Kingston Frontenacs GameDay November 13, 2015

family decided he should make
the jump to North America. After
a year with the U16 Wilkes-Barre/
Scranton Knights, the University
of Maine came calling. Then the
Bloomington Thunder of the
USHL (the American equivalent
of the CHL) drafted him. In
a very short span of time his
career had taken an upward and
decidedly American trajectory.
The following year, after realizing
that Scranton’s U18 team didn’t
provide enough of a challenge
Chernyuk moved to Wichita
Falls, Texas to play with a tiertwo
junior squad in the Lone Star
State. Meanwhile, Bloomington
had expressed interest in the
Russian youngster but they were
also very clear that they were
going for a championship and
would be focused on older players.
His best option seemed to be the
NCAA route so he signed a letter
of commitment to attend Maine
and play for the prestigious
Black Bears in Division 1. That’s
when the Frontenacs entered the
picture and after again discussing
the best options with his father,
a jump to the OHL seemed to
make the most sense. “Me and my
dad started talking about where
should I go, what’s our next step.
Go to the USHL go to Maine or
go to Canada to play for the
Frontenacs,” he said. “We decided
we have to go to Canada because
the hockey is better, the scouting
is better and it’s the main route to
the NHL. We made the decision
pretty quickly.”
KINGSTON FRONTENACS GAMEDAY MAGAZINE