Why top Canadian prospects are choosing college over juniors

BOSTON UNIVERSITY CENTER Macklin Celebrini’s path to changing into the potential No. 1 choose on this yr’s NHL draft is one which’s about profiting from a possibility that he and others like him beforehand did not know existed.

Rick Celebrini stated his son’s dream was enjoying main junior hockey, like that of many Canadian teenage boys. In Macklin’s case, that meant enjoying within the Western Hockey League, as that is what he was uncovered to rising up in Vancouver.

Then the Golden State Warriors employed Rick as their director of sports activities medication and efficiency. The household moved to the Bay Area, which led to Macklin and his older brother, Aiden, enjoying for the San Jose Jr. Sharks. Playing one season within the United States introduced a growth possibility that no person in Celebrini’s household had recognized a lot about.

College hockey.

“The boys came down and played with the Jr. Sharks and decided they needed more,” Celebrini stated. “Now we are looking at other options in the States. They wind up at Shattuck[-St. Mary’s], which is an amazing place for development. Then you broaden your perspective on the different pathways.”

Going the collegiate route has led to Celebrini having one of many strongest seasons by a real freshman in NCAA historical past. The 17-year-old has scored 31 objectives whereas averaging 1.69 factors per recreation, the third-best charge within the nation. Not dangerous contemplating he usually is dealing with opponents who are at the least 4 years older than him.

Celebrini has already received particular person accolades such because the Hockey East Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards. Now, with BU a No. 1 seed within the Sioux Falls area of the NCAA match, he is attempting to assist the Terriers win their sixth nationwide title and their first since 2009, when Celebrini was simply 3.

Long touted as the very best expertise in his start yr, Celebrini can also be the newest instance of a rising pattern over the previous couple of years that has seen extra elite Canadians play college hockey.

Every game of the NCAA men’s hockey tournament, together with the Frozen Four and championship recreation, is on the ESPN household of networks and will likely be obtainable on ESPN+. Subscribe to watch!

From 1993 by means of 2015, 19 Canadians who performed college hockey have been chosen within the first spherical of the NHL draft. It’s a listing that features top-three picks Paul Kariya, Kyle Turris and Jonathan Toews, amongst others. The common draft place for these gamers was 18th.

Since 2016, there have already been 14 Canadians who performed in college and have been drafted within the first spherical. That record consists of top-five picks Cale Makar, Owen Power, Kent Johnson and Adam Fantilli, with a mean draft place of twelfth. Celebrini will enhance these figures as he’s one in every of three Canadians who may go within the first spherical this yr.

The long-standing apply has been gamers who may very well be prepared for the NHL at 18 or 19 sometimes go the most important junior route, whereas those that want extra growth time spend at the least two years in college. So elite Canadian-born gamers, equivalent to Celebrini, have historically chosen main junior as their growth path.

Even so, there was a decades-long debate about which path is healthier. While there are nonetheless elite Canadian gamers who take the most important junior route, how has college hockey over the previous couple of years attracted a caliber of participant that may not have been an possibility up to now?

“I think when you go back into the 1980s, there was not a ton of knowledge,” University of Denver assistant coach Tavis MacMillan stated. “There was no internet. There was no social media. Television was completely different as far as coverage. The knowledge of college hockey was limited. I was fortunate because my uncle played college hockey and usually, that’s how connections were made.”

GROWING UP IN Mississauga meant Power was largely uncovered to the Ontario Hockey League. There was an OHL group not removed from his childhood dwelling. The truth he was a touted youth participant meant he’d seen OHL amenities and had an thought of what they have been like.

He was first uncovered to the college recreation when one in every of his minor groups traveled to the U.S. for a match in South Bend, Indiana. His group was given an unofficial tour of Notre Dame, and he seen a distinction between the Fighting Irish’s amenities and what he noticed within the OHL.

Seeing how a lot of a monetary funding Notre Dame made versus that of the OHL groups made Power resolve he wished to play college hockey, in the end enjoying for the University of Michigan. He was the No. 1 choose within the 2021 NHL draft by the Buffalo Sabres.

“I think a big thing before was a lot of parents in Toronto don’t really see a lot of Canadian guys making it out of college,” Power stated. “A lot of them might have been hesitant to send their kids there. But once you saw more guys who grew up in Canada, went to college and were playing in the NHL, that’s when they started to realize, ‘OK, this is good development.'”

Power’s story about his first publicity to college hockey is an instance of how a lot the college recreation has grown in visibility. That wasn’t the case for gamers equivalent to MacMillan and Arizona Coyotes director of novice scouting Darryl Plandowski, Canadians who performed collegiately greater than 30 years in the past.

MacMillan had an uncle who may reply his questions on college hockey, whereas Plandowski discovered about it by means of studying completely different publications. Growing up in Western Canada meant they have been uncovered to the Western Hockey League. The Junior “A” leagues, such because the Alberta Junior Hockey League and Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, have been entrance and heart.

