Not long ago a US college player playing in the NHL was an aberration, but
things have certainly changed.  There are many more of them and they are
playing key roles on their teams.  As an example, here is a list of the 13
former NCAA players who have seen ice time for Boston in this year's NHL
playoffs:
 
Bob Beers (Maine)
Dave Christian (North Dakota)
Peter Douris (New Hampshire)
Garry Galley (Bowling Green)
Ken Hammond (RPI)
Ken Hodge (Boston College)
Ron Hoover (Western Michigan)
Craig Janney (Boston College)
Jeff Lazaro (New Hampshire)
Chris Nilan (Northeastern)
Dave Poulin (Notre Dame)
Bob Sweeney (Boston College)
Don Sweeney (Harvard)
 
(the Sweeneys are not related.  Don is from Canada and Bob is from Mass.)
 
The following 8 have also played or been on the roster at one time or another
for Boston during the 1990-91 season (I may have missed others):
 
Ralph Barahona (Wisconsin-Stevens Point)
John Byce (Wisconsin)
John Carter (RPI)
Matt Delguidice (Maine)
Norm Foster (Michigan State)
Scott Harlow (Boston College)
Graeme Townshend (RPI)
Chris Winnes (New Hampshire)
 
And, these players will get their chance soon to make it in the NHL with
Boston:
 
Mike Bales (Ohio State)
Stephen Foster (Boston University)
David Franzosa (Boston College)
Steve Heinze (Boston College)
Joe Juneau (RPI)
Howie Rosenblatt (Merrimack)
Bryan Smolinski (Michigan State)
Cam Stewart (Michigan)
 
Of course, few collegians are NHL stars in the caliber of a Brett Hull or
Adam Oates, and any collection of NHL stars tends to include more junior
players than NCAA players.  Even Boston, despite its huge number of
collegians, bases much of its success on the play of junior products Bourque,
Neely, and Moog.  But maybe it's that solid work ethic that exists at many
schools that allows players like Jeff Lazaro to fill a role where they're
needed and fill it well.  That in turn contributes to the success of their
team.  As the college game continues to get better, I think we will see
more and more star-quality players coming from the college ranks.
 
College players are everywhere now, and although I enjoy watching college
more than pro, it makes the pro game even more interesting to see players
you've seen in college make it in the NHL.  This raises the issue of college
hockey as a type of minor league system for the NHL.  I've heard the
argument that players should not be able to leave college and turn pro until
they are finished with school.  Usually this comes from people whose team
has just been decimated by the loss of underclassmen to the NHL. :-)  But
you cannot lock a player up for four years if he doesn't want to stay.
 
The way I look at it is, once you get beyond high school (and sometimes in
high school), it's a business.  Both sides have to do what is best for them.
And I think it evens out.  In return for Tony Amonte scoring 30 goals for BU,
BU will give him a scholarship for that season.  If Amonte leaves school
early, he doesn't get the scholarship.  It's as simple as that.  We like to
think of it as "amateur", and maybe hockey is closer to being amateur than
other sports like basketball and football, but there is still a strong element
of business involved.  It's important to remember that.
 
 
- mike
 
Quote of Game 1 came during Gene Lavanchy's taped between-periods interview
with Bob Sweeney.  After that flap with Carpenter & Milbury lying to the
press about Carpenter's injury during the Hartford series, TV-38 viewers
witnessed the following exchange last night:
 
Mean Gene: (paraphrased) So, Bob, how's that injury you suffered right at
    the end of the regular season?
Sweeney (with a straight face): What injury?
 
BTW, the REAL Mean Gene, of WWF fame, has a son who played at Minnesota a few
years ago - Todd Overlund, I believe, is his name.  No kidding.  Mean Gene
even MC'ed the Hobey dinner one year.  This has been Trivia of the Day.