According to a team announcement, Ryder Cali has officially committed to Providence College for the 2026-27 season, as first reported by Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal.
Cali is a top prospect eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft. The 17-year-old finished his 2025-26 season with 16 goals for 36 points, sixth on his team, the North Bay Battalion, in 47 OHL games. He finished 25th in the OHL among players aged 17 and under in league scoring. Among those players with 30 or more games, he was tied for 12th in points-per-game played. He added an assist at the IIHF U18 World Junior Championships with a +5 rating in five games played for Canada.
The Penetanguishene, Ontario native tallied 11 multi-point games, three of which were multi-goal games this season, and was an OHL Rookie of the Week. He represented North Bay at the Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects Game in January of 2026, where he scored a goal. He was formerly committed to Harvard University.
The 6-foot-2 forward is ranked 37th overall on the Elite Prospects NHL Draft Guide 2026. He is considered ‘a man amongst boys’ according to scouts, and his game is described in a way that feels ready to develop further at the next level in NCAA and Hockey East play at Providence.
The Friars are adding a forward who wins puck battles, creates space to protect the puck with his body, and is known to provide structured defensive prowess. All these traits give Cali a solid foundation in scouts perpective of the young, 218-pound Canadian forward. He’s considered to have offensive upside with flashes of playmaking skills in not just his ability to find teammates in transition, but also eying scoring chances with passes to the slot.
Cali is joining a Providence squad that finished first in Hockey East last season, winning the regular season conference championship, and has made the NCAA tournament in each of the last two seasons. Head coach Nate Leaman is set to bring in Cali as his eighth roster player from the Canadian Hockey League and fourth on the 2026-27 projected roster from the OHL, joining Beau Jelsma, Ritter Coombs, and Donovan McCoy, according to College Hockey News’ roster webpage. Leaman has taken the program to the NCAA playoffs in eight of his campaigns since 2011-12 and won a National Championship in 2015.
More to come