For decades there were two paths that an elite-level teenaged hockey player could follow. They could play in one of the CHL’s three leagues — the OHL, QMJHL, or WHL. Or they could play NCAA hockey.
While it was possible to go play in the NCAA and then change your mind and join a CHL team, the other option wasn’t available. Under NCAA rules of the day, once a player played a game in the CHL, they were instantly ineligible for NCAA hockey.
The reasoning was because there were players in the CHL under NHL contracts. In the eyes of the NCAA, that made them pros, and any player who played a sport against pros was ineligible to play that sport in the US college ranks.
This put immense pressure on young, talented hockey players. Drafted into the CHL at the age of 16, they were being forced at a very young age to make a life and hockey-altering choice. If they took the CHL path, they were forever closing the door to the opportunity to earn a US college hockey scholarship.
However, the times, they are a changin’. On Nov. 7, 2024, a seismic shift in the way developmental hockey works was undertaken. The NCAA announced that CHL players would now be eligible for NCAA hockey scholarships.
Opening a route that created the path to this change was the introduction in US college sports of the NIL (Naming, Image, Likeness) ruling in June of 2021. With this new initiative, the NCAA was now allowing student-athletes to make money from their personal brand. If they were getting paid, it only made sense that players playing in leagues where some players were getting paid would no longer be an obstacle to participating in NCAA hockey.
The NCAA first proposed this change in policy in August of 2024. The NCAA’s ruling followed a class-action lawsuit filed Aug. 13, 2024 in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, New York, challenging the NCAA ban on CHL players. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Rylan Masterson. The player from Fort Erie. Ont. lost his college eligibility in 2022 after appearing in two exhibition games for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires at the age of 16.
“It’s long overdue, but this is a great result,” Stephen Lagos, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, wrote in an email to Associated Press. “We’re looking forward to players and fans seeing the benefits of a more competitive and fair market, without the rule.”
Both Sides Felt It Was Time For Change
Not only was there little resistance to this change in approach for top-level amateur hockey, it was in fact a movement that was embraced by all stakeholders in the industry.
“Everyone expected the rule to change,” Central Collegiate Hockey Association Commissioner Don Lucia said. “In time, it will prove to be a positive change for all involved.”
Likewise, major junior officials were also embracing the change. The CHL released a statement emphasizing the fact that the rule change would be opening up more opportunity to play high level developmental hockey for a longer period of time to young players.
“We believe this is a positive development that will provide our players with more opportunities to continue their hockey and academic careers following their time in the CHL,” the CHL noted in a statement. “It will also give young players and their families more options in choosing their development path.”
CHL Players Quick To Embrace New Opportunity
It didn’t take long for CHL players to be jumping at the chance to accept an NCAA scholarship. Braxton Whitehead, a center with the WHL’s Regina Pats, was the first player to do so, making a commitment to the Arizona State Sun Devils.
So far, 26 OHL players have embraced this new opportunity, accepting NCAA scholarship offers for the 2025-26 season.
“Before it was OHL or NCAA,” Kitchener Rangers goalie Justin Parsons told TheRecord.com. “You had to pick one.”
He accepted a scholarship offer from the Clarkson Golden Knights.
“Now, being able to do both is unbelievable,” Parsons said. “I’m so proud to be a Golden Knight.
“I actually toured the campus with my minor midget team in Grade 10. I went and watched a game. It was an unbelievable atmosphere.”
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