Canadian Hockey League boosts border rivalry by launching series vs. USA Hockey’s development team
The Canadian Hockey League is looking to capitalize on the sport´s cross-border rivalry by having its top draft-eligible prospects face USA Hockey´s National Development team in an annual two-game series starting in November.
Unveiled on Tuesday by the CHL, the series is being billed as the CHL-USA Prospects Challenge with this year´s games played at two Ontario cities – London and Oshawa – on Nov. 26-27. The CHL reached a three-year deal to host the series, with sites rotating between the group’s three members – the Ontario, Quebec Maritime, and Western hockey leagues.
Aside from the world junior championships, the series will feature many of both nation´s top 17- and 18-year-olds in head-to-head competition, something CHL President Dan MacKenzie noted has been previously lacking for two countries who produce a majority of NHL talent.
We think we´ve got the recipe for something really special here,” MacKenzie said. “And we think it´s really going to deliver for fans of junior hockey who want to see the best payers of their age group play against each other with something on the line.”
A majority of the CHL’s roster will be selected by the NHL´s Central Scouting Bureau.
The Michigan-based NTDP, established by USA Hockey in 1996, is a development program for America´s top juniors, with the team spending its season competing in the USHL, while rounding out its schedule playing in international tournaments and against U.S. colleges. NTDP alumni include NHL No. 1 draft picks such as Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews and Jack Hughes.
For the CHL, the series replaces its annual top-prospects game which was established in 1992 and ran through last season. The CHL also hosted a Canada-Russia Challenge, which began in 2003 and was last held in 2019, before being postponed as a result of the COVID pandemic and then canceled following Russia´s invasion of Ukraine.
“The success of USA Hockey´s program has really evolved and sort of gets them in a position where they´re going to be competitive in games like this,” MacKenzie said. “We´re still the No. 1 development league in the world by a wide margin. But we welcome the growth of the game and what that brings to the competition level.”
The challenge series is being launched at a time when North America’s junior hockey landscape could be shifting with the potential of NCAA Division 1 programs lifting their longstanding ban against CHL players.
