Junior / CIS / NCAA / ACHA/ ACAC

[hockeygod]

Aberdeen,

I played junior in Canada and the US. University in Canada.

I know of the ACHA and have watched it's progression since around 2000 – when I first became aware of 'club programs' in the US. The play by play person from Tri-Cities had a son who played for EWU (the US university I attended) so that's where I first became aware of it. Not sure if they are now in the ACHA, but I have also seen the rise of various Junior B and Junior A leagues throughout the US – leagues that previously went unnoticed by 99.9& of Canadians. And yes, there are more Canadians being recruited into these programs.

I heard rumours that the NCAA was considering implementing new scholarship rules that would start to 'cap' the number of Canadian kids allowed with the intent to provide more spots to Americans. (If this is true, this shows how quickly US hockey is developing. If the NCAA leaves the rules as is, I am sure a free-market economy in hockey players will take care of itself! In time, it will become a moot point as the talent pool in the US grows.)

Looking at Lindenwood's roster, I see Rick Zombo is the head coach (former Detroit Red Wing / St. louis Blue) and Ted Sator (former long-time NHL coach) is the Assistant Coach.

While not 100% current on the NCAA regulations (or those of the ACHA), I agree it is good that there are more places for kids to play and people to coach. Does the ACHA provide athletic scholarship monies to it's players? I would love to hear more details…

Thanks for the post. I will have changed the title of the thread to include 'ACHA' and CIS as I hope this becomes a wider-ranging discussion.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[john]

OMG ACHA is in the title of this thread. I didn?t see that, sorry. Ha

Best hockey name ever….Rick Zombo!

No scholarships for ACHA, which isnt all that different than NCAA. No scholarships for Ivy League, DII, and DIII. I think some Atlantic Hockey Assoc only offer 12 scholarships.
I know you know this Dean but for those that will be reading this.
59 total NCAA DI programs. Only the top 120 US players each year get some form of scholarship with the avg scholarship being $20K. The max is 18 scholarships per program. Not per year, per program. The numbers suggest that programs can only offer 2-3 full rides each year. From what I hear most hockey programs that offer scholarships break them up so each player gets some form of money while the blue chip players get full rides. Scholarships are provide one year at a time so they need to be re-upped after each year.

I do a presentation to the parents of a local youth org on the info above trying to set expectations. Most of them want their kids to get scholarships but have no idea how it works. Its actually easier to get an academic scholarship than an athletic scholarship.

[hockeygod]

Aberdeen,

I changed the title after you brought the information about the ACHA to the discussion. No worries!

Roman Hamrlik is one of the funniest player names I can recall. I also like Cal Clutterbuck!

Ivy league schools offer 'financial aid' based on the parents latest income tax returns. The more money your folks declared, the less the schools will offer.

Last I heard, the NCAA Div 1 hockey programs get 18 scholarships, per year (is this different than what you said?), and divide these up according to how they value their players. These are decided on a year-by-year basis, so the concept of a 'full ride / 4 year scholarship' is a marketing misnomer. Most parents and kids don't realize that their scholarship offer must be reviewed and renewed annually… and that there are less 'full' scholarships per year (18) then roster spots (20+)!

Here is more info to help provide backing to Aberdeen's comments:

http://www.athleticscholarships.net/icehockeyscholarships.htm

How many ice hockey scholarships are available and what schools offer them?

Number of scholarships offered per team, per year, by DivisionNot all colleges that are eligible to offer scholarships will choose to do so. For example, Ivy League schools choose not to offer athletic scholarships.

Hockey is an equivalency sport which means all scholarships are NOT full scholarships. For example, in NCAA D1, hockey coaches can divide the value of the 18 scholarships available to them between as many players as they see fit.

Men’s Hockey

http://www.athleticscholarships.net/icehockeyscholarships.htm#q4

NCAA D1: 18

Women’s Hockey

NCAA D1: 18

NCAA D2: 18

Number of College Hockey Programs

Men’s Hockey

NCAA D1: 58

*NCAA D3: 70

Total: 136

Women’s Hockey

NCAA D1: 34

NCAA D2: 2

*NCAA D3: 48

Total: 84

*NCAA Division 3 schools do not offer athletic scholarships, but do offer other forms of financial aid.

Of course, it is always best to go to the horse's mouth – here is the link to the NCAA:

http://www.ncaa.org

"Athletics grants-in-aid (frequently referred to as athletics scholarships) for Divisions I and II undergraduate student-athletes are partially supported through the NCAA revenue distribution. About $2 billion in athletically related financial aid is awarded each year at Divisions I and II institutions to more than 126,000 student-athletes. Grants-in-aid are awarded and administered directly by each institution, not by the NCAA.

Division III members do not offer athletically related financial aid."

NCAA Last Updated: Jan 31, 2012

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[john]

Correct. max is 18 but Altantic Hockey has a max of 12

http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2011/05/26_atlantic_hockey_shoots_down.php

A proposal to increase the scholarship limit for Atlantic Hockey teams from 12 to 13, failed at the recent league meetings.

The vote was 7-5 in favor, but eight votes were needed for passage.

The NCAA's scholarship limit is 18 per team, but Atlantic Hockey has limited that to 12.

With the landscape of college hockey in complete flux, the decision could have a number of ramifications.

There is thought to be at least five teams among the 12 willing to play with 15 scholarships or more. They are widely believed to be Mercyhurst, Canisius, Robert Morris, Niagara and Air Force. RIT cannot give scholarships, directly, because it's a Division III institution and joined D-I in hockey after the grandfather clause was in effect. However, it is still believed to support being a part of the group supporting the scholarship increase.

The failure to pass the increase could hasten a split of the 12 teams into two different camps, a possibility which is only further hastened by the shifting landscape around college hockey. It's possible that some current CCHA teams could be looking for new partners or new homes, as well.

There are a variety of possible scenarios that could unfold as a result, but the status quo does not appear likely.

and not much change but good overview on updates to stipend

http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2011/11/03_ncaa_enacts_scholarship,_academic.php

[Tom Molloy]

I have added the ACAC, Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference to the list as it is also a league that offers partial scholarships. There is a men's and women's division. http://www.acachockey.info/index.php is the link to the hockey section.

Both Dean and I have coached in that league.

The men's division is mostly made up of players who chose Jr. A hoping to get an NCAA scholarship and that didn't work out for them. The CIS gets most of it's players from major junior. If the pro career didn't work out they get a years tuition and books for every year they played in the CHL.

The women's division is the same with high school aged girl's who play U18 midget or go to sports schools usually look NCAA first, CIS second and ACAC third.

Of course there are some major junior grads in the ACAC and some Jr. A in the CIS and oftern players chose the ACAC first because they either like the programs or don't want to move away.

A nice thing about the ACAC is that the government pays about 75% of the actual tuition cost, so it is much cheaper to get a degree than private universities. The Province gives a grant to all Alberta students who play hockey and to everyone in their second season. Each institution also has a scholarship fund to help with expenses.

Tom

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'

[john]

Tom ACAC sounds like great hockey! That would be above ACHA for sure.
I love that fact that there are the chances for players to keep playing

Once I finish my "So you child wants to play college hockey" (WORKING TITLE) presentation Ill post it for upload.
Lots of fine details, like for NCAA DI admissions is handled though the athletic dept but NCAA DIII is handled through admission dept. This is why DIII over recruits because without a Letter of Intent process coaches have no idea who will show up until schools starts

[hockeygod]

Emotions Run High After Kelly's Departure
With Coaches Upset, Many Issues Lurked Below the Surface

Adam Wodon, College Hockey News, February 23, 2012

Paul Kelly was asked to resign earlier this week as executive director of College Hockey Inc. after 27 months on the job.