But these leagues have been recognized for being a feeder system to the WHL at the moment as an alternative of being a proving floor for the college recreation, as they’re well known at this time.

The AJHL and SJHL had 9 groups when MacMillan and Plandowski performed. This season, the AJHL began with 16 groups earlier than 5 introduced they might be becoming a member of the British Columbia Hockey League, whereas the SJHL had 12 groups. The WHL additionally expanded from 14 groups within the late 1980’s to 22 this season, with six primarily based within the U.S.

“There were not many teams. It was tough sledding to be good enough back then,” Plandowski stated.

Plandowski’s Elite Prospects web page exhibits he scored 42 objectives as a 17-year-old whereas having consecutive 50-goal seasons at 18 and 19. He wasn’t recruited by any faculties till his age-19 season, and even then, he needed to clarify to his mother and father what college hockey was and the way it labored.

He stated faculties again then would ship booklets about their college as an entry level to recruit gamers. But Plandowski, who performed 4 seasons at Northern Michigan University, had questions on whether or not he was adequate to play elsewhere as a result of he was uncertain how he in comparison with others past the SJHL.

Even as extra NCAA colleges started recruiting Canadians, the vast majority of these elite gamers nonetheless went the most important junior route. In the Eighties, there have been eight Canadians in college hockey who have been first-round NHL draft picks.

By comparability, there have been six Canadians who’ve performed or are enjoying college hockey which have develop into first-round picks since 2021.

MacMillan, who performed on the University of Alaska, stated there began to be a wider spectrum of people that knew about college hockey by the point he began teaching in 1996.

“You talked to some who had little knowledge of U.S. school and college hockey,” MacMillan stated. “Then you had some guys who knew a lot. They may have been guys who were second generation who had parents that played. Maybe the kids in Ontario had more knowledge or the kids in Western Canada if they lived in cities that were closer to the U.S. Now what you are seeing is parents with much more knowledge. It’s night and day.”

GARY MAKAR FIRST heard about college hockey as a doable growth path in 1991 when he met Calgary Flames CEO and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Bill Hay, who performed for Colorado College.

Several years handed earlier than Makar’s nephew, Mark Logan, was being recruited to play college hockey. Watching his nephew play within the AJHL allowed Makar to grasp how these leagues have been a gateway to college, and probably the NHL.

That made Makar need to study extra about college hockey as a result of he felt it may benefit his two sons.

He was proper. His older son, Colorado Avalanche star defenseman Cale, performed on the University of Massachusetts, the place he received the Hobey Baker Award because the nation’s finest participant in 2019. His youthful son, Taylor, is a junior ahead at UMass who was a seventh-round choose of the Avs in 2021.

“When Cale was young, there was no College Hockey Inc. to go to for a seminar,” Gary Makar stated. “I did my digging and when Taylor was 14 or so, we went to a seminar. … [Going to the seminar] was phenomenal and the one parents go to now is even better. They don’t slam the CHL route, they don’t say anything bad. It’s information to say it is another option.”

College Hockey Inc. was created in 2009 to assist with the eligibility challenges that got here with enjoying males’s Division I hockey. Since then, the group’s mission has been to assist present schooling whereas rising the lads’s and girls’s collegiate recreation.

Mike Snee, the manager director of College Hockey Inc., defined there are nonetheless boundaries and perceptions to beat. Snee stated American households are going to be extra accustomed to the NCAA than many Canadian households due to the affect college sports activities have in America together with the tutorial eligibility necessities.

That’s why College Hockey Inc. gives seminars in Canada. It provides representatives an opportunity to talk with gamers who are of their mid-teens and their households. That, in flip, permits these gamers and households to ask questions on navigating the college path.

“We want to make sure they understand the value of what they are doing and that they are doing what they need to do academically,” Snee stated. “So if they watch that Beanpot game and say that’s what they want to do, there aren’t any regrets.”

Snee stated College Hockey Inc. has hosted in-person and on-line occasions in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg.

They’ve additionally had quite a few Canadians with ties to college hockey who’ve spoken to completely different teams. Those audio system embody former NHL defenseman Brian Benning, whose two sons, Matt and Mike, performed within the NCAA. They’ve additionally relied on Turris, who performed at Wisconsin, together with Gary Makar.

MacMillan stated Snee and the work achieved by College Hockey Inc. have “given people another arm of information” that has helped develop the college recreation.

Snee defined how the visibility of college hockey and the American growth mannequin as a complete has been served by means of different methods. He stated TSN displaying males’s and girls’s video games such because the Beanpot and the Frozen Four has offered vital publicity.

He additionally famous how most of the NHL’s Canadian groups have had influential gamers over the previous couple of seasons who’ve proven college hockey is a viable path.

