"U Sports", formerly the CIAU (Go, U Sports!!), is our pathetic version of the NCAA.
As far as I know, we don’t offer real financial or scholarship incentives for student-athletes. If anything, they’re more like small honorariums than actual scholarships.
Hockey: @grayruby is right on the money here. Our young players chase opportunities in the CHL — that’s the WHL, QMJHL, and OHL — for ages 16–20.It might not be as much of a sure thing as it once was with the growth of USA Hockey, but when I was growing up, most NHL late-round picks or undrafted older kids from the CHL could reasonably expect to keep their hockey dream alive with a big scholarship or a free ride to a very good U.S. school.
I honestly can’t think of a single player from U Sports/CIAU hockey who went on to the NHL. GPT-5 found a few — but with the exception of Joel Ward, “notable” should probably be in quotes:
Derek Ryan, Logan Thompson, and Joel Ward – recent standout examples making the jump from U Sports to the NHL.
Dr. Randy Gregg – University of Alberta Golden Bears alum (and actual doctor) with a solid NHL/AHL career.
Bernie Wolfe – goalie from Sir George Williams University, 119 NHL games, MVP at the university championship.
Andre Hidi – University of Toronto, 7 NHL games with Washington after earning U Sports national accolades.
Kent Ruhnke – University of Toronto, brief NHL and WHA career, university championship MVP.
Football: I’ve never played a down of competitive football, but I know it’s… complicated up here. High school and community teams generally play some variation of Canadian Amateur Football rules.
Some use 3 downs.
Quebec uses 4 downs, but still with the 1-yard line of scrimmage.
Younger kids often use 4 downs to keep things moving.
Community teams in Toronto and Vancouver sometimes use a hybrid of U.S. and Canadian rules.
I have no idea how it all works, but it clearly hasn’t been a great recipe for producing elite players.
We didn’t have football at my high school, but the one next door did. It was basically rugby with pads — 99% run plays and lateral passes. I don’t think I saw a single forward pass in all the time I lived there.
We do have about eight “big” football schools in Canada:
Laval, Western, Calgary, Saskatchewan, Ottawa, Wilfrid Laurier, Alberta, and more recently Montreal Carabins. Simon Fraser University in Vancouver actually plays in the NCAA — they’re the only Canadian school that does.
Anyway, great pod this week.
Fountain
Stacker Sports Pod • Episode 44: Preseason Pigskin and Rose vs Russ • Listen on Fountain
Undisciplined and GrayRuby talk NFL preseason, NBA, MLB and more. Come say hi. https://stacker.news/~Stacker_Sports/recent
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