Quick OHL note from The 613: Kingston centreman Jordan Mayer, who was a top-10 pick of the Soo Greyhounds in the draft, has elected not to report in order to protect his NCAA eligibility.
So the Frontenacs have company in having a no-show first pick! Link via Junior Hockey Blog.)
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I'm seeing more and more top drafted players opt for NCAA Hockey rather than playing in the CHL - this is a disturbing trend
It certainly hasn't come in a vacuum and the league really needs to do something. It seems like it's the "outlying" franchises such as the Soo in Northern Ontario and Kingston in Eastern Ontario which are being effected the most.
Something like the CIS policy on players with pro experience could help the situation. In the CIS, every season you played pro after turning 21 docks you a year's eligibility.
Why not say you can play OHL up to age 19, and then go NCAA and have 4 full years? If you play as a 19-year-old, you get 3 years. The NCAA might not mind, seeing as they have American kids out of prep schools leave after their junior season all the time.
The NCAA considers the CHL a "pro" league for a number of reasons. First off, the kids are being paid. Yes, it's only pizza money, but some are getting more pizza money than others, but they are getting paid, and that's a huge no-no. Secondly, (and this is the deal breaker), players who have agents, have signed pro contracts and taken bonus money from pro teams roam the league freely. I just can't see how the NCAA could ever reconcile themselves to that.
Great point, Dennis. They do allow players who are playing minor-league and even major-league baseball (remember Danny Ainge playing for the Jays while he was an all-America basketball player at BYU) and have received huge signing bonuses to play football... there it's just not the same sport. That's how they get around it.
Hey, no doubt that the NCAA is one of the most hypocritical organizations going. It's just that I can't ever see them revisiting their stance on the CHL. Taking a "hard line" on that is part of what helps them pretend they are pure as the driven snow, all the while ignoring abysmal graduation rates at many schools. It helps that the CHL is Canadian, as it is a lot easier for them to take a "hard line" against Canadian junior hockey than against American minor league baseball.
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