When Sean Hogan was promoted to the role of executive director of College Hockey Inc., he knew that significant change was coming in college hockey. After all, rumblings about Canadian major junior eligibility had been circulating for a while.
What he didn’t expect was for that change to arrive almost overnight.
“I actually remember giving a presentation in August of last year, right about the time I was named executive director,” Hogan said in a video interview with USCHO. “I said, this is something that will likely happen. And I put a timeline of about three years on it, and it happened in less than three months.”
The NCAA’s Division I Council voted on Nov. 7, 2024, to allow players from the CHL to compete in NCAA Division I men’s hockey effective Aug. 1, 2025, ending decades of complete separation between two development paths.
For Hogan and the staff at College Hockey Inc., it meant an update to their playbook.
During most of its existence since its founding in 2009, College Hockey Inc. had as part of its mission to convince talented players not to sign CHL contracts that would end their college eligibility. The organization served as a bridge for families who wanted their sons to keep the NCAA route open.
Now, that bridge has widened.
“For the longest time, we were viewed as the organization that kept American kids in the American development model and playing NCAA hockey,” Hogan said.
College Hockey Inc.’s message and efforts spread from Americans to Canadians and Europeans. “We want college hockey to have the best players in the world on their road to the NHL,” Hogan said.
The conversations have shifted from young players having to decide on whether to give up NCAA eligibility to sign with a CHL team to positioning the NCAA as the best route to the pros.
“Our messaging has switched from ‘Hey, you need to make a decision now,’ to ‘Hey, play as long as you can,'” said Hogan. “But the next step, if you want to play in the NHL, there’s going to be NCAA hockey in your future.”
As the eligibility rules changed, so did the questions families asked College Hockey Inc. Academic guidance became more central.
“We’ve created a two-sided handout that outlines what to do in ninth, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades,” Hogan said. “Through a partnership with the CHL academic advisors, we’re serving an advisory role for them.”
Hogan recently joined the Ontario Hockey League’s new player, family, and advisor orientation call to introduce College Hockey Inc. as a resource for academics. “That didn’t happen last year. That happened this year,” he said. “So we’re taking small steps with the CHL.”
“They (the CHL) want to keep players eligible too,” Hogan said. “They don’t want to be known as a place where, if you go there, you won’t be eligible. That’s not a good look either.”
This cooperation is laying the groundwork for a relationship that until the past year was nonexistent.
Before the NCAA rulemaking, Hogan had never spoken with CHL president Dan MacKenzie or the commissioners of the Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League, or Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Now, he speaks with them regularly.
“I’ve had dinners with them. I’ve had lunches with them. I’ve had meetings and we’ve had several conversations,” Hogan said. “I understand their position. They want to keep the best players playing for them.
“And they understand our position of marketing college hockey as the next step,” Hogan added. “It’s much more communicative than it’s ever been. And it’s going to have to be because there’s no more diverging paths.”
According to Hogan, the new reality is that hockey development has indeed become one continuous path.
“It’s minor youth hockey, junior hockey, wherever that is – the USHL, the CHL, the BCHL – NCAA hockey, and then professional. So for some players, that will be 20 years old in college hockey, and some players will have opportunities at 18 and 19.”
Initial fears of a mass talent drain from the CHL haven’t materialized. Most players making the jump are expected to be older. Think 19- and 20-year-olds who have aged out of junior, not 17-year-old stars.
“Most players who play Division I hockey are between 20 and 24,” Hogan said. “Very few have the ability to be impact players at 18. You’re playing against grown men.”
Still, the pool of eligible athletes is expanding rapidly, and so is interest. College Hockey Inc. fields more calls from Canadian families than ever, many seeking basic guidance on recruiting and campus life.
“Some of that’s really foreign to people who didn’t grow up with it,” said Hogan, who was College Hockey Inc.’s director of education for five years prior to accepting his current role. “It’s so different than if you grew up in a place that’s very CHL heavy. You’re used to a draft. You’re told where you play. This is a team that owns your rights. Understanding that in recruiting, the player has more of a choice where they want to go to school.”
College Hockey Inc. operates primarily through an NHL grant, and the top professional league has encouraged its efforts to grow the college game.
“I think the NHL, and rightfully so, tries to keep a hands-off approach when it comes to deciding which route. It’s all one route now, but CHL versus NCAA, they try to keep their hands out of that,” Hogan said. “But I think it’s important to the NHL that NCAA hockey continues to grow.”
That partnership with the NHL funds feasibility studies conducted free for schools exploring new programs. With hundreds of additional players now eligible, Hogan believes expansion is essential.
College Hockey Inc. has completed three such confidential feasibility studies for men’s programs this calendar year, and is beginning a women’s study this week.
Hogan noted that growth doesn’t have to come from massive athletic departments. Smaller institutions without major football budgets are often the best fits. While a smaller institution will not compete on the big stage in football or basketball, they can and do in Division I hockey.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed several projects. The most visible casualty came in 2020, when a planned announcement in conjunction with the NHL Chicago Blackhawks bringing varsity hockey to Illinois was scheduled for the day after the sports world shut down.
Yet interest in adding programs still remains. Hogan said that College Hockey Inc. is working with a school for which they had done a feasibility study eight years ago.
“It won’t happen [for them] right away,” Hogan said, “But they set a foundation for the future.”
A year after the eligibility rule change, the landscape looks far different. The old tension between the CHL and college hockey has softened into cooperation. Academic advisors now share information instead of warnings. Families ask new questions – fewer about what’s forbidden, and more about what’s possible.
“College Hockey Inc. is out there doing the work of growing college hockey,” Hogan said. “We’re educating families that maybe didn’t even look at college hockey before.
“It’s more of an inclusive approach of growing the game and making sure the best players play NCAA hockey on their road to the NHL.”