Former Boston College stars Johnny Gaudreau and Noah Hanifin performed for the Flames. The Edmonton Oilers have Zach Hyman, who went to Michigan. Hyman’s former group, the Toronto Maple Leafs, have two rookies who performed in college in Matthew Knies (Minnesota) and Joseph Woll (BC), whereas the Montreal Canadiens have Cole Caufield (Wisconsin) and Mike Matheson (BC).

And among the many Ottawa Senators, Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets, there are Brock Boeser (North Dakota), Kyle Connor (Michigan), Thatcher Demko (BC), Conor Hellebuyck (UMass-Lowell), Quinn Hughes (Michigan), Shane Pinto and Jake Sanderson (each North Dakota) together with Brady Tkachuk (BU) amongst others.

“When we go into these Canadian markets, they do want to help us,” Snee stated. “They want to introduce us to people and spread the word. They’re almost all 35-to-55-year-olds who played college hockey. … They look back years later and they loved their college hockey experience more than some of their American teammates.”

SCORING 50 GOALS and 117 factors for Shattuck-St. Mary’s U-18 group as a 15-year-old meant Macklin Celebrini was going to have choices.

That’s when Rick Celebrini and their household began trying into the completely different paths that have been open for Macklin. Should he go to the WHL? Or would it not make extra sense for him to play within the USHL for a yr after which go to college, given he was being recruited by 20 or so colleges?

“I don’t know if there is a ‘best way,'” Rick stated. “I talked to Jim Hughes and Pat Brisson. The way they presented it made a lot of sense.”

Brisson is an agent at CAA who represents stars equivalent to Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Patrick Kane. Hughes is CAA’s director of participant growth.

Hughes and Brisson, who’ve been advising the Celebrinis, laid out what each choices have to supply. Rick Celebrini stated their household was impressed by the Seattle Thunderbirds, the group that drafted Macklin with the primary choose of the U.S. novice draft in 2021.

But the college route labored higher for his or her household for a number of causes. Going to college created a possibility for Aiden and Macklin to be teammates. With Macklin being 17, enjoying towards older competitors can be higher for his growth. They additionally felt the collegiate schedule of practices and exercises in the course of the week and video games on the weekends would enable each Aiden and Macklin to get stronger.

The Celebrinis additionally valued their sons getting a college schooling.

Celebrini stated having Brisson and Hughes undergo this expertise as each mother and father and advisors helped their household. Brisson’s son, Brendan, was a first-round choose who performed at Michigan earlier than becoming a member of the Vegas Golden Knights. All three of his Hughes’ sons have been first-rounders, with two of them — Luke and Quinn — going to Michigan.

Like the Celebrinis, the Hughes household needed to resolve whether or not to depart Canada as a part of the boys’ growth. Although they are Americans, the household lived in Toronto for a number of years when Jim was an assistant coach with the Toronto Marlies earlier than he turned the director of participant growth for the Maple Leafs.

“We lived in Toronto for almost 11 years. My boys pretty much grew up in Toronto,” Hughes stated. “I could see the pressures of Canadian families with major junior, the OHL in particular. These Canadian kids have a very hard decision to make. If they chose the U.S. route, in particular the Chicago Steel [in the USHL], they go against the grain. It’s a very difficult decision. Major junior is a great product.”

Hughes stated there was stress when it got here time for Jack and Quinn to depart Toronto to play for the U.S. National Team Development Program.

Drawing from that have performed an instrumental function in advising different households. Brisson and Hughes labored with Power and his household as they determined between the OHL and going to Michigan. They have been additionally advisors for Johnson as he and his household have been deliberating between the WHL and Michigan.

Power stated getting an opportunity to talk with Quinn Hughes about his determination helped make him really feel comfy along with his option to go to Ann Arbor.

“I’m not saying one decision is better than the other, but we do believe in the path that he took,” Hughes stated of Celebrini. “He has a lot of flexibility. He can go back to school if he wants or if it is the right team picking him at the draft, maybe they can sign him immediately at the draft.”

Rick Celebrini stated his sons ended up at BU as a result of the atmosphere reminded them a variety of Shattuck-St. Mary’s. With the Warriors enjoying the Boston Celtics in the course of the 2022 NBA Finals, Rick was in a position to meet with BU coach Jay Pandolfo and his workers.

Aiden was already dedicated to BU, however speaking to Pandolfo and his workers made Rick really feel even stronger about the potential for Macklin becoming a member of his brother.

Later that summer time, Pandolfo and his assistants flew to the Celebrinis’ dwelling in California to spend the day with the household.

“The irony was we always wanted the boys to go to the same school and Macklin wanted to think about his own path,” Rick stated. “As much as they are close, he actually considered some different options. They were two independent processes. We gave them our thoughts on it as parents. Whether they chose different programs and had gone to different schools, we would have supported their decision.”