Corridor Cross Checks: NCAA allows Canadian major junior players to play college hockey

CEDAR RAPIDS - Pandora’s Box now has been opened in college hockey, too.

The NCAA Division I Council voted last week to allow major junior players from the Canadian Hockey League to play U.S. college hockey beginning next season. The CHL consists of three leagues: the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League.

The vote was assumed, with NIL money already going to players in other sports (especially football and basketball). Since CHL players always have received a stipend to play, the NCAA considered them professionals and ineligible to play in college.

Not anymore.

How all of this affects the United States Hockey League moving forward is anyone’s guess. The USHL is the top junior league in the States and the biggest supplier of players to college hockey.

The USHL attracted many kids from Canada who decided they wanted to go the college path. Macklin Celebrini, the first-overall pick in the 2024 National Hockey League Draft, is an example of a player who went the USHL route.

The 18-year-old Canadian played for the Chicago Steel before playing one season at Boston University and then getting drafted and turning pro. The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders have three players from Canada on their current roster in forward Amine Hajibi and Thomas Vandenberg, and goaltender Rudy Guimond.

“Our league has become, if not the top supplier, certainly one of the top suppliers of talent for the National Hockey League,” RoughRiders Coach/General Manager/President Mark Carlson said in a Gazette story last month. “So I think there would be an awful lot of people involved in decisions moving forward if major junior programs become eligible for college. I think all of the junior leagues, the major leagues, which are the CHL (Canadian Hockey League) and USHL, would ... I don’t know the answer, but I would say adapt again.

“I just know that the USHL has an awful lot to offer. A great commissioner, great ownership, great staff, great players across the board. The history is there. I have the utmost confidence that we would adapt as we always have.”

So many questions remain to be answered.

Will Canadian players simply stay at home now for their junior years? Will players who already have committed to college hockey programs but not signed, yet, lose their scholarships to CHL players? Will USHL clubs ultimately have to provide financial stipends to players, and how much?

How much will lower-level junior leagues like the North American Hockey League be affected? Will more European players find their way to the USHL? Will the USHL combine with CHL teams?

It was reported recently that both Youngstown and Muskegon of the USHL inquired over the summer about joining the OHL.

“Since its inception, the United States Hockey League (USHL) development model has been holistically and intentionally aligned with the student-athlete experience,” the USHL said last week in a statement. “The USHL remains the world’s premier development path. All aspects of the League are focused on preparing athletes for collegiate and professional hockey, inclusive of on-ice, academic and character development.

“The USHL claims more than half of NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey players, while producing more NHL draft picks than any other league in the world over the past eight seasons. The USHL prepares players by providing them exposure, resources and experiences that empower young men for peak success.”

The RoughRiders had one game last week, knocking off Madison at home, 5-3, to end a five-game losing streak. Hajibi had two goals, Daniel Astapovich, Kole Hyles and Sam Ranallo one each.

Cedar Rapids is 5-8-0-1 for 11 standings points. That’s good for seventh place out of eight teams in the Eastern Conference.

The RoughRiders have a pair of road games this week in Ohio against the Youngstown Phantoms. Opening faceoff is 6:05 Frdiay night and 5:05 p.m. Saturday.

It was a light week for the ECHL club.

The Heartlanders played just once, winning Saturday night at Xtream Arena against the Bloomington Bison, 4-2. Half of Iowa’s eight games so far this season have come against Bloomington, with Iowa going 3-1.

The Heartlanders scored all four of their goals in the first period: from Zach Dubinsky, Gavin Hain, Matthew Sop and Yuki Miura. Andrew McLean had a pair of assists.

Goaltender Samuel Hlavac had to make just 15 saves to pick up the victory in his Heartlanders debut. He was sent down from the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League.

The Heartlanders have a 4-3-1-0 through eight games for nine standings points, which place it them in third place in the seven-team Central Division. Sop has five goals and 11 points in eight games, Hain seven points in four games.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com