The United States Hockey League is the top junior ice hockey league in the country. Since the USHL does not pay their players, members of the Chicago Steel can compete at the NCAA college level, as the NCAA views them as amateur athletes.
If a player has played in a league that does pay their players, they can still play for an USHL team, but cannot play for a college team. As an example, Matteo Pietroniro played three season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) which pays their players, albeit it acts more like a small stipend.
The Chicago Steel has an excellent history of players moving onto the college level, which you can view HERE, after their playing days are done in the USHL. With that being said, here is a list of the current Chicago Steel team college commitments:
Nick Abruzzese – Harvard University
Mathieu De St. Phalle – University of Wisconsin
Jimmy Dowd – Penn State University
Joshua Groll – University of Michigan
Robert Mastrosimone – Boston University
Owen Power – University of Michigan
Cole Quisenberry – Brown University
Luke Reid – University of North Dakota
Adam Robbins – Princeton University
Justin Robbins – Quinnipiac University
Uula Ruikka – Miami University
Christian Sarlo – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Jake Schmaltz – University of North Dakota
Neil Shea – Northeastern Unversity
Jaccob Slavin – Colorado College
Casey Staum – Colorado College
Matthew Sutton – Brown University
Travis Treloar – Western Michigan University
Currently in the NCAA conference tournaments in college hockey, Penn State (Jimmy Dowd) plays in the Big Ten finals against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Brown (Matthew Sutton, Cole Quisenberry) takes on Cornell in one semifinal game in the ECAC, while Harvard (Nick Abruzzese) matches up against Clarkson in the other semifinal.
In the Hockey East Conference, Boston University (Robert Mastrosimone) faces off against Northeastern (Neil Shea) in a semifinal matchup.
The NCHC semifinals includes Colorado College (Jaccob Slavin, Casey Staum) as they matchup with St. Cloud state this weekend.
As you can see, current roster players on the Chicago Steel will soon play huge roles at their respective colleges. With the excitement of March Madness, keep an eye out for more college teams to make the NCAA tournament, as we are sure to see more future Steel colleges in the National Championship mix.
For more college hockey news and future NCAA tournament games you can click HERE.