The USHL is member of USA Hockey, the national governing body for amateur hockey in America. If push ever came to shove, the USHL would need to obey USA Hockey, their sole governing body.
The CHL is not a member of USA Hockey (though they draft US players and have franchises in the country) and is what’s termed a “Member Partner” of Hockey Canada.
This makes the CHL extraordinarily unique — with the exception of independent junior leagues in North America, most of which have hitched their wagon to AAU membership — all North American junior hockey is subject to national governing body oversight.
I’m old enough to remember when Canada’s 3 major junior hockey leagues were governed by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, Hockey Canada’s forerunner. I’m also old enough to remember when players could freely move from major junior hockey to NCAA hockey, though only a handful actually did.
This ended around 1980, just shortly after David Branch became the President of what is now the Ontario Hockey League. Branch withdrew the OHL from the Ontario Hockey Association, the Hockey Canada branch that oversees both Junior and Senior (think Alan Cup) amateur hockey in the province.
To this very day the Ontario Hockey League pays the Ontario Hockey Association a somewhat token amount ($25 or $30 K) each season for the right to represent Ontario in Memorial Cup competition.
By withdrawing the OHL from the OHA, the league no longer had a legitimate claim to amateur status. The other 2 major junior hockey leagues (Western and Quebec) did the same thing.
This absence of genuine amateur standing within a national governing body is the fundamental reason why CHL players are not eligible to compete in the NCAA.
It isn’t really about the few dollars CHL players are paid — that weekly stipend system dates back over 90 years — Bobby Orr got his $25 per week in Oshawa nearly 60 years ago when the NHL sponsorship system and C-cards were the norm in Canadian junior hockey. No, even then the junior teams and leagues were governed by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, so nobody lost amateur status until they “turned pro.”
Don’t expect anything to change. The CHL and the NCAA view each other as competitors, and we could start a brand new thread to explore the nuances of that unholy war.
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