Should Canadian university women's hockey programs consider joining the NCAA? There are pros and cons, and precedence for such an idea.
Should Canadian university women's hockey programs consider joining the NCAA? There are pros and cons, and precedence for such an idea.
NCAA hockey has become the top pathway for elite women's hockey players to continue their development. USports offers another high calibre destination, but the NCAA has gained traction as the pathway of choice.
At one time, many of the world's elite players competed in USports hockey. Players like Hayley Wickenheiser (Calgary), Melodie Daoust (McGill), Jayna Hefford (Toronto), and Charline Labonte (McGill) are all USports alumni.
Currently, there are members of Canada's Collegiate roster and national team camps, players like Amy Potomak and Audrey-Anne Veillette, or Rylind MacKinnon and Emmy Fecteau who are in national team consideration, but the vast majority are from the NCAA.
Now, from Marie-Philip Poulin and Hilary Knight, to the new generation of Sarah Fillier and Caroline Harvey, the NCAA has become the pathway for elite players.
With the continued shift, it would be surprising in the future if a few Canadian schools didn't examine the option of becoming NCAA members. While the idea seems far fetched, it's already been played out on Canada's west coast. Simon Fraser University's football team has played NCAA Division II football for years. Similarly, the University of British Columbia has multiple teams competing in the USA based NAIA. While those relationships have gone with varying levels of success, hockey seems like the next logical option to connect.
Perhaps the most obvious locations would be border cities. The University of Windsor, which borders Detroit, would be an ideal candidate as Michigan does not house an NCAA Division I women's program. The state is packed with men's programs, but no school in Michigan offers a women's program.
At the moment, there are 62 men's NCAA Division I programs, but only 42 women's Division I programs. Next season that will grow to 64 in men's and 44 in women's, with men's 65th team coming in 2024-2025.
Perhaps an entire Conference, such as Ontario's OUA West could make the jump, a loop including Windsor, Waterloo, Guelph, Western, Laurier, and Brock. The six team loop would immediately be superior in talent to NEWHA, and the added ability to recruit players who could stay close to home would skyrocket this loop to sit among the elite in NCAA hockey. For example, Western University in London, Ontario could almost field an entire roster of local products, players including Julia Gosling (St. Lawrence), Nicole Gosling (Clarkson), Abby Stonehouse (Penn State), Madison Chantler (Quinnipiac), Keira Hurry (Cornell), Emma Harvey (Yale), Nicole Pateman (Maine), Taya MacDonald (Penn State), Teja Gatfield (Princeton), Emma Min (Holy Cross), Lexie Adzija (Quinnipiac), Jocelyn Amos (Ohio State), and Shelby Laidlaw (Clarkson). This group either played in the NCAA last season, or are committed to play. Each of these Canadian cities has a deep prospect pool to recruit from.
While cross border play presents a variety of challenges, it would allow Canadian schools to retain talent, and help develop the game on both sides of the border as the gap between USports and NCAA is closer in many cases than between the individual conferences in the NCAA.