Two days ago, the Sarnia Sting announced the signing of Liam Beamish. The 2007-born forward joins Sarnia after starting the season playing for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in the BCHL.
“Liam is a 200-foot player, has good instincts in all three zones, shows great compete and has the habits necessary to be a very good player in the league,” said Sarnia GM Dylan Seca. “We welcome Liam and the Beamish family to Sarnia.”
He won the GOJHL (Golden Horseshoe) Rookie of the Year award after scoring 27 goals and adding 27 assists in 46 games. This year in the BCHL he has four goals and four assists in 20 games.
“Liam is a player who had a great season in the GOJHL last year,” said Seca. “We actively pursued him but he chose the NCAA pathway.”
Beamish is committed to play for Penn State University during the 2026-27 season.
As Seca alluded to, this signing can directly be linked to the changes in the NCAA regulations that occurred in October.
The new ruling makes CHL players eligible to play NCAA Division 1 hockey which was not the case prior to the decision.
For players like Beamish, this means they no longer need to choose between the NCAA and CHL. They can have their cake and eat it too.
The Penn State University commit is part of a growing group of players leaving the BCHL to join CHL teams across Canada.
Based on the work of certain Twitter accounts like BCHL Alberta, as many as 15 players have made the switch.
The trend is also not exclusive to the BCHL and USHL. Brampton signed a trio of players out of the OJHL over the weekend.
Related: Brampton Signs Trio of Defenders
The Beamish signing can therefore be viewed as an emblematic case study for the shifting landscape that continues to change in the wake of the NCAA ruling.
That aside, Sarnia acquires in Beamish a talented young player who now has the chance to develop at the highest level of junior hockey in Canada.
He will have the opportunity to play in his first game with Sarnia on Wednesday against the Flint Firebirds. It will be interesting to see how he factors into the lineup.
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