The reactions ranged from shock and outrage, to disappointment and resignation, and everything in between. Or everything all at once.

"All of the above," said Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson.

Universally, coaches around the country reacted negatively to Tuesday's news that Paul Kelly had resigned — forced to resign — as executive director of College Hockey Inc. To the coaches, Kelly, the former head of the NHL Players Association, was the perfect person to help resolve many issues important to coaches, and college hockey in general.

"Paul Kelly is the best thing that happened to college hockey in 25 years," Jackson said, echoing the sentiments of every coach.

The decision to push Kelly out was made by the Hockey Commissioners Association, the organization in charge with establishing College Hockey Inc. two years ago, and the one that Kelly ultimately reported to. But the coaches were working with him, too, a good idea to be sure, but where the seeds of discontent were sewn.

"There were a lot of very positive things that Paul was developing for us, as a result, you can imagine how disappointed we all are to hear the news," Denver coach George Gwozdecky said.

"He opened lines of communication. We made great first steps with all of these entities — the NHL, the NHLPA, the NCAA, USA Hockey. There was so many positive steps in those regards. That dialogue shed light on a number of issues. … Just to sit down with them is huge."

Said Jackson, "You couldn't have asked for a better representative. … He was making major gains. All of the things that he was doing, I think it's all down the drain now."

The impression you get is that these comments are mild compared to what coaches are saying to each other.

The commissioners are not oblivious to this reaction.

"I'm not looking forward to Naples, that's for sure," said Steve Hagwell, president of the HCA and ECAC commissioner, referring to the annual coaches convention each April in Florida. "But I'm not going to hide from it. I'll be there and address whatever the coaches have to say."

The decision is inexplicable to the coaches, who were thrilled with what Kelly had been doing. The news is made even more hard to understand because the commissioners haven't given any reason for the move, even privately to the coaches.

"The commissioners have not informed the coaches as to what the issues are and were, and so before going off and condemning someone, I think as coaches we need to be given the facts by the commissioners," Gwozdecky said. "I've spoken with one of the commissioners, and he was not willing to share the reasons."

Power Play

Kelly was ultimately asked to resign because the commissioners believed he was making clandestine maneuvers intended to consolidate more power for College Hockey Inc. itself, sources tell College Hockey News. Essentially, rightly or wrongly — and it could be argued that it was a very good idea — Kelly wanted to be the commissioner of college hockey, with all of the authority that the title implies.

As far as the coaches were concerned, this was favorable, if not outright encouraged. To the commissioners, this is an impractical concept outside the established structure. To them, dealing with Kelly became like dealing with a renegade coach who skirts the system and is combative with his own athletic department, but nonetheless wins a lot of games.

Of course coaches would want a single "commissioner" to deal with, one with the power to do what they want — the same way Gary Bettman does for NHL owners.

Unfortunately, the NCAA doesn't work this way.

The amount of attention placed on Paul Kelly as a theoretical head of college hockey, was not commensurate with the amount of authority he actually had. That is inevitably and understandably frustrating.

The commissioners supported Kelly's main goals, but did not support the way he tried to make them happen. After trying to manage this situation for two years, a straw broke the camel's back.

Ultimately, the commissioners believed that Kelly, more and more, was lobbying overtly for more authority. He was going to the NHL, the athletic directors, and to anyone else who might listen.

The Labyrinth

College Hockey Inc. was created to be the "marketing arm" of college hockey. Kelly's mission was to do outreach, educate, hold seminars, and be the public face of the sport to many people, particularly in Canada, who needed to know what college hockey was all about. It was an attempt to offset the obvious advantages of the Major Junior system, which can speak to kids at will. Because of NCAA regulations, college hockey coaches are not allowed to speak to prospects until they are 16.

In fact, this end run around the NCAA regulations almost ran afoul of the NCAA itself. When the commissioners were establishing College Hockey Inc., the NCAA wanted to know how this would work, so that it wasn't in fact taking advantage of a loophole in order to "recruit" players earlier.

But with so many pressing issues, the coaches wanted Kelly to do more than just marketing and giving speeches. They saw his background as an attorney with deep connections to the NHL and its players, and general stature in the pro hockey world, as something that could be leveraged further.

Coaches are notoriously frustrated by the NCAA's labyrinthine politics, and saw College Hockey Inc. as an opportunity to get around all of that. Their oversight group, comprised of some of the sport's most well-known names, like Gwozdecky and Jackson, met with Kelly to push their agenda with him.

Take, for example, the issue of helmets. Coaches have by and large loathed the idea of full face shields/masks since it was legislated in 1980. They believe it actually makes the sport less safe. They also believe that Major Junior uses half shields vs. full shields as yet another selling point. Kelly was someone that could work the angles with the NCAA from a legal perspective to try to make inroads in this department.

Then, of course, there's the ongoing battle with the Canadian Hockey League — the overseer of the Major Junior system — over players jumping ship. That fight is being fought on a number of fronts, including trying to get NHL rules changed, and/or working with the CHL on an understanding.

And Kelly was in discussions with the NHL and NHLPA on increasing the Draft age to 19, as part of the new collective bargaining agreement. Coaches believe this could help alleviate the pressure on kids looking to leave, if they haven't even been drafted yet.

Who better than Paul Kelly to facilitate these talks, and to help move the needle?

"He got us into discussions we've never been able to do in the past," Jackson said. "He was able to get that done. … We had somebody that was never really able to challenge things in that way before. Everybody respected him at the NHL level."

According to Hagwell, Kelly had the blessing of the commissioners to do what he could in those departments. The coaches' priorities may have been different than the commissioners, but the efforts weren't at odds with each other. In fact, the commissioners group was largely trying to do the same things prior to Kelly's hiring.

Inevitably the structure of the NCAA will be at odds to getting many of these things accomplished. The commissioners are people who understand and work within that system. Kelly was trying to overthrow the system.

The System

There's a point often lost in the haze — criticizing the NCAA's labyrinthine politics is really just criticizing your own school, or collection of schools. The schools have the authority, and the schools themselves — via the athletic directors — hire the commissioners, who in turn, collectively, hired Paul Kelly.

Meanwhile, the commissioners created College Hockey Inc. at the behest of USA Hockey. After first sending a "shoot for the moon" proposal to the NHL for money to fund something like College Hockey Inc., the NHL decided to give $8 million to USA Hockey instead. Thus, the commissioners needed to appeal to USA Hockey for a piece of that pie.

"They didn't say, 'Here's a pot of money, go do what you want,'" Hagwell said. "It's a grant. Each year we have to report to them on what we did."

That means College Hockey Inc.'s masters are the commissioners, followed in turn by USA Hockey and the athletic directors.

Trying to make an end run around all of that, as enticing as it may be, was going to inevitably lead to conflict.

The sentiments of Gwozdecky and others point to this conflict.

"The overwhelming feeling from the coaches (is), 'How did this happen? Why did this happen?'" Gwozdecky said. "As far as the coaches were concerned, Paul was doing a terrific job for college hockey. He had our support. And he was working for college coaches.

"He reports to the commissioners, he works for the 58 D-I programs."

The question is whether the commissioners should have, or could have, put up with the difficulty of handling Kelly, because of the myriad of great things he brought to the table. Or did his maneuverings rise far enough above insubordination to make the relationship no longer sustainable?

