CHL, USA hockey introduces best-on-best clash with prospects challenge

The Canadian Hockey League and USA Hockey are making a change to their national event calendar for the 2024-25 season, introducing the CHL USA Prospects Challenge.

This event is a clash between the top NHL-eligible prospects in the CHL going up against the U.S. National Under-18 Team in a two-game series to be held on Nov. 26 and 27.

After the CHL had to step away from the CHL Canada-Russia Challenge after the 2018 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the three major junior hockey leagues were looking for a way to revamp their national schedules.

“We’re really excited about putting this on,” CHL president Dan MacKenzie told TSN on Monday. “We’ve been looking since last fall due to the cancellation of the Canada-Russia series due to the war in Ukraine, and we were challenging ourselves with formats for our national events that would increase the interest level of fans, and in this case scouts, in our event program.”

After discussions with the NHL and NHL Central Scouting, it was decided that this series will replace the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Series for the next three seasons. Being able to watch the top prospects over the course of two games instead of one was the big selling point.

“One of the things the NHL and their scouts are very excited about is the prospect of getting a chance to see the players play two games,” said MacKenzie. “It gives them a wider window to see how these players perform against a high level of competition over two games.”

A lot can change for prospects between November and the NHL Draft in June, but the CHL feels that seeing the prospects over two-game period interested scouts more than when the tournament is on the calendar.

“Our leagues are the most scouted leagues in the world, so I think there is a lot of opportunity in the back end of our season and the playoffs to see these players play in high-level competition,” said MacKenzie. “From the NHL’s standpoint, the overriding interest was to see this over a two-game series.”

The CHL announced on Tuesday that the London Knights will host Game 1 of the CHL USA Prospects Challenge while the Oshawa Generals will host the second game. The series will then be rotated around the Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, and Western Hockey League. 

London and Oshawa were two of the top teams in the OHL last season and met in the final, where the Knights beat the Generals in a four-game sweep to win the J. Ross Robertson Cup.

“We’re really excited for starting the series in London and Oshawa,” said MacKenzie. “They’re two great buildings and ownership groups that are really going to kick us off on the right foot in terms of putting on a great show for our fans and scouts.”

The format of the event will have the winner earn two points for a win, while the loser gets no points for a loss, regardless of whether the game ends in regulation, overtime, or a shootout. If a game is tied after regulation, there will be a five-minute three-on-three overtime followed by a shootout. 

In the event the series is tied after the second game, there will be a 20-minute three-on-three sudden-death overtime period at the conclusion of Game 2 to decide the winner of the series.

“[This tournament] is very fan focused,” said MacKenzie. “Everybody loves three-on-three, so if it were to be triggered, it would be a thrill for the fans to see. The format lends to an opportunity like that.”

One of the things that the CHL and USA Hockey wanted to accomplish  with this series was to provide a unique opportunity where the under-18 players and draft prospects could play in a best-on-best format. Traditionally, the United States and Canada have not been able to send their best players at the same time due to the timing of their schedules.

The United States puts out their best roster at the Under-18 World Championship when the CHL playoffs are ongoing, while Canada sends their top NHL prospects to the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup at a time when the United States is changing over their roster.

This series is a chance to rectify that problem and put the pride of the two programs on the line.

“[Something] that will be a little bit different about his series compared to the traditional prospects game is we think there will be a fair amount of pride on the line,” said MacKenzie. “The games are going to matter and both teams are going to want to really come forward and do their best – not just for their draft position, but of the rivalry that the two systems have.”

While the U.S. team will have a set roster that plays together for the entire season, the CHL team will a squad built around players from all over its member clubs.

To select the squad, NHL Central Scouting will poll the 32 NHL teams on which prospects they would like to see, and then CHL management will build the roster based off that polling.

Despite the series being billed as a Canada vs. United States matchup, there could be instances where non-Canadians represent the CHL.

“Our thoughts are the vast majority of the team will be Canadians, but you could have a scenario where an American or another nation’s player is playing for the CHL,” said MacKenzie. “If you’re playing in the CHL, a top prospect, and chosen to be a part of this event, then nationality is not a determining factor.”