The ultimate choice for a teenage hockey player with eyes on the NHL is whether to play college or forego the education and play Major Junior in Canada. The stereotype is that good ol boys up north play in the CHL–the three Tier I major junior leagues: OHL, QMJHL or the WHL—while the American preppies hedge their bet and play NCAA, get their shot at big time hockey while keeping a real-world career alive with a quality education. Keep in mind that stepping on the ice for a single game of CHL hockey contaminates your NCAA amateur eligibility, so it’s a truly tough choice. Here in Traverse City, the Rangers Prospects have examples of two players who went against the grain: and upper middle class kid from New York who chose to forego college for his shot at pro hockey, and a hard scrabble kid from Canada’s western plains who went to a tiny liberal arts school in upstate New York. Defenseman Mat Bodie of Winnipeg and forward Michael Kantor of Manhattan find themselves sharing a locker room as they compete for a shot at the show.

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