Would it have made a difference if Tom Anastos, former CCHA commissioner and now Michigan State coach, and former president of the Hockey Commissioners Association, still been in the group? Anastos was a point person pushing for the hiring of Kelly to begin with. And Anastos himself was the man who was leading the efforts previously to get a dialogue with the NHL and so on, responsibilities that ultimately went to Kelly. But Anastos knew the parameters under which he was working, for better or for worse.

Difficult Position

Kelly wanted more authority. He wanted the NHL to directly fund College Hockey Inc. instead of having to deal with the measly sum being steered from USA Hockey. He considered, at the coaches' encouragement, ideas like being in charge of supplemental discipline (suspensions) across all leagues, scheduling, and helping with television contracts.

He wanted to be the commissioner of college hockey.

But that job doesn't exist.

There was an actual formal proposal, to the NCAA hockey rules committee, to have a central figure handle discipline for non-league games. The proposal was shot down.

Because there are so many institutions with so many different interests, it's not feasible for a "grand poobah of college hockey" to exist — as much as we might all like to see one. If there was, we wouldn't have had all of last summer's turmoil. But who is going to create that position? Who is going to give that authority? The executive director needs to play inside the system that exists, for better or for worse. That is not the fault of the commissioners.

It could be argued that the commissioners should have kept managing this situation, since Kelly probably wasn't going to ever succeed in superseding anyone's authority anyway.

Instead, the commissioners believed the situation could no longer be sustained.

Some have argued that the commissioners were just trying to keep power for themselves. I don't believe that makes any sense.

As Hagwell said, "Even if they did (give up authority), if my group of ADs came to me and said, 'You're no longer involved with College Hockey Inc., no longer a part of the HCA, you're solely doing the work of our league,' what am I going to say? I'm going to say 'OK.' … So to say I'm out for power. I'm not. I spend an inordinate amount of time on broad issues, like amateurism. If someone wants to take that off my plate, I'm not going to fight it.

"I'm not sitting here fighting it saying, 'Oh my gosh, don't take supplemental discipline off my plate.' Every time I'm calling someone to suspend their kid, that's not a good thing."

Really, the schools themselves have the power and authority to make decisions, and you're not going to get 58 schools — each with much larger athletic departments and institutional hierarchies within them — to give up their authority to a college hockey commissioner.

The hierarchy exists to bring order to the madness. And yes, it also gets in the way sometimes, as any bureaucracy does. It's a catch-22. But if you decide to break a law because you don't think it's just, don't be surprised when you get arrested.

The commissioners obviously know about Kelly's strengths. They obviously know, and were pleased, that Kelly was getting to the table with the NHL and NHLPA. They obviously knew that firing him would enrage the coaches.

Yet they did it anyway. Why? Out of hubris? Out of power? Out of stupidity?

That can hardly be the reason.

This is a difficult and unfortunate situation. Everyone, from coaches, the commissioners, to ADs, to fans wanted Paul Kelly to continue to do the great things he was trying to do for college hockey.

But the commissioners did what they believed they had to do, not for petty reasons like power, but for good, albeit difficult and debatable, reasons. And it's up to everyone to decide whether they were justified in that or not.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Paul Kelly Explains Surprise Resignation, What May Come Next

Chris Peters, The United States of Hockey, February 24, 2012

In the days following Paul Kelly’s abrupt resignation from College Hockey, Inc., speculation and various reports have surfaced as to the reasoning behind the surprising end to Kelly’s tenure. Aside from a radio interview in Toronto Wednesday night, Kelly’s version of what transpired in the lead up to his surprise resignation has gone largely unheard. The man who joined the hockey elite when named the executive director of the National Hockey League Players Association approached United States of Hockey about sharing his side of things.

Kelly confirmed to United States of Hockey that he was asked to resign or face action from the Hockey Commissioners Association, which oversees College Hockey, Inc.

Todd Milewski of USCHO reported Monday that Kelly’s forced resignation was a result of “an erosion of trust in Kelly from the commissioners of college hockey’s five Division I men’s leagues,” according to a source. Milewski’s source also informed USCHO that Kelly had recently approached athletic directors from ECAC Hockey to give CHI a more leading role in college hockey.

Kelly admitted that he had talked to two athletic directors on this topic, one of which was from ECAC Hockey, but that his intentions differed from what USCHO’s source relayed.

“The notion that I was out shopping to talk to athletic directors, that didn’t happen,” Kelly said in a phone conversation. “The suggestion that this was a power grab, that I was involved in trying to wrestle power or a money grab, if that’s a picture they’re trying to paint, that ain’t what happened at all.”

As Kelly revealed to Bob McCown on his radio program Wednesday night on Toronto’s The FAN590, the former CHI executive director was in the middle of an underlying tug-of-war between the commissioners and many head coaches in Division I college hockey about the scope of College Hockey, Inc.

“For many months I was trying to stay out of it,” Kelly said of the disagreement between college hockey’s coaches and commissioners.

That was until Kelly caught wind that his tenure at College Hockey, Inc. may soon come to an involuntary close in an effort by one unnamed commissioner trying to save money, essentially.

“When it was pretty clear that my tenure was going to come to an end relatively soon anyway, I figured I should try to help [the coaches] at least by getting some input from some people who could deal with the issue,” Kelly said.

Kelly laid out the coaches’ vision for College Hockey, Inc. in an email to United States of Hockey: “A committee of veteran coaches, while pleased with our efforts, believed that College Hockey, Inc. could be a more vital and impactful organization for D-I college hockey. Their vision was to increase the entity’s areas of responsibility, and to change the structure of oversight and supervision from the Commissioners to a representative committee of head coaches and ADs.

“They felt that since one of the primary objectives of College Hockey, Inc. was education and recruitment of new prospects, as well as the retention of existing student athletes, that this fell more into the domain of coaches rather than administrators. The coaches wanted a greater voice in setting the strategy, and deciding how best to employ the limited resources of the organization. Given my legal background, the coaches sought my advice and input on how best to bring their desire and vision forward for discussion and decision in an appropriate forum. Since I worked on behalf of the coaches, I felt a responsibility to assist them in determining how best to bring this issue forward.”

Kelly admitted in our phone conversation that his conversations with the athletic directors were handled quietly and confidentially, in an effort to gather information, advice and input on this topic, not to set the wheels in motion on anything.

“What the Commissioners appear to have found objectionable, was my effort to help the coaches frame this matter for consideration at the approaching coaches’ convention in April,” Kelly said.

The argument can also be made that the commissioners took issue with Kelly’s perceived lack of transparency on this issue with them. That could have contributed to “the erosion of trust” as it was put to USCHO.

Kelly, however, felt that he had a responsibility to both parties. He cited that while the HCA signed his pay checks, he felt he also worked for the coaches. That feeling of responsibility to both parties stems from how College Hockey, Inc. was developed.

The wheels on College Hockey, Inc. started rolling due to the coaches’ desire to create an outside entity to assist in the education and recruitment of prospective student-athletes and combat the looming threat of the Canadian Hockey League.

The commissioners association was integral in securing the funds necessary to build College Hockey, Inc., an effort spearheaded by then CCHA commissioner and president of the HCA, Tom Anastos, who is now head men’s ice hockey coach at Michigan State University.

Despite the joint effort to build CHI, the vision of its scope has become increasingly different, and came to a head ultimately with Kelly’s forced resignation.

