Could there emerge a true rival league to CHL?

[alko]

Now im thinking, why are the leagues under CHL the top junior league world wide.
Why not some other league could be at their level? Sure, the CHL has his reputation and therefore the top junior players want to play there. But could there be a new league on the same level?

With good management, good money behind them. The main issue here is to lure good players. When they will offer some bonuses to players, maybe it could work. Or? It is strictly controlled by Hockey Canada, that only this 3 leagues could be on the top level?

Click to read more...

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

NCAA is already a rival?

USHL is next-closest. But you mean a challenger in Canada? No, that's not happening. The infrastructure is already entrenched, there is nothing that will challenge CHL for junior hockey in Canada. Players who are eyeing NCAA know which Jr.A circuits to bide time in. Even if - as some of us dream - the Canadian U-Sports university circuit could become more prominent, it wouldn't have the same protections that make NCAA a rival.

 

[TheWhiskeyThief]

Now im thinking, why are the leagues under CHL the top junior league world wide.
Why not some other league could be at their level? Sure, the CHL has his reputation and therefore the top junior players want to play there. But could there be a new league on the same level?

With good management, good money behind them. The main issue here is to lure good players. When they will offer some bonuses to players, maybe it could work. Or? It is strictly controlled by Hockey Canada, that only this 3 leagues could be on the top level?

Lots of Ifs involved.

If you could find/hire enough coaches who are great teachers and motivators and pay them well outside of a national team structure.

If you could put together a loop of close together cities that are hungry for a decent level of hockey but don’t really have the resources to pay for it.

If you can find a solid pool of local players supplemented by players who want a different experience away from home market, but not too far....

If you could use that as a feeder league into your men’s league instead of a 2nd tier loan or sitting at the end of the bench while maintaining their NCAA eligibility...

Then you could do something that could compete with CHL.

 

[TheWhiskeyThief]

A lot of moving parts involved, but if IHUK could rationalize their national system, they could have a junior league that could support/feed the EIHL while raising the standard for their junior players.

You could retain a whole host of UK players who currently go to NA for competition purposes, poach a bunch of NCAA path Europeans who would otherwise go to a diluted USHL with ugly logistics and chase players from non traditional countries.

IHUK teams would retain transfer cards for their players, but would no longer have to worry about crucial development years and can focus on 15 & unders along with the men’s side.

Players who wash out of EIHL can work on finishing their coaching badges that they had started during juniors.

Literally just spitballing right now.

Added: would have to plow through EP to figure out how many eurozone players currently in NA to get an idea of the available pool to figure out how many teams a loop like that would be.

Further added: looking through the rosters, you could put together a loop of 17 teams of Europeans playing in North America as the base of a talent pool for a UK junior league.

 

[Spikey]

The CHL offers scholarships for college I believe so the 'new' league would have to offer things like that to try to attract players, especially in the early years of the league. I say though the CHL still dominates. It's a good league.

 

[BadgerBruce]

The CHL offers scholarships for college I believe so the 'new' league would have to offer things like that to try to attract players, especially in the early years of the league. I say though the CHL still dominates. It's a good league.

For most Canadians who age out of the CHL and move on to USport (Canadian University) hockey, the CHL scholarship is nice but definitely not required to study and play hockey for free. The overwhelming majority of players, even the ones who played Jr A and sometimes even Junior B, don’t pay. They receive athletic scholarship funding directly from the institution.

However, the tiny number of aged-out CHL players who wish to study in university and not play hockey do really need the scholarship. The same applies to the ex-players who just go to community college, where hockey is not played.