Greenie <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>The same goes for the Hockey East, where it seems at some point every year
>the Boston College Hockey press corps come out to exclaim that they use
>nothing but American players, and try to get as many from New England as
>possible, and point to BU and Maine as big culprits, blah blah blah.
I have to say I don't remember this happening for a number of
years...for one thing, BC has two Canadians on the team this year, and
for another, 5 of their players in total are from outside New England
including two of their best players, G Greg Taylor (Alberta) and F
Marty Reasoner (NY). Maybe you are thinking of past years when BC
talked up the American/Mass connection. I haven't heard it lately.
>My personal problem with these recruiting practices is that these schools
>(my beloved BU included) are going after 20- and 21-year old "kids" that
>are dominating their leagues. By the time they're seniors in school,
>they're 25 years old.
But this isn't possible. If a player is 21 when he is dominating his
league, he's only going to have 3 and maybe even 2 years of NCAA
eligibility (depending on his birthday). You lose a year of
eligibility for each season you play organized hockey once you turn
20.
When kids are going to prep school for an extra year to improve their
ability to draw a scholarship, thus making them 19 when they enter
college, then I don't see a problem with schools going after 19 year
old JrA players. And most of the Canadians that enter US colleges to
play hockey are not older than 19. The 20 and 21 year olds are the
exception, not the rule.
>This means that there are a lot of students out there who truly deserve a
>shot at an education. Note here I don't say scholarship. Most kids who play
>hockey can afford college with or without a scholarship -- maybe not an
>expensive school, but they could certainly afford a school such as Lowell,
>Merrimack, or UMass.
Actually, Merrimack is upwards of $18-20,000 a year including tuition
and room and board.
>This is how Harvard usually manages to have a solid team -- after all,
>they're ivy league, which has restrictions on scholarships -- their
>recruiters find students who are good enough for both tasks of attending
>Harvard and playing hockey. Would these kids be accepted to Harvard without
>hockey? Probably not.
Some of those more familiar with the Ivies can surely elaborate, but I
was under the impression that acceptance into an Ivy is not related to
hockey skills. And, in fact, from things I am aware of, it is also
the case for at least some of the HE schools too.
>It just disgusts me that more and more colleges are now looking for "hockey
>players than can learn to be students," rather than "students who can play
>hockey."
Which colleges are these? I haven't seen any change for the worse in
the way academics and hockey have been related, and if anything, in
many cases, the change has been for the better.
An example...Martin Laroche and Casey Kesselring, two-thirds of
Merrimack's all-sophomore line (before the last game when freshman
Kris Porter replaced Kesselring who was out due to injury), both made
the HE Academic Honor Roll last year with GPAs above 3.0. Kesselring's
3.63 led all of the ten Merrimack players (half the team) who made the
Honor Roll. Kesselring's major is Computer Science...Laroche's is
Mathematics.
And Kesselring was voted to the HE All-Rookie Team last year with
14-21--35, while Laroche got the nod over Kesselring as Merrimack's top
rookie with 10-9--19. Both are among the team's top scorers this
season. These kids are smart...AND they can play hockey...same with
former Merrimack D Mark Cornforth, who won the HE Distinguished
Scholar Award after four years on the Honor Roll and is now playing
with the Boston Bruins. (As best as I can tell, Cornforth is the
first ever Distinguished Scholar to make it to the NHL.)
Maybe this is not typical, but it is an example of one school that is
looking for students who can play hockey...and I know there are many
more out there. Northeastern is another school that has had a huge
increase in the academic abilities of its players over the last few
years. I just don't see evidence to make me believe that more and
more schools are looking for "hockey players that can learn to be
students."
>Now compare the Gophers and the Eagles: If the BC hockey program does
>poorly, which it has been, will there be strong pressure from both inside
>and outside the program to do "whatever it takes" to succeed?
It depends on what "whatever it takes" means. BC has done poorly
enough for long enough that you'd have to think that anything that
could have been suggested has been suggested. One obvious change is
the increased willingness to bring in Canadians. I don't believe this
will result in BC being flooded with Canadians, but it will not shy
away from good Canadian players it has a shot at. That makes sense to
me.
I will be interested to see what Jerry York's recruiting philosophy
will be once the problems he inherited get ironed out. Will BC return
to being entirely from Massachusetts? I believe that along with the
subsiding of the scholarship problems will come success for BC, so it
will be easier for York to made a decision without pressure.
BTW, if "whatever it takes" means violating NCAA rules, then I wouldn't
expect any amount of pressure would get York to give in. But as far
as I am concerned, all of this BC business is old news. BC is on the
way back and everything I see is very positive. It won't be a 180
degree turnaround, but it will happen gradually.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
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