Big Prospect Reportedly Refuses to Sign Entry Level Contract with Vancouver Canucks to Play in the NCAA

The Canadian Hockey League and NCAA are both great pathways and development opportunities for players as they look to achieve their goals of making it to the National Hockey League, with the Vancouver Canucks having prospects in both, including Tom Willander, who plays for Boston University.

For one Vancouver Canucks prospect who has spent the last four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, it appears that he's looking for a new challenge and is on his way to the NCAA this fall.

Ever since the CHL and NCAA signed an agreement that made those in the OHL, WHL and QMJHL eligible to play college hockey, we've seen a number of players announce their commitments to play down south.

On Sunday, a report came out on social media from Ryan McArthur, who's well plugged in when it comes to OHL news, that said Vancouver Canucks prospect Anthony Romani will be joining the NCAA's Michigan State University.

Romani, 19, was selected in the sixth round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft by the Vancouver Canucks after leading the Ontario Hockey League with 58 goals during the 2023-24 campaign.

The Pickering, Ontario native was then traded by the North Bay Battalion to the Barrie Colts in December, where he joined fellow Vancouver Canucks prospect Riley Patterson.

Romani had a solid year with the Barrie Colts, which included a included a 17-game point streak, spanning their final game of the regular season and the entirety of their playoff run before being swept by the Oshawa Generals in the Eastern Conference Final.

Having him play in the NCAA is a good thing for the Vancouver Canucks and Anthony Romani for a few reasons - he doesn't have anything left to prove in the OHL, better competition in the NCAA which will help with development and he wouldn't have got much ice time in Abbotsford, if that where the team would've preferred him to play.