While Kelly had plans for stepping away from College Hockey, Inc. in about six months, he was still disappointed that he will not be able to see through some of the initiatives he helped get off the ground.

“I had hoped to see through some of these important tasks and initiatives that we had started and it bothers me that some of these things are going to fall by the wayside,” Kelly said.

The former NHLPA executive director expressed great faith in CHI’s interim director Nate Ewell and Jeff Dwyer, CHI’s director of education and recruitment, but also feels the organization will miss his prior experience and connections within the hockey community.

“There’s nobody that can immerse himself in the CBA negotiations with the league and the NHLPA the way I could have. Or negotiate with [CHL President David] Branch or deal with the heads of the ice hockey federations in Sweden and Finland and Norway. They just don’t have those kinds of links and a lot of that stuff just won’t happen.”

In addition to his disappointment of not being able to see the job through, Kelly took particular issue with a report published Thursday by Adam Wodon for College Hockey News.

Wodon got reaction from a few veteran college hockey coaches and Steve Hagwell, ECAC commissioner and president of the Hockey Commissioners Association, on this situation, but did not speak with Kelly. (Editors note: After his piece was published, Wodon expressed on Twitter that he was under the impression that Kelly did not want to speak with CHN and offered an invitation for the former executive director to speak with CHN.)

Both Notre Dame’s Jeff Jackson and Denver’s George Gwozdecky, two giants in the college coaching fraternity, expressed deep dissatisfaction with Kelly’s surprise resignation and high praise for the former CHI exec.

“Paul Kelly is the best thing that happened to college hockey in 25 years,” Jackson said to Wodon.

“There were a lot of very positive things that Paul was developing for us, as a result, you can imagine how disappointed we all are to hear the news,” Gwozdecky told the CHN editor.

Gwozdecky also informed Wodon that he questioned one of the commissioners about the reasons for Kelly’s force out and received none.

Wodon also shared this bit of information from inside sources, which somewhat corroborates USCHO’s earlier report:

Kelly was ultimately asked to resign because the commissioners believed he was making clandestine maneuvers intended to consolidate more power for College Hockey Inc. itself, sources tell College Hockey News. Essentially, rightly or wrongly — and it could be argued that it was a very good idea — Kelly wanted to be the commissioner of college hockey, with all of the authority that the title implies.

After our initial conversation, Kelly reached out through email to respond to some of the accusations levied in the College Hockey News piece, particularly the above text.

“The premise of Mr. Wodon’s article – that I was akin to a ‘renegade coach who skirts the system and is combative with his own athletic department’ and that I was lobbying to be the ‘Commissioner of college hockey’ – is utterly false,” Kelly wrote.

“At all times during my tenure as Executive Director I respected the NCAA system and worked within it. I also did not have a combative relationship with the Hockey Commissioners. In fact, I respected them individually and as a group; we worked well together and enjoyed each other’s company. They helped to shape and support the mission of College Hockey, Inc. and did what they could to give us the tools needed to succeed. We spoke often, including during monthly conference calls, and I regularly provided them with detailed written status reports of our efforts and any significant new developments. The notion that there was friction, or that I was acting independently or contrary to their wishes and objectives is untrue.”

Kelly also took issue with the notion that he was trying to overthrow the NCAA system.

“Just three weeks ago I traveled to Indianapolis for a several hour meeting with officials at the NCAA to discuss a range of topics, from dealing with family advisers to the recruitment of players from Europe. My purpose in doing so was to the ensure that we fully understood and abided by NCAA by-laws and interpretations, and identified areas for possible future legislative change.”

Kelly reiterated that this was not a power grab, but that the issues raised by the coaches are valid and should be closely examined.

“We certainly were not trying to overthrow any system or structure, and neither were the coaches,” Kelly wrote. “However, the coaches did deserve to have their views and vision for what College Hockey, Inc. could and should be properly addressed at the April convention. It appears from recent events that the Commissioners would rather not have this issue raised for legitimate discussion and deliberation.

“The committee of veteran head coaches may have had a different vision of what College Hockey, Inc. could or should be, with sound reasoning and years of experience behind their views, but I was content to fulfill my responsibilities regardless of who was overseeing our efforts.”

In our prior discussion, Kelly also expressed that this issue of the tug-of-war between coaches and commissioners is far from over.

“This issue isn’t going away,” Kelly said.

“That someone is asked to resign or resign, who is in the process of just trying to bring to the floor [the coaches'] desire to at least have an intelligent discussion about something; if the act of talking to athletic directors about that and trying to figure out how do you at least start this discussion is enough to get rid of the person, something is dramatically wrong.”

As suggested in a post earlier this week, the recent happenings with Kelly’s resignation bring the many fractures in college hockey’s power structure to the forefront.

That coaches are unhappy with the direction of college hockey and the limitations of the NCAA are unsurprising. In fact, it’s stereotypical more than anything.

College hockey is faced with a set of unique challenges that no other NCAA sport faces. That is a fact. While Kelly insisted that he had no aspirations for power, he did outline what an independent entity could do for college hockey, based on the ideas of a committee of veteran coaches.

“I think [an independent entity] can and should [exist],” Kelly said.

Without a hint of irony, Kelly pointed to the Canadian Hockey League as an example of what an overseeing umbrella can do for a fractioned organization.

“There’s the Ontario league (OHL), Western Hockey League, and the Quebec league (QMJHL) than overarching that, they have the CHL office. It’s the CHL which negotiates a number of things like national sponsorships and national television and deals with their Memorial Cup. They have an umbrella entity that handles certain aspects and it’s critically important and it gives them a certain consistency and clout in working together as a 60-team super league.”

Hard to believe the man recently dedicated to challenging the CHL for recruits paying such a high compliment, but it is an intriguing analogy.

College hockey’s conference structure, as evidenced most recently by the flurry of realignment, operates very much in an every-man-for-himself fashion.

“Having commonly five conferences, soon to be six conferences, and you may one day have the Ivy League spinning out for seven conferences, what you get is very parochial interests,” Kelly said.

Kelly pointed to the recent television deals struck by Notre Dame and Hockey East with NBC and the NCHC’s recently announced deal with CBS Sports Network, as two instances where it was singular conferences looking out for their best interests. Kelly surmises that an umbrella that oversees all of college hockey could potentially work out television deals that benefit each conference, pointing to the ECAC and Atlantic Hockey being left “to the side.”

Kelly said that the coaches’ vision for an umbrella entity would find a way to ensure that all conferences reap some rewards.

“In their view, if you have a commissioner or a central office, an objective, independent office, whose job it was to oversee the best interest of college hockey: Marketing, promotion, certain business initiatives, championships, special events, dealings with the NCAA on bylaw issues and rule issues, etc., that in fact you would help all of the programs. You would particularly help the small programs that don’t have the resources, the have nots, that need an entity to kind of look after their best interests.”

Kelly admitted that College Hockey, Inc., could be the beginnings of that entity, but that it didn’t have to be. It could still operate as the educational arm, while a different group takes on the other responsibilities under the umbrella.

There is some concern on Kelly’s part that the current setup with the commissioners looking out for their own interests won’t help the game advance or expand.

“[The commissioners] are looking at these developments through the lens of their conference, their region of the country,” Kelly said. “They’re not looking at it through the lens of the greater good, the longterm best interest of the sport as a whole and that’s what concerns the coaches.”

It appears that a good portion of college hockey’s coaches are in concert on their vision for the game. That could cause a certain amount of consternation at the annual coaches convention in Naples, Fla., this April.

