This is nothing new.  BC hadn't won the big prize in more than 50 years. Perhaps these players felt that their exposure at the national level might never be higher and could possibly lessen if BC had lesser success in coming years.  If their dreams were a shot at the NHL,  they would be fools not to take it now. When RPI won the title in 1985 (it's first since 1954), both freshman goalie Darren Puppa and junior forward Adam Oates jumped to the professional ranks. Was it the best move for them?  It sure was for Oates. For Puppa, I'm not so sure but it was his decsion to make.  As for a college degree, to Oates'
credit, he completed his degree while playing professional hockey.

As far as the comment about players not being happy in college,
some quality players come to college as a stepping stone to the NHL. They see a full scholarship and an education as a bonus
to the hockey experience but not their primary reason for choosing college. If their goal is professional hockey, they must choose (at a fairly early age) to choose the college route or the major juniors. These boys are not boys but are young men that are gifted athletes.  They have their dreams to fulfill as do the rest of us. Yes, we wish they would stay. But that is for our own selfish reasons as college hockey fans. If their dream is to play hockey professionally, the best we can do for them is encourage them and wish them the best of luck.




---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Steve Rockey <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Steve Rockey <[log in to unmask]>
Date:         Thu, 16 Aug 2001 10:07:55 -0400

>I have very mixed feeling about pro defections.
>
>I seems to me that for the most part the defection are top 3 or 4  round
>draft picks (like the BC players).  There are not many players of this
>caliber come to college hockey and most of them leave in a year or two.  In
>the whole scheme of college hockey with circa 50 teams their comings and
>goings don't seem that significant except for a team like BC that can have
>3 on the team at the same time and make a title run with them.
>
>The Cornell players that have left early for the pros have for the most
>part left with substantial signing bonuses. Some only played in the minor
>leagues for a few years but the pay scale was fairy substantial.
>
>For schools with athletic scholarships if a player walks away from the
>scholarship without a signing bonus and guaranteed minor league contract
>that is of greater value it seems like a very questionable decision.  It
>may be that the players in question are not really not that happy in college.
>
>I do recall one great Cornell defender who left early to play pro
>hockey.   He was an impact player in the college game and I certainly felt
>he had pro-potential but he never made it out of the lower level minor
>leagues and never got a big signing bonus.  He probably should have stayed
>in college for a couple of more seasons and got his degree.  Who knows,
>those extra years of college hockey might have even made him a real pro
>prospect.
>
>I think ultimately (spoken as the father of a college student) we have to
>accept that they must make their own decisions even though we may second
>guess them.
>
>--Steve
>