Nov. 7 will go down as a historical day for junior hockey in Canada. We don't know the scope of the impact just yet.
For years, young men who skated in the three major junior hockey leagues in Canada were ruled ineligible to play in the NCAA, because the NCAA regarded them as professionals. If a member of the Estevan Great North U18 AAA Bears played one game of major junior hockey as a 16-year-old call-up, he was ruled ineligible by the NCAA.
Those days appear to be over. The NCAA has ruled that Canadian major junior hockey league players – or those who have played major junior – can start playing in the U.S. college circuit's Division 1 starting next season. Division 3 is not affected as of yet.
The days of 16 and 17-year-old hockey players being forced to decide between playing major junior hockey and the NCAA appear to be over. A young man can play anywhere from one game to five seasons of major junior hockey and then go to the NCAA with a scholarship. Those two levels of hockey are going to be the real winners.
As for the impact on everyone else, including the Eagle Sky Estevan Bruins and other teams in the SJHL, we don't know yet how much this will hinder the league, but on the surface, it's not great news.
It's been a tumultuous time for the SJHL and other junior A hockey leagues in Canada. For years, junior A leagues falling under the umbrella of Hockey Canada were a destination for young players who opted for the NCAA scholarship route.
But in 2021, the B.C. Hockey League (BCHL) disassociated itself from Canadian junior A, going its own way with its own rules in an effort to attract even more NCAA prospects and scouts. Five teams from the Alberta Junior Hockey League bolted to the BCHL midway through last season.
We've seen the trickle-down effect on not only the SJHL. There are fewer top-end players in the SJHL. It's still really good, entertaining hockey, but it hurts. And since the BCHL can sign players from other provinces under the age of 18, it's hurting U18 AAA leagues, too.
We'll see how the BCHL's gambit works out now that a player from major junior hockey can go to the NCAA.
This change will also impact the U.S. Hockey League and the North American Hockey League, which have accounted for much of the NCAA talent from American junior hockey leagues.
We'll probably see fewer players from the SJHL getting NCAA scholarships. Sure, you'll still see some scouts at the rinks during the season, but not as many as when I moved here in 2000.
That's not to say the league should fold. There are a lot of options for young players beyond the NHL, major junior and the NCAA. Canadian university hockey is excellent. It's likely one of the most under-appreciated levels of hockey on the planet. So you'll likely see more junior A players opting for that route. There are options with minor and independent professional leagues in North America and Europe.
The NCAA's decision to allow major junior players puts a further emphasis on the need for the SJHL to promote itself and its players. This is actually an area where progress has occurred in the past few seasons.
The league struggled with promotion for decades. When I moved here, the league had a simple website, and it was still faxing box scores on a nightly basis. Until the past few years, the SJHL had maybe taken two steps beyond those measures.
It's up to everyone, from the league to the teams to the players themselves, to create awareness. It's important for the league and its teams to invest in better production, additional camera angles and just create an overall better game-day experience. Relationships with IKS Media and Flo Hockey have been a step forward, but often there's just one camera or two zoomed-out camera angles.
When a player does something great, promote the hell out of it. (Millions of hockey fans in Canada saw Alameda's Jayden Davis score a must-see goal in 2019 while playing for the Estevan Bruins. Why? Because within minutes of it happening, the Bruins sent it to every sports newsroom in Saskatchewan and the national sports broadcasters in Canada).
And the league needs to showcase all of its players, not just the elite. The recent showcase with Manitoba provided an opportunity for 20 players. That's less than 10 per cent of the league.
Just because NCAA will start recruiting major junior players doesn't mean the SJHL is going to be relegated to a Junior B-level loop in a couple of years. It just means the NCAA Division 1 will continue to be a diminishing option.
And it's going to be several years before we see the true fallout of this change for junior hockey.
