Eeyore <[log in to unmask]> quoth: >Once again, I'll agree with John. What I am interested in knowing is just >why it is that so many people object to Canadians (and other foreigners) >playing college hockey here in the States. Particularly here in >Gopherland, this is a mighty touchy subject that I just don't understand. >Why all the angst? > >J. Michael Jackson 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. (although BC has been *real* quiet about hockey in the last 2-3 years...) I don't see what the the big deal is when a team is recruiting a kid from Minnesota, Manitoba, Mississippi or Minsk. Whether the NCAA will agree with it or not, the #1 priority given towards recruiting programs is to get the best players. Period. 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. Most of these "kids" could really give a spit if they play for a college or whatnot; they just want to try make it to the NHL any way they can. 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. 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. Hockey can be a way that someone can simply be accepted into a college that they might not get into otherwise, scholarship or not. This is one of the modern-day purposes of college sports. Even if the player rides the pine, or doesn't dress for four years, they're still attending college. 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." And on a similar note... A lot of people like to point out that Minnesota doesn't bring in "outsiders" because they have a successful enough program without doing so. These same people also try to create the argument that if the Gophers started losing 20 games each season, the team would undoubtedly go anywhere they could for recruits. After all, Gopher hockey is HUGE. I saw it firsthand two years ago at the final four. Besides having a great winning tradition, I learned that there is a great deal of pride involved in having a team made up of "hometown" kids. With Boston College however, the hockey program is viewed very differently. In years past, BC and BU used to vie for the public eye when it came to college hockey, but when it came to overall attention, both teams still fell behind the Bruins and yes, even the Whalers. And while on campus BU Hockey reigns supreme, BC's football and basketball programs receive much more press coverage and public support than hockey. Now that BC Hockey is not the program it once was, it has all but fallen out of the public eye, and BU has taken over the town. 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? Probably not, with the basketball and football programs performing so well. With Minnesota however, what kind of pressure will there be? Whether interior or exterior, the pressure will be immense. HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.