REGINA -- The day Regina Pats forward Braxton Whitehead has been waiting for has finally come.
The NCAA announced on Thursday that beginning the 2025-2026 season, players from the Canadian Hockey League will be eligible to play in at their programs, eliminating a long-standing barrier to CHL players joining U.S. colleges and universities.
Whitehead, 20, became a pioneer earlier this season when he announced a verbal commitment to join the Arizona State University Sun Devils, not long after a lawsuit was announced to challenge the NCAA rules.
Back then, It was felt it was only a matter of time before the NCAA went down the CHL route, largely due to the new Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rules that see NCAA players now being paid for their services.
On Thursday, that all became reality.
“It’s pretty exciting, I’m not going to lie,” Whitehead told the SportsCage shortly after practice with the Pats. “I was on the ice when the decision went through so I didn’t know right off the bat, but I had some good intel it was going to go though. I’m really excited, I’m looking forward to finishing this year in the WHL and then making that transition.”
Whitehead is in his fifth season with Regina and has two goals and eight points in 14 games after putting up 52 points in 52 games last season.
While the whole situation is still in its earliest stages, the Palmer, Alaska native is looking forward to what’s ahead.
“I assume sometime soon I’ll sign my NIL and go from there,” he said. “This just happened so this is pretty foreign information to me, too. I don’t know how the whole college commitment thing works because everyone I’ve known here in Canada are always signing AHL and NHL deals… so I’m excited to be going through the process.”
Given his pioneer status, Whitehead has already started to field queries from friends and teammates regarding how to get signed themselves. Naturally, he’s more than happy to help out as much as he can.
“‘Hey, how should I go about this? Should I send my letters to coaches? Should I send them to the team where they have someone to look through the letters for them?' Stuff like that,” Whitehead explained. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with sticking your foot out there and that’s what I’ve been telling my buddies to do, get your name out there.”
No sooner was the deal announced than did a few concerns pop up, especially when it comes to how it’ll affect Junior A players, once the staple of NCAA college programs.
Now, every school in NCAA Division I will be on the hunt for the borderline NHL-adjacent players the CHL produces, taking away some opportunities for the lower leagues.
“For me, everything has been straight-up positive, but I can see both sides,” Whitehead admitted. “There will be some leagues that will be hurt by this decision, but that’s kind of how things go. Hockey is an evolving sport and this is one of the changes that I think has to be made to make it a complete sport.”
Whitehead plans to take an international flavour with his educational pursuits and is looking at taking the combination of International Business and Geography as his majors at ASU.
“I think those two would pair well. Striking some trade deals in the future between two foreign countries sounds pretty exciting,” Whitehead said. “If that doesn’t work out, I’m also looking at an aviation path, that could be cool.”
Then, of course, there are the perks.
Potentially playing golf in the middle of winter -- Whitehead estimates he’s a seven-handicap -- and taking the ice at the state-of the art Mullet Arena are some of the extra things he’s looking forward to.
“It’s a great opportunity and I’m excited to see what it’s all going to be like down there, for sure.”
You can catch Whitehead’s full interview on SportsCage.com
