I wouldn't say there isn't anything uncontroversial about this, at least it
was controversial in the past.  In part or in whole, the predecessor to the
WCHA, the Western Intercollegiate Hockey League, was dissolved over the issue
in 1958.  The situation was somewhat different in that the NHL had only six
teams and kids from the juniors did not have as many opportunities so playing
college hockey was sometimes a next step for them.  There weren't many rules,
if any, about this.  Michigan had a player, Wally Maxwell, who had briefly
been on the Maple Leafs.
 
Here's a quote from John Marriuci, coach of Minnesota at the time, from the
Star Tribune:
 
"That's wrong [about being anti-Canadian].  My contention was the teams we
were playing were bringing down 22 and 23 year old Canadians who were playing
Junior A hockey, and competing against our high school kids.  That's what I
was fighting, the age deal.  We wanted to control the Canadian kids.  I mean I
brought in Louie (Nanne).  I brought in Murray Williamson.  I could have had
my whole team Canadian, but then I would have destroyed the high school
program.  If I didn't have a program at the university for Minnesota kids,
where were they going to go?"
 
Doug P.
--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--
Douglas J. Peterson                 Have         _--____    ____
[log in to unmask] (personal)         you        `   /  ----        /
[log in to unmask] (work)                driven     -/- __  ____ _  /
Ford Motor Company                         a    .  /  / \--/___/ \/
(313) 390-8089           GO GOPHERS!            \_/  ,\_/ /    \_/_   lately?
--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.