“This issue isn’t going to fade,” Kelly said. “The fact that the coaches hold a certain view of what college hockey can be, should be, will be in the future, if anything, the recent developments will cause the issue to come to the surface, which is ultimately probably going to be a good thing.”

While the coaches and the commissioners butt heads, none of either party’s ideas or visions for the future can come to fruition without a collective green light from the real power brokers in college athletics:

“The athletic directors. They employ the coaches. They employ the commissioners,” Kelly said. “How do you get that group to reach some consensus?”

That’s the million dollar question, and one that won’t come with an easy answer.

What happened to Kelly isn’t the story. It is what comes next. Clearly, the coaches and commissioners are not on the same page. This issue is far from over and there is no clear vision of when this might end.

With the athletic directors, a group of individuals with more than just ice hockey to worry about, holding all the power, how will they deal with this current disconnect? Are we headed for a quiet return to the status quo? Will the coaches have enough pull with their bosses to force more college hockey introspection? Who will support the commissioners?

What we do know is that Paul Kelly will not be taking part in this discussion, which is certain to dissapoint the former College Hockey, Inc. executive director who had become a strong voice in the ever-changing college hockey landscape.

“My capable staff and I worked very hard to market college hockey and expand its geographic footprint, to educate elite young players of the many benefits of playing NCAA hockey, and to seek out new approaches to protect and promote the sport,” Kelly said. “I am proud of the work we did, but disappointed that I will not be able to see through to conclusion many of the important and ongoing initiatives we had underway.”

While Kelly is disappointed that his tenure came to an abrupt end, college hockey will always have a place in his heart.

“I’ve enjoyed the opportunity,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed the role and enjoyed being an advocate for college hockey. I believe very firmly in the mission and the message. That’s never going to change. I’ll probably continue to be an advocate for college hockey regardless of what I do in the future.”

Coming off of a near insufferable off-season in which the entire college hockey world was turned upside down by realignment, it appears we are headed for yet another messy summer; the kind that even the most seasoned janitor wouldn’t go near.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Battle over North Dakota Fighting Sioux nickname ramps up
The Fighting Sioux logo has been a point of contention for years and the issue seems to be coming to a head.

Ryan Kennedy, The Hockey News, 2012-03-01

Fighting Sioux fans, I have some advice for you. Actually, wait – can I call you Fighting Sioux fans? Not sure where the lawsuits are at today.

Anyway, for those unaware, the University of North Dakota has once again been thrust into the spotlight because of its Fighting Sioux nickname. The NCAA sent a letter to the school stating that the potential of forfeiting post-season games is now a real possibility if the team logo or nickname is displayed on its uniforms. The women’s team will already play any national post-season games on the road, even if they earn a high seed – the NCAA’s policy against what it deems to be an offensive nickname prevents the school from hosting playoff events (conference games are different).

If you’re not familiar with the controversy, here’s a quick and dirty primer: When the NCAA cracked down on nicknames a few years ago, schools could earn an exemption if the peoples of the local tribes involved were OK with it. That’s why the Florida State Seminoles retain their famous moniker, while Miami, Ohio ditched ‘Redmen’ in favor of ‘RedHawks.’

North Dakota was in a bit of a spot because there are two separate Sioux tribes in the state. The Spirit Lake Sioux gave consent to use the name, while the Standing Rock Sioux did not. The school had three years to convince the tribe otherwise, but could not. Therefore, the NCAA said the name had to go. A lot of legislation, bad feelings and paperwork ensued and the issue still isn’t resolved. North Dakota legislators even passed a pro-Fighting Sioux law stating the team had to wear the logo and name on its uniforms, essentially daring the NCAA to come after them. Now it’s happening.

Of course it’s the players who lose out here. The men’s team has “neutral-themed” jerseys on order in case the squad makes it to the Frozen Four – and with 15 NHL draft picks on the roster, including first-rounders Brock Nelson and Derek Forbort, that’s not a stretch – but state law would prevent them from wearing the alternative sweaters. What, exactly, is the university’s sports department supposed to do?

I understand how passionate the people of North Dakota are about the Fighting Sioux name and “Indian Head” logo, but optics are not on their side. When Ralph Engelstad dedicated $100 million to build the arena that bears his name, he made sure there were so many logos included inside that stripping them off would be nearly impossible. He also dictated that North Dakota hockey had to retain the Fighting Sioux name and look in order to play there. It’s pretty obvious he knew what was going to happen, just as the state’s legislators only passed the pro-Sioux law in order to stick it to the NCAA.

But the fun and games ends now because North Dakota needs the NCAA more than the other way around. A Frozen Four without UND would be a shame, given that recent alumni include Jonathan Toews, Zach Parise and T.J. Oshie. But Michigan, Boston College and Minnesota bring just as much profile to the table.

On the other hand, what high-profile recruit is going to come to a school that literally has no shot at a national title? Here’s a perfect case study for you: Right now, top 2013 draft prospect Seth Jones is deciding where he’ll play next season. The U.S. national team development program defenseman can head to the Western League’s Everett Silvertips, or a college program. One school high on his list is North Dakota. Jones would be the biggest UND recruit since Toews – in fact, one NHL exec told me it was unfair for the 2011 draft-eligible blueliners on the NTDP when Jones was on the ice, because all the scouts were watching the Texas native. That was last year, when he was supposed to be with the under-17 team, not the under-18s.

So ask yourself, Fighting Sioux supporters: What’s the name and logo worth if there’s no one around worthy enough to wear it?

—–

One of my friends played for UND way back in the day (before the new rink) but he has gone back for some slumni events and told me this is perhaps the best rink he has ever been inside. He claims it is better than most NHL rinks… and he has been to quite a few of those in his day. I hope they get this naming issue settled. Far too many times, we make a mountain out of a molehill.)

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

WHL PeeWee Prospects Camp Announced

Gregg Drinnan, Taking Note, March 8 2012

BOOM! The WHL has fired a shot across the bow of the NCAA’s ship. . . . The WHL announced Wednesday that it will hold a prospects camp at in Calgary, March 23-25. What is interesting about this camp is that it is open, according to a news release, to “Major Pee Wee (1999-born) AA players across Alberta.” . . . Again, according to the news release, the camp “will be the first in a series of prospect camps the WHL will be staging, focusing on player development and education.” . . . Players attending that camp will be 12 and 13 years of age. . . . The WHL also holds an annual U.S. prospects camp in Anaheim, which is in California, and will hold a camp for 1998-born players in Calgary in August.

—–

The younger these leagues can get the propoganda into the parents and players face, the better for those leagues (but not necessarily for the athletes and kids if only one point of view is provided!) The NCAA can't initiate contact until the end of the athlete's Grade 10 (?) year. But kids and parents can initiate contact with the NCAA programs… This battle is going to get more involved before it (ever?) gets solved!

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Western, McGill advance to CIS men's hockey final

FREDERICTON— The Canadian Press, Mar. 24, 2012

The University of Western Ontario Mustangs are playing every game like it's their last at the Canadian university men's hockey championship.

Keaton Turkiewicz had a goal and an assist as Western advanced to the championship final with a 3-2 upset victory over top-seeded New Brunswick Varsity Reds on Saturday.

No. 4 Western will now meet No. 2 McGill in Sunday's final in a rematch of the Queen's Cup. The Mustangs lost that game 4-1.

