ORONO — Justin Poirier was 16 when he followed his older brother, Jeremie, and joined the Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, one of the three major junior leagues that comprise the Canadian Hockey League.

Now 19, Poirier is ready for a challenge that wasn’t going to be an option when he joined the Drakkar.

For decades, the NCAA deemed CHL players ineligible, calling them professionals due to stipends players received for living expenses. A 2024 lawsuit filed by Rylan Masterson, a Canadian hockey player who played in two exhibition games for the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, challenged the rule. The NCAA changed the rule while the suit was pending, opening the door for CHL players to compete collegiately.

That’s how Poirier became one of the nine former CHL players to enroll at the University of Maine this season. More than 200 CHL players will play NCAA Division I hockey in a major shakeup to the sport. UMass Lowell also has nine former major junior players, the most in Hockey East.

“I told myself, I want to be like my brother so I chose the same path,” said Poirier, a fifth-round pick by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2024 NHL draft. “But now, playing three years in the major juniors, I think I’m ready to play against older and bigger guys.”

Coming off their first Hockey East championship in 21 years, the Black Bears open the season Friday at Alfond Arena against Holy Cross.

Black Bears goalie Mathis Rousseau started five games for Canada at the 2024 World Junior Championships, and last season helped the Moncton Wildcats win the QMJHL title. When he was younger, the thought of going to the U.S. to play college hockey was intimidating.

“The thing for me, a French kid, thinking of playing in the United States was a little too far for me. I couldn’t speak English. It was a pretty obvious choice. I played in Halifax a few years, and helped Moncton win a championship, and now I’m here,” said Rousseau, a native of Boisbriand, Quebec. “Goalie-wise, we tend to develop a little later. This gives me extra time to get ready for pro.”

Making CHL players eligible opens the door for more than 1,400 potential new recruits to college hockey and will have a ripple effect throughout the junior hockey world. For years the USHL has been the top junior league in the United States and a primary feeder to college programs. Now, American players who likely would not have considered playing in the CHL have that option without losing college eligibility.

Derek Damon, a St. Dominic Academy graduate who played at Maine from 2002-06, is in his first season as head coach and director of hockey operations with the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers. Damon said he’s had a handful of players decide against playing for Des Moines in favor of the CHL.

“The way we look at is, Des Moines was not the right place for them. Our focus is on guys who choose Des Moines,” Damon said. “Obviously there’s been a little shift now that players have options. … We have to show why we’re the best place for kids to develop and move on to college.”

Maine coach Ben Barr said that in coming years, Tier II-level junior leagues, like the NAHL that includes the Maine Nordiques, now based in Auburn, and the USPHL’s National Collegiate Development Conference, which includes the Lewiston Maineiacs, will see fewer Division I recruits.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, a lot of this just comes down to resources and structure around programs,” Barr said. “It’s always been a business. I think it’s become much more of that.”

Maine junior Josh Nadeau had to make a decision when he was 16. Drafted by the QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan, the undersized forward chose to play for the Pendicton Vees, then a Junior A team in British Columbia, to retain college eligibility.

“I was always the smallest guy growing up, so the NCAA (path) allowed me to develop myself, get stronger and have more time in juniors. It’s been working out so far,” Nadeau said.

Orono, 250 miles from Boston, has long been a disadvantage in recruiting American players, Barr said. Now the proximity to Quebec and New Brunswick can be a selling point to players in the QMJHL who are looking to jump to college hockey.

That was the case with Luke Coughlin, a defenseman from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and a sixth-round pick of the Florida Panthers in 2023.

“My family will be able to be here for most of the games. My parents don’t mind traveling. It’s only 6 1/2 hours away,” Coughlin said. “When the rule changed and the opportunity came about … it was a great opportunity for me, somebody who’s not ready to play pro yet but still wants to work on his game, and get an education as well.”

Playing college hockey should improve his two-way game, said Poirier, who scored 210 points (122 goals, 88 assists) in 181 games in the QMJHL.

Damon said he doesn’t expect every player coming to college hockey from the CHL to succeed, citing the jump in maturity of college players and more physical play as roadblocks. Coughlin acknowledged that’s been an adjustment.

“Everyone is bigger, stronger and faster. You say that every level you go up, but that’s really been the thing I’ve noticed,” Coughlin said.