From
Dom Amore’s Sunday Read column:
->
Infusion of talent
Last November, the NCAA opened
the door for Canadian junior hockey leaguers to play for its member schools. That had never been allowed because players in those leagues received stipends and were not considered amateurs, but with NIL and revenue sharing that has now been recognized as a moot point. So some of the top prospects in North America are headed from the Western, Quebec and Ontario hockey leagues to places like UConn, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart and Yale.
“The proper development path for a player who aspires to play in the NHL is Midget or Junior Hockey, then college and then pro,” UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh said, before teeing off at the Travelers Pro-Am on Wednesday. “Naturally, there is always going to be a player who can skip a step, but those players are few and far between. In Junior Hockey, you’re living with a family, you’re being taken care of. In college, there is structure, but you’re on your own. It’s a little bit more symbolic of life.”
The change in policy, for these reasons, was long overdue.
“We have to stop fighting, we have to work together,” Cavanaugh said. “It doesn’t matter to me whether you’re playing in Canada, Sweden, America, we’re all trying to get the same goals. I think it’s healthy when a kid gets to the pros to have had to get up and go to school.”
Carlin Dezainde, Brendan Dunphy and Alexandre Blais (drafted by the Ducks in the fourth round in 2024) are the first players with
CHL ties to commit to UConn, which reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 2025. Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart each have four commits, according to
SportsNet.ca’s tracker. <-