“We've played some great games, but in terms of playing with a desperate energy inside of you, every game (at the University Cup) has seemed like an overtime game for us,” said Western defenceman Adam Aarssen. “I'm really proud of how the guys have worked so far. I haven't seen that out of the guys many times this year and it's great to see we're rising at the right time.”

The Redmen booked a spot in the final earlier in the day, despite a 4-3 loss to the No. 3 Saskatchewan Huskies in the other semi-fnial. McGill advanced thanks to a better goal differential.

Jason Furlong's short-handed goal at 17:48 of the first period stood up as the eventual winner for Western. The Mustangs had a 3-0 lead after the first period, with Dominic De Sando also scoring in the frame. Goaltender Josh Unice made 31 saves and was named player of the game for Western.

“I think we even elevated our game (from Thursday),” said Unice. “Guys were diving and we had, who I feel is the best player in the CIS (Aarssen) putting his bare hands in front of pucks just to block them.”

“It's a great attribute of our team. We have a lot of sacrifice in our locker room.”

New Brunswick scored twice on the power-play goal in the third period on goals by Jon Harty and Kyle Bailey, but couldn't complete the comeback. Travis Fullerton made 40 saves for UNB.

“It's tough right now and obviously we've done some incredible things over the past five years and one of those things is developing this expectancy (to win),” said fifth-year player and New Brunswick captain Bailey.

“I'm sure there's however many teams here that are dancing around happy that we lost right now, but in our dressing room it's an expectation, we're expected to win and win expect to win in our locker room. It didn't happen today and it's disappointing.”

Earlier on Saturday, Huskies captain Kyle Ross scored the winner during a power play with five minutes remaining in regulation.

The second-seeded Redmen could afford to lose to the Huskies by two goals or less and still qualify for the championship match. The OUA champions had doubled the Moncton Aigles Bleus 6-3 on Thursday, while Saskatchewan lost 5-1 to Moncton on Friday.

The three teams finished Pool B with identical 1-1 records but McGill advanced on a goal differential.

It's the Redmen's second straight appearance in the gold medal game. They dropped a 4-0 decision last year to UNB.

Kyle Bortis had a goal and two assists while Derek Hulak and Cory Smuk also scored for Saskatchewan.

Netminder Ryan Holfeld of Leroy, Sask., delivered a 40-save performance for the Huskies.

Captain Evan Vossen, Francis Verreault-Paul of Mashteuiatsh, Que., and defenceman Keven Dupont of St-Charles-de-Bellechasse, Que., had the goals for McGill.

Morin, a native of St-Georges-de-Beauce, Que., turned aside 26 of 30 pucks fired his way.

—–

A highly entertaining game! Can't wait for the final tomorrow!

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

The Decision: OHL or U.S. college?
Eric Cornel is on the fence when trying to decide between the OHL and U.S. college

Andrew Duffy, The Ottawa Citizen March 24, 2012

The last big decision in Eric Cornel’s life required him to choose a high school. His hometown, Kemptville, has two. Most of his friends were going to one of them.

“Yeah, I guess it really wasn’t that tough,” concedes Cornel, a Grade 10 student at St. Michael’s Catholic High School.

Yet the decision that now faces the 15-year-old is, undeniably, a whopper: It will determine the course of his education and his hockey career.

Both are currently flourishing.

Cornel, captain of the minor midget AAA Upper Canada Cyclones, is widely regarded as the best 15-year-old hockey player in the region. This season, in minor midget, he recorded almost two points per game. At the recent Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria, he registered nine points in six games.

The playmaking centre is projected to be a Top 10 pick in next month’s Ontario Hockey League (OHL) draft. One scouting service, TheScout.ca, has him going sixth overall.

But Cornel is also an honour roll student — he carries an 88 average at St. Michael’s — and is being recruited by Boston College, one of the most successful programs in U.S. college hockey. He has also paid visits to other schools interested in his services: The University of New Hampshire and the Ivy League’s Harvard and Cornell.

Sometime in the next month, Cornel must decide whether to take the well-travelled Canadian road or a scenic American detour to his NHL destination. It is the kind of decision that every young hockey player dreams of facing. But that doesn’t make it any easier — especially for someone not yet old enough to drive.

“It’s tough,” Cornel says. “It doesn’t keep me up at night, but when I have spare time, in class or whatever, I find myself thinking about it … I know I’m fortunate: I have lots of options and both have their benefits. So that makes the decision even harder.”

Junior hockey has always offered the shortest route to the NHL, but U.S. college represents an increasingly attractive alternative. This year, 30 per cent of those who have played at least one game in the NHL have college experience.

So what should Cornel do?

If he goes to the OHL, he’ll be able to play next year against top-flight competition, the kind that can accelerate a player’s development. He’ll face a 68-game schedule that some believe best prepares a player for the rigours of the NHL.

What’s more, if he succeeds, Cornel is highly likely to be drafted into the pro ranks: About 20 per cent of NHL draft picks have come from the OHL in recent years. Eleven of last year’s 30 first-round picks came from the league; the year before, nine first-round picks came from the OHL, including the entire top three.

Cornel would have his school-related costs, along with his room and board, paid for by his OHL team. A scholarship program would also cover one year of post-secondary education for each year he’s in the league.

On the downside, Cornel will have little control over where he plays — and his university education could be put on hold for a time.

The U.S. college route obviously offers a more robust educational experience: Cornel would be living on campus and surrounded by other student-athletes.

An Ivy League education costs more than $50,000 a year. Cornel could have four years of that education largely paid for through scholarships or bursaries (the Ivy League does not offer athletic scholarships) and still emerge with a legitimate shot at a pro hockey career. Boston College has a dozen players in the NHL, including Montreal’s Brian Gionta and Pittsburgh’s Brooks Orpik, while Princeton, Harvard, Cornell and Dartmouth each have several players in the league.

If he goes the college route, Cornel will control what team — and coach — he plays for in the U.S.

But the college route also presents some problems. Since Cornel still has two years before he graduates from high school, he’ll have to play in a lesser league until then: Either with the Kemptville 73’s of the Central Canada Hockey League or at a U.S. prep school (he loses U.S. college eligibility if he plays in the OHL).

What’s more, U.S. college teams are restricted to 34 regular-season games a year — half an OHL season — limiting the opportunity for development.

Many players with modest academic skills publicly muse about going the college route in order to deter certain OHL teams from selecting them; they’ll whisper the truth about their intentions only to select coaches in the cities where they want to play.

But Cornel, for one, is not bluffing. He understands that an Ivy League education offers a much more certain path to success than hockey. He has strong marks in math and science. Last year, in Grade 9, he earned an 89.6 average while playing a raft of varsity sports, including basketball, volleyball and soccer. He wants a career in sports medicine or physiotherapy if a life in hockey doesn’t materialize.

“School is something I take pride in — I have always worked hard,” says Eric, whose mother, Heidi, is a supply teacher. “My parents have always been pretty good at making us understand that homework just has to get done.”

The 6-1, 165-pound Cornel is built of hard, sharp angles; his wide-set brown eyes dominate his still-narrow face. Potential drips from him like an XL T-shirt.

So which way is he leaning? The OHL, with its lure of a fast ride to the NHL? Or U.S. college and its priceless education?

“I’m pretty much stuck right in the middle,” Cornel says.

He’ll rely on his parents to help him make a final decision. His father, Rob, an electrical engineer for Alcatel-Lucent in Kanata, says the decision would be simpler if they could see two or three years down the road.

