The winds of change are blowing in full force across the hockey landscape.
After a landmark rule change made by the NCAA Division I council last week, players who have played in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) will become eligible to play for NCAA Division I schools. CHL players remain ineligible to play at the Division III level.
Todd Johnson, the head coach of the University of Regina Cougars, spoke to the Daily Herald over the phone earlier this week. Johnson said the move was not surprising in the slightest.
“We heard this was coming down last year. We’ve had a few meetings at the Canada West and USPORT level over the potential of this happening and when it was going to happen. The details of it we didn’t know and we’re still kind of waiting to see a few of the details that could really play a big role in either players moving, changing teams or recruiting. There’s a lot of unknown that we’re still waiting for all the fine print.”
If you take a look at the roster of any team in Canada West, you will find several players who have played in the WHL or another CHL member league. Under the current WHL scholarship program, for every season a player participates in the WHL, they receive a one year post-secondary scholarship which covers tuition, compulsory fees and all required textbooks. Players have up to 18 months to utilize the scholarship from the end of their junior eligibility and are allowed to play minor professional hockey before going to school.
According to the WHL website, 405 WHL alumni utilized their scholarship during the 2018-19 academic year.. The current WHL scholarship program was formed under former commissioner Ron Robison, who was replaced by Dan Near last season.
Johnson says he believes several players currently enrolled at a USPORTS school will look at options south of the border because of the new rule change.
“I think there’ll be players in their first year of USPORTS that will really look at going down to play at the NCAA level. I think we’ll see players that possibly were drafted in the NHL and didn’t sign. We’ll see players that went down for a quick cup of coffee and played a little bit in the AHL or a little bit in the East Coast League (ECHL) that are now back at USPORTS. I think they will really consider going the NCAA route and it’s our job to try to make our programs as best as we can and try to keep those players here. I really do feel that players will be looking at all their options and then they’ll have to make the best decision for themselves.”
Under the current Canada West and USPORTS recruiting guidelines, schools were not allowed to reach out to a potential recruit until their final season of junior eligibility. Players were allowed to open communication with a school prior to that date.
Communication between an NCAA Division I program and a recruit is not permitted until January 1 of the recruits sophomore year of high school, including contact initiated by the recruit according to NCSA College Recruiting.
At the time of publishing, there is no word on potential changes to USPORTS recruiting rules. Johnson says the new landscape brings a lot of unknowns into how Canadian schools will be allowed to recruit.
“That’s part of the unknown, that we don’t know. One is, when can we start recruiting? What age can we start recruiting these players at? The history is that we would only recruit 20-year-old players coming from the Western Hockey League or the CHL, and that recruiting started on December 1st of the year that they were graduating. For us, that’s one question mark. That’s going to have to change. The NCAA will be trying to recruit players that are 18, 19 and any players that is graduating high school will be the players they’ll be going after, which is something we’ve never done at the USPORT level.”
According to Johnson, several players on the Regina roster are looking to pursue higher education after they finish their undergraduate degree and USPORTS career.
Johnson says the academic side of the equation could be a big factor for USPORTS teams when it comes to certain recruits.
“We’ll see academically what direction players are going to want to go. We do have a lot of academic students that are looking to get their degree here in Canada that want to go on and become doctors or lawyers. Is the NCAA route a viable option for them? Those are all the things that they’ll really have to consider but those will be areas that we’ll have to really stress on our behalf to try to keep as many players as possible up here in Canada”
For the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, a young roster will provide a little bit of breathing room for the team to watch the changing landscape from afar. Saskatchewan only has two fifth year players in former Melfort Mustang Justin Ball and former Yale Bulldog Quinton Ong. The Huskies have 14 players on their roster in their first or second year of eligibility.
Huskies head coach Brandin Cote says the youth on the roster means there is no immediate urgency to forge the recruiting trail aggressively.
“We’re in a spot where we don’t have to necessarily fill a ton of spots for next year as well because we’ve got a younger team. I believe we’re in a good spot moving forward and will maybe allow us to buy us a little bit of time to really feel out what that landscape’s going to look like. It can be frustrating for sure when you don’t know. Basically, right now, anyone can talk to anyone. It’s a little bit concerning that way just because you don’t know who’s talking to who and when. We’re just going about doing our scouting, doing our due diligence on all of it, trying to gather as much information as we can and talk to as many people as we can in terms of what this is going to look like.”
Several players from the WHL have announced commitments to NCAA programs for next fall including Regina Pats forward Braxton Whitehead (Arizona State), Prince Albert Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand (Bemidji State) and Tri-City Americans captain Jake Sloan (Bowling Green).
Cote says it remains to be seen how much the change will affect the Huskies, but he is ready to make the necessary adjustments.
“How much that affects us, time will tell. I think initially, this NCAA thing is a big shiny toy. I also believe that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. There’s going to be some top players that we potentially would be looking at recruiting that would be committed to going to various programs. It’s hard to really say what that’s going to look like in terms of how it’s going to change our recruiting. I think we just have to really let this sort of play out and we’re going to continue our path that we have. As we see how things evolve here, we’ll adjust as we need to.”
“No one likes uncertainty in terms of how we go about our business. At the same time, I don’t want to get caught up in the what ifs. You have to look at all your different options, (and) be proactive so you’re not caught off guard. Whenever there’s a gray area, it’s no good. Right now, we’re still going through our list. We’re talking to people and we still have had a lot of really good conversations with potential players moving forward.”
The CHL/NCAA rule change will send shockwaves through every level of the hockey world. Cote says he is confident that the Huskies will continue to be a favorable destination for recruits because of what the program and university are able to offer.
“It’s a brand new world out there in terms of the landscape, it affects every level and in various ways, both positively and negatively. I’m optimistic that it’s all going to sort itself out. I’m confident in our program in terms of where we’re at within our league, that we’re going to still find ways to with what we can provide our athletes in terms of the quality of our education, quality of our program. We have NHL facilities here. We were able to offer as good of a scholarship program as anyone in the country. We’re going to continue to do that no matter where we’re getting our players from.”
sports@paherald.sk.ca