USHL president Glenn Hefferan gives insight into CHL/NCAA eligibililty

The president and commissioner of the United States Hockey League (USHL) Glenn Hefferan joined Jonny Lazarus and Colby Cohen on Morning Cuppa Hockey to discuss what has been happening between the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) and the NCAA.

Jonny Lazarus: I talked to a head coach in the NCAA who was formerly a coach and player in the USHL. The point he made was that it finally felt like USA Hockey was winning this battle with Hockey Canada. The USHL is getting top prospects from Canada to come to the USHL and then go to college. But if you allow CHL players to go to college then how does the USHL convince players to still come there and play and then go to the NCAA, the guys I’m talking about are Adam Fantilli and Macklin Celebrini who could have stayed closer to home and played in those leagues and even get paid. What would now stop them from now doing that? When it feels like the CHL benefit is much higher than USHL.

Glenn Hefferan: I’m going to push back because if you look at NCAA hockey right now it’s 62% Americans and the overwhelming majority of the rest are Canadians. So to suggest Canadian players aren’t finding other pathways to college hockey, there are other leagues they can play in to get to the NCAA. I think the whole argument is overblown that there’s this terrible disadvantage and I think the CHL mindset and culture has been heraviluy directed at becoming pro hockey players.

Glenn Hefferan: The USHL approach is a bigger tint approach, we do it for pro and college. We have the mechanisms in place, and look at college hockey just from an academic peformance, hockey is always on top, graduatin rate is 94%. In fact the return rate for players to go pro and then coemback fora degree also imapcts that. I have very comeptitive owners and managers, I think they will be aggresive and the USHL has a bery proven track record. There is also a desire for players who want to have the American hockey experience. I think we attract the best players from around the world, I think right now we are roughl 80% american, then the rest are Canadian and European.