On Sept. 30, 2024, 19-year-old Drew Hockley of the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies announced his commitment to play men’s hockey at Quinnipiac.
On Dec. 17, 2024, the 6-foot-4 freshman defenseman joined the Bobcats’ roster for the remainder of the season.
“I think part of it was the CHL (Canadian Hockey League) got legalized by the NCAA,” head coach Rand Pecknold said of Hockley after Quinnipiac defeated AIC 6-5 on Dec. 29, 2024. “He was thinking about going to one of the teams in Quebec because he could. So we’re like, ‘Well, if you’re going to go there and leave Victoria, we’ll take you, we could use some help here.’ We need to get better.”
In late 2024, the NCAA voted to make CHL or major junior hockey players eligible to play NCAA Division I hockey, allowing athletes to participate in the CHL without jeopardizing their college careers.
“I was in contact with a couple CHL teams that reached out to me,” Hockley said. “But it wasn’t anything I was super willing to pursue and I wasn’t really leaning any way towards any other teams.”
Because of this change, Hockley could have gone on to the CHL while simultaneously being committed to and then later going to Quinnipiac. Ultimately, he opted to play solely in the NCAA.
“It was a little bit unexpected,” Hockley said. “(Assistant coach) Rick Bennett called me and they proposed an opportunity for me to come in halfway through the year. I thought it was a no-brainer, I might as well take advantage of it because it’s a great opportunity.”
During his two-season stint with the Grizzlies, Hockley played in 67 games, notably notching 24 points in 23 appearances to start his 2024-25 campaign.
“I loved my time in Victoria,” he said. “The people there were really great to me and helped me develop a lot so I’m very grateful.”
According to Hockley, he isn’t too far from home anyway. The scenery of his former city has a striking resemblance to Hamden’s mountainous terrain.
“It’s pretty similar — the trees and the landscape of Connecticut to Nova Scotia — so I’m pretty familiar with that whole situation,” Hockley told ESPN+ Jan. 6. “But I really like it here.”
As of Dec. 4, 2024, the Kentville, Nova Scotia native was tied for No. 1 in most goals and second in points as a defenseman across the league. Fast forward two weeks and the BCHL’s best is dorming in Hamden.
“(Freshmen) Ryan Smith, (Chris) Pelosi, Elliot Groenewold and (Tyler) Borgula, they all live in the same dorm building as me, so I hang out pretty much every day with them either down in their room or in my room,” Hockley said. “We’re always doing stuff so it’s nice to have those guys pretty close with me.”
When it came to his first appearance in his inaugural college game against AIC in late December, Hockley was the sole leader of the Bobcats, emerging first from the tunnel under the lights of M&T Bank.
Quinnipiac is one of few teams in the league that enters the ice and lines up in numerical order.
For context, senior defenseman Davis Pennington wears No. 4 on his jersey, while Hockley dawns No. 2. His number on previous teams is No. 4, forcing him to choose a different number this season.
The number may not have personal significance to Hockley, but it made him the first player out of the locker room since his debut.
“I think I had goosebumps pretty much the whole day leading up to it,” Hockley said. “Once that moment came, being the first guy on the ice, it was an awesome experience.”
Through the last month, Hockley has gotten ice time in every matchup of the Bobcats’ 7-1-2 second half, notching his first collegiate point against UConn in the CT Ice semifinals on Jan. 24.
“I think I’ve been adjusting pretty well,” Hockley said. “I think just getting more games in, just getting used to playing with these guys and used to the systems, I feel like I’m improving every game and I’m looking to keep on doing that moving forward.”
Despite a consistent seat at the table in the USCHO’s Division I Men’s Poll this season — currently on the seams at No. 14 — Quinnipiac is still performing below the standard.
“You don’t want to be 14,” Pecknold said after the CT Ice consolation win against Yale Jan. 25. “14 is probably not getting in (to the NCAA Tournament). We gotta be good. We gotta stay consistent.”
The common theme Pecknold harps on is that this team has talent on paper but falls victim to immaturity and lacks the buy-in to the program’s culture.
Hockley’s on-ice IQ and two-way abilities may be what’s needed for the Bobcats to break the cycle of inconsistency — particularly defensively — and remain the conference favorite come March.
“He’s a really highly talented player,” Pecknold said Dec. 29, 2024. “He’s big, his right shot defense is what you’re always looking for, he’s got a huge upside for us. He’s just going to keep climbing.”
