Regarding some of the issues brought up with the Ivies' recruiting
difficulties when it comes to getting "NHL-calibre" players...
 
 
"The Ivies can't offer scholarships, and what player would spend $40,000
for two years and then leave for the NHL??" [sic]
 
Obviously none. However, there are VERY few schools who regardless of
scholarship offers would be able to court these players. Take the Alaska
schools, for example. If a Minneapolis or Boston kid is a first-rounder,
then it's likely that there's very, very little that the UA's could do to
keep them from going to play for the Gophers or Terriers.
 
 
"Because the Ivies don't offer scholarships, many of the better drafted
players who will end up circulating between the AHL and NHL could never
afford the exorbitant tuition" [sic]
 
True... sort of. I don't know what the minimum wage is in the AHL, but if
you're making minimum in the NHL you'd have no problem paying for that
Harvard education. Furthermore, if you've been accepted into an Ivy school
then you'll be hard pressed to find a bank that would actually turn down an
offer for a loan. I knew a few Harvard students (and many at BU) that were
heading for a job that would make them under 30K per year until they were
about 7-10 years out of school. None of them had problems getting the
loans, and none of them had problems making arrangements for "deferred
payments" and such.
 
On another note, a significant amount of the "better" high school players
out there wouldn't really have to worry about affording the tuition at an
Ivy. While there are a large number of hockey families that live check to
check just to pay for their kids' equipment, there are plenty of kids whose
parents would have no problem footing the bill for Yale. After all, they've
already sent the kid to 50 hockey camps, bought pair after pair of $400
Bauer skates, innumerable sticks (and blades for the aluminum kiddies), and
taken them to a large amount of NHL games.
 
Again, I'm not saying ALL, or even MOST hockey parents (of the "best" high
schoolers) could easily afford Harvard. But there are quite a few. Schools
like Thayer and Catholic Memorial aren't cheap, folks.
 
 
"The best high school players would want to play with and against the best
players, because the scouts rarely go to the Ivy games."
 
Utter nonsense. Besides the fact that most of the Ivies play against the
best (and most-scouted) teams, besides the fact that scouts are EVERYWHERE,
besides the fact that there are plenty of good players in the Ivies...
 
Where else could an NHL-calibre player stand out better than at an Ivy? Go
play for Maine or Michigan and you're just a freshman playing with a bunch
of other guys who were also drafted (unless of course, your name is Paul
Kariya). Some of the best players in college hockey go severely unnoticed
because of everyone else they play with. Just imagine Kris Porter or Rejean
Stringer playing at BU. Most likely they'd play quite well, but they'd be
in the shadow of Drury and Poti. Yet when they're on the ice for Merrimack,
they're garnering most of the attention.
 
Case in point: Ted Donato and Harvard. While playing at Catholic Memorial
he committed to Harvard, and after graduating at age 19 was drafted in the
6th round, 98th overall by Boston. He didn't leave early -- even though
Harvard began to slip backwards after winning it all in his sophomore year
-- and played very, very good hockey for four years, with two 50-plus point
seasons. Obviously, he was noticed at Harvard... but would he have been at
Boston College, MSU or Wisconsin in those days? (BU sure could have used
him then)
 
To paraphrase Bill Cosy in his Temple University commercials:
"He could have chosen anywhere. He chose Harvard."
 
 
Nobody seems to have touched on the main reason that the Ivies can't
recruit the players that the "big hockey schools" do: the Ivies stress
academics, first and foremost. This is the reason the no-scholarship rule
exists, but even if it did not, it would still be clear that education is
stressed over hockey. Leaving early would be SEVERELY looked down upon,
rather than congratulated.
 
Additionally, the Ivies are amongst the best in higher education for a
reason -- their coursework is demanding and requires both a strong brain
and serious work ethic, much moreso than most other schools with successful
hockey programs.
 
If a student had big dreams of making a career in the NHL and did want the
college education "as a backup," it's clear that student wants to focus on
hockey while he's in college, and do the coursework so that he can keep
playing. Not the right attitude for attending those "hallowed halls."
 
However, if a highly academic high school hockey player wanted the best
education possible and could use Hockey as his ticket in (regardless of how
"good" he is), then Ivy's the way to go.
 
 
 
 
greenie
S P O O N  ! !
(go BU)
 
Since BU dropped football, does that mean Silber fumbled?
Real grass at Nickerson for the *real* football! Yippee!
 
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