Now that the recent spate of ref-bashing and alma mater woofing has
(thankfully) subsided, perhaps we can engage a discussion on more substative
matters of interest to college hockey.  Following are some verbatim quotes
and paraphrases re: recent NC$$ legislation, taken from John Connolly's
"Hockey Notes" column in the 18 January Boston _Herald_ [parenthetical
comments are mine - Jim]:
 
Coaches Pokecheck Prop. 31
--------------------------
 
   "One of the pieces of legislation passed at the recent NCAA Convention
held in Dallas which is sure to impact on college hockey is the so-called
Proposition 31 rule.  This rule - which takes effect on Aug. 1 - requires
that financial aid for players receiving any kind of support be limited to
not more than 30 athletes [I'm confused - surely most DivI football schools
hand out more than 30 scholarships/year ??].  It further mandates that
athletes who participate in more than one sport, and who receive financial
aid, be listed under the guidelines of the hockey program, which now will
be limited to 18 full scholarships [down from the current limit of 20 for
DivI programs] .... Reportedly, the WCHA was the formal sponsor of Prop. 31.
 
   Nearly every college hockey sextet has used players on scholarship from
another sport.  For instance, former players Mike Kelfer and John Bradley
all received BU baseball scholarships .... Current Maine junior right wing
Justin Tomberlin hit 0.262 with 4 homers and 23 RBI as a platooned out-
fielder on scholarship for the Maine baseball team.  He currently has 15
points in 13 games for S. Walsh's #1 ranked Black Bear hockey squad.  BC
hockey in the past has used baseball scholarship players such as Shawn
Kennedy and Hobey Baker Award recipient David Emma, a catcher.  Ex-PC co-
captain Mike Boback was on a Friar golf scholarship as a freshman.
 
   Prop. 31 has raised the ire of most coaches because of the myriad ways
it might impact on the college game.  The new rule virtually prohibits the
two-sport athlete, while threatening the walk-on athlete with extinction.
Players like Maine's Tomberlin and BU defenseman Dan Donato, a baseball
player and brother of Bruins forward Ted Donato [collegian under Cleary
at Harvard] may find themselves out in the cold when it comes to hockey
if the 18-scholarship limit has been reached.  Coaches like New Hampshire's
Dick Umile are suddenly unsure of the status regarding some recruits, in-
cluding a hot goaltending prospect [Brian Larochelle, 58-5-1 at Trinity
High School, now enrolled as a postgraduate at Phillips Exeter Academy]
who happens to play baseball [UNH has also skated scholarship athletes in
the past who were officially on baseball or lacrosse scholarships].
 
   BU coach Jack Parker, who was most vocal in his criticism of the NCAA,
called Proposition 31 "absolute absurdity." "The NCAA doesn't care one bit
about hockey," Parker said.  "I expect once again for hockey to lie down
and get slapped in the face and do nothing.  I'm sick and tired of fighting
the NCAA.  If we were smart, we'd stop playing NCAA hockey and the next day
start our own brand of hockey .... Maine coach Shawn Walsh said hockey's
position has become "catastrophic."  "I didn't think that the high
authorities would go for it," Walsh said.  "We're so low on the totem pole
that maybe we as hockey partners ought to find a new totem pole."  First-
year BC hockey coach Steve Cedorchuk viewed Prop. 31 with a jaundiced eye
and said, "maybe we can be the first to have a hockey federation within
the NCAA.  That, to me, is the logical way to go.  You can see where the
college CEOs are coming from - it's cost-cutting."
 
----  End material from the "Herald"  -----------------
 
  Some questions:
 
1) How widespread is this practice (athletes on scholarship in one sport
     playing in another to circumvent scholarship restrictions) in the WCHA
     and CCHA ??  I'd wager that the Big Ten schools, with hundreds of
     athletes competing in dozens of sports, would have quite a few cross-
     sport scholarship athletes.  Why would the WCHA now have proposed that
     this practice be abolished; after all, both sports in which the athlete
     participates presumably benefit, and it frees up a scholarship for some-
     one else ??  _Sports Illustrated_ and other like magazines frequently
     mention the 2 or 3 sport affiliation of many star athletes it profiles
     (such as point guards and wide receivers on track scholarships, or the
     FSU starting quarterback who's also a Seminole starting b-ball guard);
     will these arrangements be terminated as well ??
 
2) Will this be the Last Straw that finally forces college hockey to renounce
     the NC$$ and form their own Organizing Body ?? Walsh and Parker have gone
     on record before in favor of independence from the NC$$, and while many
     coaches are reluctant to abandon the NC$$ entirely (see Cedorchuk
     comments above), at appears that sentiment is building for a show-down
     of some kind.  It's my opinion that independence from the NC$$ would
     have already happened were it not for fear by college administrators
     that such a move would unleash a torrent of similar defections by, say,
     other regional sports such as wrestling or lacrosse that also have
     become disaffected with the NC$$ preoccupation with football and basket-
     ball.  If nothing else, the NC$$ provides a unified framework under
     which a school can organize its sports participation; no one is anxious
     to see that replaced by a collection of single-sport governing bodies
     with their own rules/regulations that may/may not have anything in
     common with another.
 
Comments ??
 
-- Jim
   Go Blue !!