, tied in the last 7 seconds.

 

[cinnamoroll]

4/16 preview

OHL:
BAR/OTT 7pm, game 3, BAR leads 2-1
WSR/FLNT 7pm, game 3, WSR leads 3-0
KIT/SOO 7:07pm, game 3, KIT leads 3-0

news-

Braiden Clark, who went to London Knights after his freshman year at Providence, is transferring to Colgate

06 F Carter Klippenstein commits to Providence, played for Brandon Wheat Kings. Drafted by Minnesota Wild in the 4th round last year. Uncle Wade played for Alaska from 89-93, cousin Bowman played for Mercyhurst this year. Could become a power forward

A few rumors of landing spots for projected 1st round picks in this summers draft- Xavier Villeneuve to BU, Liam and Markus Ruck to NoDak

 

[cinnamoroll]

very interesting read on the translation of scoring from CHL leagues with comparison on tiers of players. there’s less data for them than the USHL or BCHL of course but the initial numbers are good to look at. also it’s worth pointing out that it only focuses on production and it doesn’t integrate other aspects. would need further data for broad declarations on impact.

none of these are terribly surprising results, these will likely adjust as they get used to the landscape. i might have more thoughts/a deeper reading on this later but im sick and i have a job

Kieren Dervin flips commit from Penn State to Michigan, played for Kingston Frontenacs

 

[cinnamoroll]

4/16 recap

OHL:
BAR 3-2 OTT, BAR leads 3-1, Salandra (Harvard) 1g, Marrelli (OSU) 1g1a, Sima (Michigan) 1g, Fetterolf (Penn State) 40 saves on 43 shots
WSR 5-3 FLNT, WSR sweeps, Woodall (BC) 1g1a, Davis (UConn) 1g1a, Anderson (Clarkson) 3a
SOO 4-2 KIT, KIT leads 3-1, Charron (St Lawrence) 2g, Croskery (BC) 2a

Ottawa nearly pulled off the win, Kitchener blew a 2-0 lead in the 3rd and the hate in that series is very very significant.

 

[cinnamoroll]

4/17 preview

QMJHL:
BLB/NFL 5:30pm, game 5, tied 2-2

OHL:
KIT/SOO 7pm, game 5, KIT leads 3-1

WHL:
PEN/PG 10:05pm, game 5, series tied 2-2
EVT/KEL 10:05pm, game 5, EVT leads 3-1

 

[cinnamoroll]

4/17 recap

QMJHL:
BLB 3-0 NFL, BLB leads 3-2, Collard (St Thomas) 1a. Lacelle with a 32 save shutout and an assist

OHL:
KIT 5-1 SOO, KIT wins 4-1, Edwards (Quinnipiac) 1g2a, Kirsch (Quinnipiac) 15 saves on 16 shots, McKenzie (Penn State) 1g

greyhounds out with a whimper. shoutout to Justin Cloutier for battling back after his college career was halted due to a brutal infection, he got back to health and helped his junior team to this point.

WHL:
PEN 1-0 PG, PEN leads 3-2, Reyelts (UMD) 25 save shutout, Ravensbergen (Michigan State) 28 saves on 29 shots, Alstead (UConn) 1g
EVT 2-1 KEL in OT, game 5, EVT wins 4-1, DuPont OT GWG, Shantz (SCSU) 1a

kelowna isn't done, of course. they get time to heal up before the Mem Cup

we have 1 remaining series per league, BLB/NFL, OTT/BAR, and PEN/PG.

 

[cinnamoroll]

4/18 preview

BAR/OTT 7:30pm game 5, Barrie leads 3-1

 

[cinnamoroll]

4/18 recap

BAR 4-1 OTT, BAR wins 4-1, Zebeski (UNH) 2a, Emerton (Cornell) 2a, Vandenberg (Providence) 1a, Kingwell (Princeton) 1a

Hell of a rookie season from Penn State commit rookie G Ryder Fetterolf for the 67's, and hell of a season for Ottawa in general.

OHL conference final matchups are:
Western
Kitchener/Windsor

Eastern
Brantford/Barrie

 

[cinnamoroll]

4/19 preview

QMJHL:
BLB/NFL 3pm, game 6, BLB leads 3-2

WHL:
PEN/PG 10pm, game 6, PEN leads 3-2

 

[cinnamoroll]

4/19 recap

QMJHL:
BLB 5-3 NFL. BLB wins 4-2, Gosselin (Clarkson) 3a, Desjardins (Omaha) 1g, Pilgrim-Edwards (Maryville) 1a, Laberge (Northeastern) 1a

WHL:
PEN 3-2 PG in OT, PEN wins 4-2, Reyelts (UMD) 40 saves on 42 shots, Kvasnicka (Minnesota) OT GWG, Johnson (UConn) 1g, Pederson (LSSU) 1g.

PG dominated that game. tough break. no round 2 game 7s in the entire CHL this year...

 

[cinnamoroll]

06 F Egor Barabanov commits to UMass, plays for the Saginaw Spirit. Formerly committed to Penn State. great pickup

06 F Jasper Kuhta also commits to UMass, plays for the Ottawa 67's. Played for Finland in WJC, 2nd leading scorer w 8 points in 7 games, just behind Harvard's Ruohonen.

06 F Gavin Hodnett commits to Omaha, captain of the Edmonton Oil Kings. 50 points in 41 games, missed time with injury this season. Wrote a beautiful and sappy letter to Oil Kings fans, seems like a class act.

05 F Emmanuel Vermette commits to Sacred Heart, captain of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. currently tied for 4th in QMJHL playoff scoring with 12, has had 2 hat tricks so far. Very good OA pickup

07 D Eddy Doyle commits to Northeastern, plays for Halifax Mooseheads.

 

[AmaineBlackBear]

06 F Egor Barabanov commits to UMass, plays for the Saginaw Spirit. Formerly committed to Penn State. great pickup

06 F Jasper Kuhta also commits to UMass, plays for the Ottawa 67's. Played for Finland in WJC, 2nd leading scorer w 8 points in 7 games, just behind Harvard's Ruohonen.

06 F Gavin Hodnett commits to Omaha, captain of the Edmonton Oil Kings. 50 points in 41 games, missed time with injury this season. Wrote a beautiful and sappy letter to Oil Kings fans, seems like a class act.

05 F Emmanuel Vermette commits to Sacred Heart, captain of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. currently tied for 4th in QMJHL playoff scoring with 12, has had 2 hat tricks so far. Very good OA pickup

07 D Eddy Doyle commits to Northeastern, plays for Halifax Mooseheads.

Do you have any info on recruits headed to Maine?