Newsletter · Issue 1 ·
The quiet week: zero new commits, and Brantford sits tied for 3rd
The board didn't move Oct 15–21. Here's who moved it the week before, and where October's commits are coming from.
Hey, and welcome to the first Pipeline Report newsletter.
Every Thursday you'll get the NCAA commitments from junior hockey for the past week, grouped by team and league, plus who's climbing our leaderboard and one thing worth noticing.
This week: zero new commits
Nobody new showed up on RinkNet's commitments list between Oct 15 and Oct 21. We checked every day. It's not a glitch, it's the calendar. The summer and early fall rush is over, and October is the slow stretch.
So here are the three that landed just before, Oct 12–14, in case you missed them.
OHL
Brantford Bulldogs
- Aiden Kelly (C) to Wisconsin, starts 2028-29 (Oct 12)
Niagara IceDogs
- Connor Haffner (G) to Vermont, starts 2028-29 (Oct 13)
EHL
Express Hockey Club
- Nate Brissette (C) to Curry College, starts 2027-28 (Oct 14)
Leaderboard movers
- Brantford Bulldogs (OHL) went to 14 active commits, all Division I, with Kelly's pledge. That puts them in a tie for 3rd with Moncton (QMJHL). Those two share the best CHL spot on the board, behind only USA U18 (NTDP, 20) and Sioux Falls (USHL, 16).
- Niagara IceDogs (OHL) are up to 5 active commits with Haffner, tied for 55th.
- Express Hockey Club (EHL) got on the board with their first active commit.
Nobody moved Oct 15–21, so the top of the board is the same as last week.
The insight: October is a CHL month
Of the 13 commitments dated in October so far, 7 came from CHL teams (OHL and WHL), and all 7 are Division I: Kelly, Haffner, Hunter Aura (Calgary to Denver), Phillip Shargorodsky (Barrie to Army), Tyler Deakos (Penticton to UMass), Paolo Frasca (Sudbury to Yale) and Jayden Kraus (Everett to Princeton). For the fall as a whole, CHL players are 31 of the 103 commits since Sept 1. The volume has slowed way down (150 commits in August, 90 in September, 13 so far in October), but the major-junior share has jumped, from about a quarter of September's commits (24 of 90) to more than half of October's.
See the full leaderboard at hockeypipelinereport.com, or every week's commits at Weekly commits.
See you next Thursday.
Commitment data via RinkNet (collegecommitments.com). Commitments are non-binding and subject to admission and NCAA eligibility certification. "Active commits" measures recruiting interest, not roster spots.