Shortly after the New Year began, Oakville hockey player Zach Wigle announced he will be committing to play in the NCAA next season for the R.I.T (Rochester Institute of Technology) Tigers.
This commitment comes soon after the CHL and NCAA began an agreement to allow CHL players to join the college levels.
"It was a long process," said Wigle. "I received an offer from one school almost immediately that I wasn't too interested in. Then from there onward I was talking to two or three new schools."
"Then a week or two before Christmas, [my parents] and I had a sit down, we scoped out all of my serious options, created a pros and cons list, took a little but of time to sleep on it, and ultimately decided on R.I.T."
But the recent agreement between the CHL and NCAA made Wigle change directions from where he was originally going.
Wigle and other CHL players believed that the agreement was going to be put into place next season or even the season after meaning that he would not be able to commit to play in the NCAA because this is is last season in the CHL.
But near the start of this season, several insiders reported that the agreement would take place for this season and was eventually confirmed by both the CHL and NCAA in November.
This news meant that Wigle and several other players that are in his position had the chance to change course from what their original plan was.
"It meant a lot of scrambling," said Wigle. "[My parents and I] needed to do our due diligence by talking with teams and trying to navigate this new path."
Wigle also needed to adapt to NCAA rules if he wanted to play there next season.
One rule the NCAA has that Wigle had to adjust to was that if you are playing sports and wanting to commit to an NCAA school and are at the age of 21, you need to be in full-time school.
Wigle recently turned 21 on Jan. 12 so before his birthday he needed to attend classes just to be eligible for his commitment.
Though many hoops needed to be jumped through, Wigle chose R.I.T because of their high end hockey program and their excellent academics.
"I really liked their coaches. They were super open to me about what their team looks like and where they want to be [as a program] and how they are going to be that."
R.I.T's hockey program is the only Division 1 program that the school has meaning that a lot of funds go into their hockey program to make sure it is the best it can be.
Then on the flip side, the school also has a great business program which is what Wigle will be studying.
He felt it important to have something to fall back on when he is done playing hockey.
His goal is to be a part of a firm hopefully in Toronto but there are not many American schools that are recognized by Canadian firms but luckily R.I.T is one of those few schools recognized by Canadian firms.
Seemingly giving Wigle the best of both worlds as he will be playing for a great hockey program and be getting a great education that he can use if his hockey career ends.
Wigle still has the rest of this season left with the North Bay Battalion then next season he will be making his way down to Rochester for the next chapter of his life.