“If we had a crystal ball, it would be easy.”

Rob expects hockey considerations will weigh evenly against academic ones.

“Eric is disciplined enough that he won’t let one slide because of the other no matter where he goes,” he says. “He has that drive about him.”

Hockey agent Andy Scott says there are hockey families that struggle with the same decision every year.

“The best thing we can do is put all of the options on the table,” says Scott, a University of Ottawa law school graduate who works with the Octagon sports management agency.

Unscrupulous agents, he says, will push young clients into the OHL because the player’s pro potential will be revealed within two years, limiting a firm’s investment.

Scott says Cornel needs to do what’s best for the long term.

“For Eric, it’s really, really tough because he’s going to be a Top 10 pick for sure if he decides to go OHL. For a kid like that, the upside is huge,” Scott says. “But at the same time, he’s an ‘A’ student. He has all of his options open. For him to come out of an Ivy League program or a Boston College, with a degree and no debt — and not to shut doors to a pro career — is huge.”

So how does he make up his mind?

“It will be whatever feels right,” says Cornel, who often sounds older than he is. “And it will be whatever I think is the best fit for my development, not only as a hockey player but as a person.”

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Wickenheiser leads Calgary to CIS hockey crown

EDMONTON — The Canadian Press, Mar. 11, 2012

Add CIS champion to Hayley Wickenheiser's impressive list of accomplishments.

Wickenheiser scored two goals and added two assists as the University of Calgary Dinos won their first ever CIS women's hockey championship with a 5-1 victory over the Universite de Montreal Carabins on Sunday at the University of Alberta's Clare Drake Arena.

It's the latest in a long run of hockey accomplishments for the 33-year-old Wickenheiser, who has led Canada to three Olympic golds and a silver and six world championships.

“This one is surprisingly very special,” she said. “It's not been an easy road for this team. Playing in this league has brought a lot of challenges. A lot of people wrote us off. I'm really proud of how much these girls have improved in a year's time. It's remarkable.”

Dinos' head coach Danielle Goyette, Wickenheiser's former teammate on the national team, was soaking in every moment after the victory.

“It was their Olympics,” she said. “As a player when you win something you have some emotion. But as a coach you multiply that by 23. It's hard to describe. The players worked so hard for this.

“At one point they thought about cutting this program and now five years since I have been there, here we are. This is just going to make this program better.”

Jenna Smith, Elana Lovell and Iya Gavrilova also scored for the third-ranked Dinos, who were making just their second appearance in the national championship tournament, having finished fifth in 2001 when they were the host team.

Calgary goalie Amanda Tapp was named the tournament MVP.

“It's amazing,” said the Calgary native. “To win it so close to home and have our parents be able to be here. It was very special to be able to share this. I'm just so proud to be a part of this program.”

It was the 18th consecutive win this season for the Dinos.

Elizabeth Mantha scored the lone goal for the sixth-seeded Carabins, also making their first appearance in a national final after just three years in the CIS.

“Just getting to the final was a great accomplishment for us,” said Montreal head coach Isabelle Leclaire. “We played an amazing game, probably one of our best performances ever. We had a lot of scoring opportunities. I have every reason to be proud of this.”

While some may question having a player of Wickenheiser's stature playing at the college level, Leclaire doesn't have a problem with it.

“We've faced other teams that have players with the national program as well,” she said. “I think it is a good learning experience for our players. I think they just realized that they can compete against a team like that and against a player who is among the best in the world. If you can compete against her, you can compete against anybody, which is a positive.”

It was a tight defensive battle for much of the first period before Canadian Olympic team mainstay Wickenheiser took over.

With 3:14 left in the opening frame, Wickenheiser put on a show short handed, cutting through the defence before scoring on a backhand.

Just over a minute later Wickenheiser scored her second of the match. She sent a wrist shot over the shoulder of Montreal goalie Rachel Ouellette for a 2-0 Calgary lead heading into the second period.

Tapp kept it a two-goal game with a huge stop on a partial breakaway by Kim Deschenes and several more quality saves during a Montreal power play midway through the second.

The Dinos went up 3-0 with just over a minute remaining in the middle period as Smith tipped home a point blast from Casey Irving.

Calgary extended their lead to four goals just over a minute and a half into the third as Wickenheiser made a nice feed to set up an easy tap in at the side of the net for Gavrilova.

The Carabins finally got on the board six minutes into the third as Mantha scored on a power play point blast.

Calgary went up 5-1 just past the period's midway point as Lovell intercepted a shot in front of the net and undressed Ouellette with a deft move to the backhand.

Earlier in the day, McGill defeated Wilfred Laurier 4-0 in the bronze medal match while the U of A Pandas got past UPEI 1-0 in the fifth-place game.

Notes: The Carabins upset top-seeded Wilfred Laurier 6-5 and then fourth-ranked UPEI 4-1 to advance through to the gold-medal game… The Dinos won both of their games to punch their own ticket to the final, defeating McGill 1-0 and the University of Alberta by a 4-2 score… In addition to former Canadian Olympians Wickenheiser and Goyette, the U of C team also featured former Russian Olympian Iya Gavrilova… Wickenheiser has posted 72 points in 31 games in two seasons with the Dinos… The defending champion McGill University Martlets had appeared in five consecutive gold-medal games in the tournament prior to missing out this season and had won three of the last four CIS championships.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

McGill stops Western for CIS men’s hockey crown

FREDERICTON— The Canadian Press, Mar. 25, 2012

Evan Vossen ended his CIS men's hockey career in spectacular fashion.

The McGill captain scored in overtime as the Redmen won their first CIS men's hockey title in program history, beating the Western Mustangs 4-3 Sunday.

Vossen broke into the Western zone to the right of goaltender Josh Unice 6:00 into overtime. He fanned on his shot, but the puck slid through Unice's pads.

“It's like a storybook ending,” Vossen said. “I mean overtime, my last game, a national championship. It doesn't get any better than that and I'm very grateful for that.”

Vossen said he was going to go high, but with Unice taking away the top half of the net he just wanted to put the puck on goal.

“He whiffed,” Unice said. “He made a wicked play over the blue-line and we know they like to go three guys hard to the net. We didn't want to give up the two-on-one on the backside.”

“I'm pretty sure he tried to go high with it and it tricked me and it went in.”

McGill lost in the 2011 final 4-0 to the UNB Varsity Reds.

“McGill is one of the oldest hockey teams,” said McGill forward Francis Verreault-Paul. “This is huge part of the history of the program in the future. I'm in my fourth year. In the first year we won no games, won one in my second, and lost in the final last year.

“We learned from mistakes and now we're champions.”

Alexandre Picard-Hooper assisted on the winner to break the all-time points record for the Redmen. He ended his career with 268 points in 175 games.

Verreault-Paul was named the tournament MVP. The trophy, named after former NHL supervisor of officials Major Danny McLeod, was presented by McLeod himself.

“I'm really proud of winning this, but you know I couldn't win this by myself,” Verreault-Paul said. “I had a lot of good bounces this tournament that I was able to capitalize on and I'm really honoured to be named the MVP.”

Benoit Levesque added a pair of goals for the Redmen, while Nicholas Biniek also scored. Hubert Morin stopped 19 of 22 shots.

Keaton Turkiewicz scored a pair of goals for the Mustangs, while Kevin Baker had the other Western goal. Unice made 38 saves.

“I just tried to do what I'm supposed to do and in the end there's a couple things I wish I could have done differently,” Unice said. “I owe it to the team. We battled hard and never gave up all the way to the last second. We did a lot of things this year that no one thought we could have.”

