NCAA rule change opens new pathways for B.C. junior hockey players

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has lifted a longstanding restriction on Canadian Hockey League (CHL) players, allowing them to compete at U.S. colleges starting next season.

Thedecision, announced last week, is expected to impact both individual players and the broader junior hockey landscape across B.C., according to Brien Gemmell, head coach of the White Rock Whalers.

"It obviously opens up many avenues for the players to have different hockey opportunities outside of Canadian universities," he told CBC News. "It gives them the opportunity to pursue U.S. hockey scholarships now. That wasn't available to them in the past."

Under the previous rules, athletes from leagues within the CHL including the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and Western Hockey League (WHL)were deemed ineligible for NCAA programs.

The rule was based on the perception that CHL leagues are professional, in part because they provide players with stipends and participate in the NHL draft system.

This restriction often required players to make career-defining decisions in their teenage years, according to WHL commissioner Dan Near.

"For many, many years there's been this tension where athletes have had to make a decision about their hockey future at 15."

They could choose to play in a CHLleagueand surrender their NCAA eligibility, or they could stick in a more junior league, such as the B.C. Hockey League (BCHL), in hopes of making it into theNCAA.

While the WHL refrained from revealing the value of thestipend it offersits players,Near said the payments are "modest" at best.

Under the new NCAA rules, players will be able to retain their eligibility "as long as they are not paid more than actual and necessary expenses as part of that participation."

Implications for junior hockey leagues

For athletes like Delta Ice Hawks defenceman Miller Bruckshaw, who plays in the Pacific Junior Hockey League, the change brings the prospect of playing NCAA hockey within reach.

"We're just happy because it's gonna bring up so many more opportunities for us. And yeah, it's exciting," Bruckshaw said.

"It's just like an extra step for the development for these kids. They could have another fouror so years to develop and possibly make it to a professional league later on in their life."

For more junior Canadian leagues, like the BCHL,the change will likely mean theynow need to compete for talent.

The BCHL has historically been a stepping stone for Canadian and American hockey players before they commit to NCAA schools.

"BCHL has been for years the number one league in all of Canada as far as sending players on to the NCAA," Rich Murphy, chairman of the BCHL said during an interview with CBC News.

"Our league prepares our athletes to go to college and we don't pay our players at all."

But with the recent decision, there's now "another avenue into college hockey," Murphy said.

"We're going to have to make some changes. We're going to have to adapt just like any other business model," he added.

As the BCHL navigates this new landscape, Murphy said he is confident that the league's model remains resilient. He notedthat approximately 25 per cent of NCAA hockey players are BCHL alumni, highlighting the league's established role in developing talent for U.S. colleges.

Impacts on universities

Canadian universities, particularly those with prominent hockey programs, are also bracing for increased competition from NCAA schools.

Up until now, university sports teams have been able to bolster their rosterswith former CHL players looking to parlay that experience into a post-secondary education. Now, there is some concern those athletes will choose to attend U.S.Division I schools instead.

University of British Columbia Athletics, in a written statement to CBC News, expressed commitment to competing for top student-athletes despite the new challenges posed by NCAA's eligibility change.

"These new eligibility measures announced by the NCAA likely mean increased competition for top-end players coming out of the CHL," the statement reads.

"However, we remain committed to pursuing the best student-athletes available who, in turn, are interested in competing at an extremely high level of hockey while also earning their degree from a world-renowned university."