Expansion in some. Contraction in others. Like I'd imagine the Big ten would love add in Illinois or hell get the LA schools involved along with oregon and washington. But then programs that are on the level of what AIC was might go by the wayside. Might actually help create a viable DII option down the road.
Big Ten doesn't care about hockey. And despite rumors every couple years, there is basically zero momentum behind adding any teams.
I guess not just playing against adults but also, college is a failsafe in case hockey doesn't work out
Neither was a phenom, I’m talking absolute locks for 1A.
Illinois did a lot of research into going to D1 but nixed it when COVID hit and athletic department budgets were in flux. Maybe come back to it at some point but the issue is always arena then Title IX meaning you really gotta add two.
Dach was good his rookie year. Kind of all down hill when he got hurt in the pre-tournament at the wjc the next season
It's obviously not going to happen, but if Canadian universities could somehow be a part of the NCAA, then it would probably help the CHL as well. The CHL already offers a one year scholarship to a Canadian university for each year a player plays in the CHL, but then they are forced to play USports hockey, which is obviously not NCAA. USports is a fine option for players that don't have real pro aspirations, but the NCAA lets players keep both dreams alive.
That's fair but 95+% of Canadian players going to the NCAA don't really have pro dreams, ie NHL ones maybe minor pro and some small skilled guys go to Europe.
As an American that loves and follows NCAA hockey at first I was adverse to it, I'm just more of a traditionalist and liked it as is. But it's undeniable it'll be way better for the game moving forward and I've changed my mind. I'm for it. I do however hope the USHL remains as competitive as it is now but we'll see.
This whole “college hockey is where you go if you’re not serious about being a pro” mindset is about 20 years out of date.
Do you think an effect down the line could be increasing the draft year to 19? I mean with much more players that will be coming in as 18-19 year old freshmen it could be a possibility to give NHL scouts a couple more years of tracking development when making these decisions.
Sure everyone dreams but it's a numbers game and most of them simply will be weeded out.
Yes, but that's the same for the CHL, which is an earlier and lower level in the weed out process.
Not denying that but the onslaught of elite talents going south was premature and really will depend on which NHL drafts the top guys as well.
They won't change it (or at least change it very easily) because it would open up a legal can of worms about unfairly restricting labor. Once they changed the draft age to 18 in 1980, it made it very hard to go back on that. The 1995-2002 NCAA opt in rule where you couldn't get drafted until before your 19 year old season if you wanted to keep NCAA eligibility was odd & I'm glad they got rid of that.
I think if USports hockey were comparable to NCAA hockey, then it would be an attractive option to a lot of top CHLers, in the same way that NCAA hockey is now. It's just not, unfortunately. The schooling is comparable, so if that is their primary motivation, I think the CHL already offers an attractive pathway to a degree in a way that they don't get from the NCAA, just beause of the scholarship.
And Europeans. There a decent amount that stayed in Swedish or Finnish junior leagues or went to the USHL to keep eligibility. Plus the CHL just started letting Russians back in.
Yes expectation is those guys would play 1-3 season in CHL prior to ncaa moving forward.
Eli McKamey for the Royals is a great example. If not for the change, he would be playing in the BCHL next year. As it stands, he's likely going to be playing for the Royals next year.
True, but also the likes of Power, Fantilli, etc will play their draft year and then go to NCAA. So you'll still get them in fairly raw form.
Their "fairly raw form" was enough to make them very good players in the USHL in their D-2 seasons.
So do you think the person from Coutts, Alberta will be more likely to watch a Nebraska-Omaha vs Michigan Tech game, or a Val d'Or vs Charlottetown game? My point is hopefully the exposure spreads to Canada and NCAA hockey can garner the fan from Coutts Alberta.
The Val D’or game. I’m from Michigan and a U of M fan and don’t really care about NCAA hockey. I’ll throw on a game from the Q instead on turning on BTN to watch Wisconsin vs Penn St.
