The CHL's US catchment areas for WHL/OHL/QMJHL drafts

The Nemesis

Semper Tyrannus
Apr 11, 2005
87,934
31,167
Langley, BC
Kind of a dumb question, but I've been trying to explain to some people how the CHL leagues divide up North America for each of their drafts, and how what province/state you're from/play in determines which league includes you in their draft pool.

This led me to try and actually make a map that highlighted each league's claims but I've hit a speedbump: I can't find anywhere that specifically says what states are included in the OHL's catchment area.

The WHL Bantam Draft very specifically says it includes every province/territory west of Ontario (and refers to them by individual name, I'm just not doing so in order to save time) and the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

The QMJHL draft specifically says it covers Quebec and the Maritime provinces along with New England (in other words, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut.)

For the OHL, all I can find is that it encompasses Ontario (duh), New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and "a few other designated U.S. states east of the Mississippi River"

It's that quoted part that's the sticking point. I would assume that "a few other designated states" means everything east of the mississippi that's not New England, but is that true? Are there any states that the OHL doesn't lay claim to? Are there any states exempt from any CHL selection?

Based on this, the remaining states not accounted for by the WHL and QMJHL and not specifically named to the OHL above are:

Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, DC, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida

Obviously a bunch of these stats are probably outside shots of producing any hockey players that would attract high amateur interest, and fewer still would necessarily attract OHL interest rather than have those players go the NCAA route instead, but I just wanted to know for completeness' sake.

Google has been no help. I've searched for Designated Region, Catchment Area, OHL Priority Selection States, and specifically searched for instances of players being drafted from the unmentioned states and come up empty.

Thanks.
 

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