Greenie wrote (I've snipped some):
> I've found over 50 players
> in each division that are (or will be) 24 years old as seniors. Roughly 10
> of these players are 25 (or will be) years old as seniors.
 
> Considering the average age of a senior in college is 21.9 years old
> (according to the Bureau of Higher Education), I think that this is a
> little silly. Take into consideration that just about ALL of these players
> are coming out of junior hockey programs, and it makes you wonder just what
> the motivation is for these players to go get an education. What do they
> do, wait until their college eligibility is at stake before going to
> school?
 
> ... Denver in particular has a remarkably high amount
> of junior hockey recruits (as do the two Alaska schools, but I don't know
> their prices). With such high amounts of junior hockey recruits, it does
> make me wonder about academic commitment, both from the student and the
> school.
 
> ... It's also interesting to see that there are a large number of
> freshman being accepted into Ivy hockey programs that have been playing
> junior hockey for the last 2-3 years. Again, where's the academic
> commitment?
 
Where is the LACK of academic commitment based solely on playing juniors?
Why is playing juniors synonomous with not caring about academics?  I see no
direct correlation.  While playing in juniors they are also working on their
academics.  If a player has invested over ten years, countless thousands of
hours of work, and a ton of money on hockey and can play at the Div 1 level
after a year in juniors, what is wrong with that?  As long as he qualifies
academically and makes progress towards a degree then he's going to be
fulfilling what a student-athlete is supposed to do.
 
There seems to be this idea that if a student is truly committed to academics
that he will forgo his hockey aspirations so he can enter college as an 18
year old.  Why shouldn't he have both?  If a kid has a choice between giving
up hockey and graduating from college when he is 21 or 22 versus playing
juniors for a year or two and then graduating from college when he is 23 or 24,
how is the former considered to be more saintly?  It a'int saintly, it's
stupid IMO.
 
I'm not saying that every hockey player is a focussed student.  But not every
non-hockey player is a focussed student.  I'd like to have a dollar for
every non-athlete high school senior who said he was going to school x "because
it's a party school."
 
The fact is that a lot of American kids who play high school hockey HAVE to
play juniors for a year to step their game up a notch.  I coach youth hockey
with a guy who has a son who is a senior in high school.  He's got tons of
schools recruiting him (including ones as prestigous as Lake Superior State)
and most are saying that he needs a year in juniors playing 65 games or so to
take his game a level higher.  This kid has three choices:
 
        1) Go to some Div 1 school, gamble as a walk-on, and maybe not play
           the sport he's loved since he was five.
 
        2) Go to some Div 3 school and play at a level below what most scouts
           say he can eventually attain.  (No disrespect intended here towards
           Div 3 schools.)
 
        3) Invest a year in juniors out in the midwest, and then have a good
           shot at a Div 1 scholarship.
 
There is nothing more saintly about choices 1 and 2 over 3.  It just doesn't
make any sense.
 
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