McGill will lose eight or nine players from this championship, making it more difficult to repeat next year.

“It's going to be another fresh start for the program next year,” Verreault-Paul said. “I won't be here, but after seeing this team win a national championship, the future is bright for the program.”

Unice was named the goaltender of the tournament all-star team.

UNB's Jonathan Harty and McGill's Marc-Andre Dorion were named as defencemen.

Turkiewicz, Verreault-Paul and Picard-Hooper were named all-star forwards.

—–

The neat back story: Mike Babcock (Detroit) is an alum of McGill; playing there in the mid 80's. He allowed McGill's head coach (Kelly Nobes) to come to the Red Wing training camp for 10 days and observe. Kelly got to sit in on all the discussions, etc. and said it was an incredibly wonderful PD experience. (No doubt – one lucky guy!) Mike didn't really know Kelly prior; it is a tribute to Mike's love for his old team and desire to give back to McGill that allowed this to happen. It would be great if more (former college) coaches in these positions did the same! (I have heard of some doing it; even former junior coaches moving to the NHL and allowing the 'new' junior coach from their 'old' team to have some interaction with them.) Hats off to Mike for the opportunity and to McGill for winning a great game!

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Leo-Guy Morrissette is still a Titan of controversy in the QMJHL

Sunaya Sapurji, Yahoo! Sports, Mar 31 2012

There’s never a dull moment in the QMJHL, in part because of the many outspoken and colourful characters the league seems to attract.

The latest controversy in the Quebec league surrounds comments made by Acadie-Bathurst Titan owner Leo-Guy Morrissette, in which the long-time lightning rod alleges his fellow QMJHL owners are using their riches to help entice high-profile players to join their teams.

Saint John Sea Dogs owner Scott McCain seems to be Morrissette’s biggest target, though Quebec Remparts owner Patrick Roy as well as the Moncton Wildcats, Rimouski Oceanic and Shawinigan Cataractes are also name-dropped in his accusations.

“They use money because they have money,” Morrissette told Peter McGuire, sports editor of the Telegraph-Journal. “They have more money than me for sure. Mr. McCain is a nice guy but his organization uses that money. They use too much money. They can have more (NHL) first-round picks on their teams, European and American players. Mr. Coyle is a very good player, eh… . You need a lot of money for that. Patrick Roy, Shawinigan, Mr. McCain … other teams can’t fight with this.”

“Mr. Coyle,” better known in Saint John as Charlie Coyle, was a big free agent acquisition for the Sea Dogs in December, when he decided to leave Boston University and sign with the defending Memorial Cup champions. Since joining the Sea Dogs, the Minnesota Wild prospect has been on a tear. In Saint John’s four-game sweep of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Coyle scored nine goals and added four assists. So the rich got richer, so to speak.

It seems like time has not tempered Morrissette’s ire since he was equally displeased when Coyle was signed, telling Le Nouvelliste reporter Steve Turcotte: “Une équipe qui achète les championnats, ça n’a pas d’affaire dans notre ligue!” or roughly translated: “A team that buys championships, has no business in our league!”

Allegations of players receiving “impermissible benefits” have been around forever – in all three branches of the Canadian Hockey League – but what makes this most interesting is that this is coming from a team owner and not some scuttlebutt heard around the rink or posted on a message board. The idea of owners turning on each other is no doubt causing headaches for QMJHL commissioner Giles Courteau and CHL president Dave Branch. As we’ve been told ad nauseam, the CHL is a beacon for all that is good, safe and decent in junior hockey. Under-the-table payments and shady dealings – that only happens in the NCAA, right?

Understandably, Sea Dogs owner Scott McCain was none too pleased to have Morrissette air the league’s alleged dirty laundry in the press. Although, in a league with Morrissette, Patrick Roy and Cataractes GM Martin Mondou, the public airing of grievances is almost a daily occurrence.

“It is somewhat disturbing that [Morrissette] would make these statements,” McCain wrote in an email to the Telegraph-Journal. “It’s not good for owners to be critical of each other in public. If Leo-Guy has a concern, he can call me directly and voice his opinions. Being critical towards my ownership of the Saint John Sea Dogs does nothing to promote harmony in our league and it is truly unfortunate.”

Sure, it would make for better business to keep these kinds of accusations private, but that wouldn’t be much fun, would it? One thing that has always made the QMJHL most interesting – from a media perspective, at least—is the fact that many of their owners, general managers and coaches aren’t afraid to speak their minds for fear of fines.

This year alone, Patrick Roy has paid the QMJHL $12,000 in fines because of his comments. Of course that’s a drop in the bucket, because as Morrissette has already noted, Patrick Roy is rich.

The odd thing about this, though, is the fact that the Morrissette family (Leo-Guy and his five brothers) were always accused of bending the rules when they were owners of teams in the QMJHL during the mid-1990s. Rumours of trading elite players amongst themselves for playoff runs, at a heavy discount, were always rampant back when Leo-Guy Morrissette was running the Titan franchise in Laval.

In 1998, the year Morrissette moved the team to Acadie-Bathurst, N.B., the Titan were involved in one of the biggest scandals in QMJHL history over a trade with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. The convoluted deal involved more than 10 players, prospects, draft picks, and cash—which contravened the league’s bylaws. Courteau spent six weeks investigating the transaction and found both teams guilty of collusion, fining each franchise $100,000 and taking away their first-round draft picks for the following two years (2000 and 2001). Morrissette denied any wrongdoing and threatened to take the league to court.

It’s hard to believe that more than a decade later, Morrissette is now the Robin Hood figure trying to fight against the rich teams on behalf of the QMJHL’s poor ones.

“It’s a bit funny to see that because he used to be one of the kings of the league,” said veteran QMJHL reporter Stephane Leroux of RDS. “Now he’s not the king anymore and that’s why he’s crying. But I can understand, because he’s playing in a small market and he can’t fight equally with all those other teams, that’s for sure.”

And while his brothers eventually left the QMJHL, Morrissette has stayed on in Acadie-Bathurst, one of the smallest markets in the league. No longer having the same kind of clout in the league might be taking its toll on the long-time owner.

“He’s like a supporting actor in a movie,” said Leroux, who has been covering the QMJHL for RDS since 1990. “He’s not the big star now, so he’s tired of not getting the chance to have the big Europeans like the Radulovs or the Grigorenkos. He doesn’t have the money needed to afford those big European players that are coming over to play here. He’s tired of that and he’s complaining about it.”

Like some of his newer QMJHL counterparts, Morrissette has never been one to shy away from controversy. Back in their heyday, the Morrissettes were nicknamed “The Daltons” by long-time Journal de Montreal scribe Marc Lachapelle, after the outlaw brothers in the Lucky Luke cartoons.

“He’s from the old school,” said Leroux of Morrissette. “That was the old junior stuff of the 1990s in the league, but it’s not like that anymore. Leo-Guy is coming from that time when he used to have control, and he doesn’t have that anymore.”

—–

There have always been rumours in regard to paying the top bantam picks / list players / NCAA players to come to the CHL. I remember hearing stories about Tri-Cities offering Terry Ryan $100,000 to 'burn' his potential scholarship offers to the NCAA (he was playing Tier 2 at the time) by signing in Tri. He did and was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens, but never had a notable NHL career. I imagine things like this happen behind closed doors in both Major Junior and the NCAA…

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[Author]

Posts