Episode 44: Preseason Pigskin and Rose vs Russ

Zap

"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…