116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
How will inevitable changes to college hockey affect the United States Hockey League?
The advent of NIL and a lawsuit filed by a major junior player in Canada has many wondering how the league will be affected
Oct. 5, 2024 1:15 pm, Updated: Oct. 5, 2024 1:32 pm
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
CEDAR RAPIDS — He was blunt.
“I think this is going to be one of those conversations you are not going to be excited about,” Mark Carlson said.
The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders Coach/General Manager/CEO was asked this week to give his feelings on what appears to be inevitable seismic changes to college hockey and how that will affect Cedar Rapids and the rest of the United States Hockey League.
He wasn’t really certain.
NIL is a thing that has exploded in college basketball and football but has been slow to show itself in hockey. Not anymore.
Players are receiving money from name, image and likeness deals. High school athletes are beginning to make money from NIL deals.
In August, a player on a major junior team in Canada sued the NCAA in order to be allowed to play college hockey. Major junior players receive a regular financial stipend, thus always have been ineligible for college hockey in the United States.
You’d have to think the aforementioned player will win his lawsuit, which would mean the main supplier of college hockey players won’t just be the USHL. The USHL does not pay its players, at least not yet.
“I’m happy to talk about things, but I haven’t thought much about them,” Carlson said. “Obviously I’m aware of it. I don’t think it has affected our league. What’s to come? We don’t know. My thought on it is if it becomes a factor, our league will adapt. As we always have.”
The USHL’s overall profile has increased exponentially from when the RoughRiders first joined it for the 1999-2000 season. Not only does it feed college hockey programs, but provides talent that is good enough for National Hockey League teams to draft.
The USHL had 49 players taken in the 2024 NHL Draft, including 10 first-rounders. All 16 USHL teams had at least one player drafted.
“Our league has become, if not the top supplier, certainly one of the top suppliers of talent for the National Hockey League,” Carlson said. “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.”
USHL clubs have been able to lure an increasing number of kids from Canada who have decided that college hockey is the path they want to take. Again, if players in the CHL (the Ontario Hockey League, the Western Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) are ultimately allowed to play college hockey, you’d have to assume that number could decrease significantly.
The USHL also attracts many players from Europe. The RoughRiders have guys from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Ukraine this season, for instance.
Will that change? There are so many unknowns.
“When you look across the league and this past summer’s drafts, all of the organizations in our league have done a tremendous job, with the support of the owners,” Carlson said. “The bottom line is there is not a higher level of play in the world of junior hockey than the United States Hockey League. That is evident in every practice, every game that I watch. And watching other teams in the league. It is just a tremendous, tremendous league. It is the best in the world.”
Carlson said he’d stack up USHL teams against any in the CHL.
“They are all really good leagues,” he said. “But I believe our league has the best depth in the world at all three positions. I think that’s evident on a nightly basis.”
The RoughRiders (2-1) played Friday night at ImOn Ice Arena against the Youngstown Phantoms and will play them again Saturday night at 7:05. The club made a pair of player moves this week, with second-year forward Drew Stewart being traded to the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks for a pair of draft picks.
“Drew requested a trade. He has been a very good RoughRider on and off the ice, and we have a very good relationship. We honored his request,” Carlson said. “These things happen in sports all the time. So it’s really plain and simple there.”
First-year forward Sam LeDrew has left the club to join West Kelowna of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League in Canada. Carlson said it was his decision.
“He was looking for the opportunity to gain more playing time,” Carlson said. “Going to the BCHL is a way for him to get more playing time, and we respect that. We wish him all the best. We have a lot of competition at the forward position. Sam’s a good person, and we wish him all the best.”
Carlson also said second-year defenseman Erik Kald recently had surgery for an undisclosed injury and will be out of action for five months. He is a Merrimack College commit.
Comments: jeff.johnson@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters