Tag Archives: Transfers

Post #106 – 7/7/23 – Friday’s Sifters + A Little Extra:

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Little lobs of news and info from around the world of women’s college hockey and beyond

The Women’s College Hockey Pipeline…

Stay informed. Get educated. Become ‘HOCKEY-WISE’!

Your leading online resource for NCAA Women’s College Hockey

Latest From… The Women’s College Hockey Podcast – Episode #3B…

  • Episode #3A Part I – Is Now LIVE|The Recap

Friday’s Sifters

D-III Positions Open Up, NGHL News, Hockey East Facility Get’s An Upgrade and More, Teams Get It Done In The Classroom, + A Little Extra

Two D-III Head Coaching positions opened up this week. The National Girls Hockey League welcomes new teams, a Hockey East program get’s a rink upgrade.

Plus, several NHL Development Camps took place this week with NCAA female D-I coaches taking part.

July is shaping up to be one busy month on the recruiting trail for NCAA coaches.

Let’s get to it.

Coaching/Staff News At RMU, UCONN, Univ. of New England, SUNY-Cortland, SUNY-Potsdam

Robert Morris University… Head Coach Logan Bittle has announced the hiring of Operation Coordinator Patrick Barry to round out his coaching and support staff. Barry previously worked in operations and video with Penn St. You can read more on his hiring HERE.

UCONN… Has hired a new Director of Women’s Hockey Operations and Equipment Matt LaMalfa.

University of New England… Long time University of New England Head Coach David Vendetti has resigned according to a press release put out by the school. A national search for his replacement will be conducted.

SUNY-Cortland… Has posted for its part-time Assistant Coach position.

SUNY-Potsdam… Has announced a national search for a new Head Coach.

FEIA Joins National Girls Hockey League

The NGHL has a new hockey program joining for this coming 23-24 season – Fort Erie International Academy. Located in Fort Erie, Ontario just south of Niagara Falls, the FEIA girls hockey program enters its full 2nd season. Designed as a traditional boarding school, FEIA aims to attract International students in grade 6-12.

The NGHL provides opportunities for girls from the U10 to U19 age group and in the Tier I and Tier II competitive categories. The NGHL has teams literally from coast to coast.

For more information on the NGHL or the FEIA just click the links ➡️ NGHL ➡️ FEIA

Merrimack Get’s New Rink Upgrades

A multi-million dollar gift from Richard H’15 and Susanna Gallant will pave the way for transformative renovations to Lawler Rink. A new luxury pavilion with premium seating at the north end of the rink, enhanced luxury suites, modernized game day club experience, and new designated areas for media, broadcasts and the Merrimack Marching Band. There is a short video of what the future renovations will look like below:

Conference Academic Award Season

We know it’s July and the academic year has been over for a few months, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t news to share. Several D-I conferences have announced All-Academic Team selections.

Conferences have their own academic award criteria, but it’s usually some form of players having a 3.0 or better for 2 or more semesters.

Vermont and Merrimack led Hockey East with 23 selections each.

Yale was tops in the ECAC with 27 selections.

Mercyhurst lead the way in College Hockey America with 26 selections.

You can read each conference’s All-Academic Team release here: ➡️ Hockey East ➡️ ECAC ➡️ CHA

Extras

NCAA Coaches Have An Important July Ahead Of Them

D-I and D-III coaches have a lot at stake this month. With player commitments being made and multiple high profile events taking place mid-month, like USA Hockey’s Under 18 Select Camp or some of the Canadian Provincial Under 18 evaluation camps, July is proving to be a busy but important time of year.

With June 15 in the rear-view mirror and the first wave of recruits making commitment decisions, programs are constantly having to re-adjusting their recruiting priorities. Especially at his time of year given the recruiting cycle, sometimes a player who didn’t start out as high on the list, now either winds up there because teams didn’t get the recruit they wanted or, they have a short window of time to prove they deserve to be there.

And as decisions/commitments happen in D-I, D-III recruiting is greatly impacted. D-III coaches are making commitments themselves with players who know a D-III school is what they want. Subsequently, players that were ‘keeping the D-I dream alive’ and get told ‘NO’ from the D-I schools they were holding out for, could lost a spot at D-III.

It will be a very interesting few weeks as coaches will be using these upcoming events to make some important recruiting decisions.

Here’s just a partial list of events taking place this July that are likely to have a big impact on recruiting decisions.

  • July 11-16, Alberta Provincial U18 Camp
  • July 13-16 Ontario Provincial U18 Camp
  • July 16-22, USA U18 Select Camp (Oxford, OH – Miami University)
  • July 17-19, NAE – North American Elite July Showcase (Haverhill, MA)
  • July 20-23, British Columbia U18 Provincial Camp
  • July 28-30, Beantown Showcase (Marlborough, MA, NESC)

Until Next Time Everyone… Be Well and take Care,

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is wch-pic-logo-header-circle-3-12-21.jpg

-Streams for games in the ECAC can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams in the WCHA can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Hockey East once again is streaming all game live and for FREE.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. can be found HERE. Paid subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams for NEWHA games can be found at each teams’ website. Subscriptions may be necessary to watch games.

NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.

Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.

Grant Kimball is founder and contributing writer at Women’s College Hockey.org and beginning his 4th season as an Assistant Coach with the Yale University women’s hockey program. Grant has developed an experienced perspective in the world of women’s ice hockey, having coached and recruited players from across the globe during his 25+ year amateur and NCAA coaching career. He has coached at 6 NCAA DIII and DI programs in the NCHA (D3), the CHA, WCHA, Hockey East, ECAC, and the Ivy League (DI). Beyond coaching, Grant served as a site representative for the 2019 NCAA quarterfinal of the D-I NCAA Tournament. He also currently serves as an Officer with the American Hockey Coaches Association as Vice President of Membership and sits on the AHCA’s Women’s Hockey Executive Committee.

Post #102 – 6/30/23 – Friday’s Sifters:

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Little lobs of news and info from around the world of women’s college hockey and beyond

The Women’s College Hockey Pipeline…

Stay informed. Get educated. Become ‘HOCKEY-WISE’!

Your leading online resource for NCAA Women’s College Hockey

Latest From… The Women’s College Hockey Podcast – Episode #3B…

  • Episode #3A Part I – Is Now LIVE|The Recap

Coaching News, Changes To The NLI, NCAA Guide For PSA’s

As has been the case for several weeks in a row, there is some coaching news to update.

The National Letter of Intent (think scholarship form players sign) program is rumored to be making some changes as is the Transfer 60-day window timeline.

And speaking of changes, the NCAA Eligibility Center Guide for Prospective Student-athletes has been updated. We provide a 23-24 FAQ to read or download.

I break it all down for you below. Let’s get to it.

Coaching News At Colgate, UMD, MCLA, Marian, and A Former Friar Gets Behind ECHL Bench

Looks like more programs at the D-I level are advertising for their 3rd assistant coach positions, although most aren’t calling it a ‘3rd assistant coach’. The NCAA approved a 4th coach earlier this passed winter while removing the ‘volunteer coach’ designation. It will be interesting to see how head coaches use this position.

Colgate has announced it is looking for a 3rd Assistant Coach / Director of Operations.

Minnesota-Duluth has announced its looking to fill two positions: Assistant Coach and Director of Women’s Hockey Operations.

MCLA, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, a new D-III program is seeking applications for its assistant coaching position.

Marian University has advertised for its open Head Coach position.

Bob Deraney, Former Providence Friar Women’s Head Coach, has been named Assistant Coach of the Worcester Railers of the ECHL. The Railers are an affiliate of the New York Islanders. You can read more on his hiring HERE.

Changes to the NLI Coming + Transfer Window Timeframe

The National Letter of Intent (NLI) program is rumored to be undergoing some changes which will take effect for the 2024-2025 season and would impact all athletic scholarship award winner.

As reported by The Athletic earlier this week, these changes are aimed at loosening the penalties for athletes when they request to be released from their NLI under certain conditions.

The NLI Program is managed by the NCAA while the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) provides governance oversight of the program. Athletes receiving institutional athletics related aid (athletic scholarship money) from a D-I or D-II school, receives paperwork from the NLI program which must be signed by the student and guardian/parents if under the age of 18.

The purposed changes are:

  1. No NLI penalty if the signee requests their release as the result of a head coaching change
  2. No NLI penalty if the signee completes at least one academic semester or quarter at the institution of their choice
  3. Additionally, four-year transfers will be able to sign a NLI after entering the transfer portal. This is not a requirement to transfer, signing a NLI would trigger a recruiting ban, meaning other schools would not be allowed to make contact once the player has signed with an institution.

The 60-Day Transfer Timeframe Is Changing… The 60-day timeframe window student-athletes had to notify its athletic administration and coaches about entering the Transfer portal could be decreasing to 30 days. The NCAA has viewed the data from this past athletic season and it appears, 60 days is not needed. The D-I council made the 30-day recommendation which will be voted on In October. You can read more about the Transfer window change HERE.

NCAA Guide for Prospective-Student Athletes Available

It’s always incumbent upon recruits and their families to know the NCAA process as a prospective student-athlete.

So, to help, here is a great read which every recruit and parent should look through.

It’s called the NCAA Guide For The College Bound Student-Athlete. It’s your one-stop-shop recruiting booklet that covers just about anything you might be wondering about relative to becoming a D-I or D-III NCAA hockey player.

The 23-24 version is not out yet. But there is a FAQ which is quite helpful . You can find both below and can download the PDF’s as well.

The 22-23 Guide can. be found there as well, also with the PDF file to download.

23-24-NCAA-Eligility-Requirements-FAQDownload
CBSA-22-23Download

Enjoy!

Until Next Time Everyone… Be Well and take Care,

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is wch-pic-logo-header-circle-3-12-21.jpg

-Streams for games in the ECAC can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams in the WCHA can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Hockey East once again is streaming all game live and for FREE.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. can be found HERE. Paid subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams for NEWHA games can be found at each teams’ website. Subscriptions may be necessary to watch games.

NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.

Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.

Grant Kimball is founder and contributing writer at Women’s College Hockey.org and beginning his 4th season as an Assistant Coach with the Yale University women’s hockey program. Grant has developed an experienced perspective in the world of women’s ice hockey, having coached and recruited players from across the globe during his 25+ year amateur and NCAA coaching career. He has coached at 6 NCAA DIII and DI programs in the NCHA (D3), the CHA, WCHA, Hockey East, ECAC, and the Ivy League (DI). Beyond coaching, Grant served as a site representative for the 2019 NCAA quarterfinal of the D-I NCAA Tournament. He also currently serves as an Officer with the American Hockey Coaches Association as Vice President of Membership and sits on the AHCA’s Women’s Hockey Executive Committee.

9/21/21 – Part III – Mutual Respect Series – Club & HS Coaches

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In This Post…

  • Part III – Mutual Respect Series – Club & High School Coaches |

Today we bring you the 3rd-part of our 3-part series on mutual respect within women’s hockey. We’re taking a look at three key participant groups – Youth hockey Parents, Players, and Club / High School coaches. We’ll identify some situations that commonly occur and ways in which we can show a bit more mutual respect to those we deal with throughout the hockey season. Enjoy!

Part III – Mutual Respect Series

Club and High School Coaches

Help your players explore all college hockey opportunities that come their way… Coaches or team personnel who help their players navigate the NCAA recruiting process can be very valuable, but only when you present all the options to your players! At times, some club/high school coaches can be selective about who tell their players who has interest in them. This is never a great approach. D-I coaches can’t communicate with players in grade 9 or 10, so club / high school coaches become gatekeepers of information of information college coached tell them–like when they have interest in a certain player. Let your players and families know every NCAA program that asks about them. D-I, D-III, ACHA teams – anyone. It should never matter to you who inquires. What you are, is someone who helps high school players and parents sort through information in order so they can make an educated decision. What you are not, is an some kind of agent, who picks and chooses which schools your players will have interest in.

Want to be respected in your role with your player’s/families and the NCAA coaches who have interest in you players – then give everyone a shot, remove your bias, and be inclusive of all programs. You are much better off developing a process to teach your players/families how make these decisions themselves. Show them how to evaluate the academic, the financial, as well as the hockey side of the opportunities that come their way. Have a player that wants to go to a top program? Great, sit down with them and watch a game online or better yet – go to a game live. Show them the level they are trying to get to. And If a NCAA coach asks for contact info for your players, don’t withhold it – get it to them. Once June 15 rolls around and coaches can make phone calls, eventually NCAA coaches find out if you don’t pass information along. So, respect the process, do right by your players and the college programs you work with.

Don’t be a broker in the transfer process… Those who coach players in grade 9 and beyond are what the NCAA considers a ‘Third Party’. In transfer situations, Third Parties have often been used to act behind the scenes in somewhat obscurity. Because NCAA coaches are not allowed to communicate with other NCAA players until the transfer process is initiated, ‘Third Parties’ have been used to help gain information for the player wishing to transfer. To communicate with college coaches at other programs who might have interest in the player.

Communication by a Third Party to another NCAA coach about a current NCAA player who wishes to transfer – has always been a NCAA violation, but extremely hard to track or prove. These conversations by Third Parties are dishonest and an underhanded way to operate around the NCAA rules in place. The NCAA has never really regulated Third Parties much – that is until now with new the NCAA transfer rules effective as of July 2021. It’s a bit of a back-door way of regulating Third Parties – but here is how the new rules work. Players who want to transfer must certify in writing, along with their new head coach, they did not have direct or indirect communication with the new school’s athletics staff prior to entering the NCAA Transfer Portal. That indirect or direct communication ‘behind the scenes’ is in reference to Third Parties. If impermissible contact was had, the athlete’s eligibility could be in jeopardy and infractions could be placed on her new school. The NCAA is now asking transfers and her new coaches, to be honest about their prior communications as they now have to report this to the NCAA. So, moral of the story for Third Parties: 1) If asked by a former player to help get some info for them in a transfer situation – decline, decline, decline. You will jeopardize her eligibility and could bring NCAA sanctions against her new school if you act on her behalf. 2) Respect the transfer process and wait for your former player to get in the NCAA portal – then you can help all you want. Doubtful D-I coaches are going to risk their jobs or sanctions from the NCAA against their program by lying to the NCAA and their institutions by having impermissible conversations with Third Parties. You can read more about how the new transfer process works HERE and get yourself educated.

Do Your Homework When Promoting Your Players…

Club/High School Coach: Hey, got a great D for you. Kid can really play.

College Coach: Oh, great, well how good is she?

Club/High School Coach: She’s in our top 4D, PP/PK all day long!

College Coach: Nice. Where do you think she fits at our level?

Club/High School Coach: You know, good question, I’m not so sure, never really watched much NCAA hockey. But i’m telling you – she’s AWESOME – you have to take her.

It’s a pretty common conversation actually. But there is a problem trying to promote someone if you don’t really know the talent level of the NCAA team you’re talking. Yes, the NCAA program always needs to do their homework on your player in question, but Club/HS coaches can do themselves a favor by learning a bit about the team they think one of their players may be a good fit for. Watching games live or on video of past games to familiarize yourself with the skill level and style of play the NCAA program has, can help mitigate a big risk of a player not working out and score big points with the program you’re working with. Promoting players that at the end of the day won’t be a good fit, doesn’t do anyone any favors. Just because your player does well for your team or in the league she is in – doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll be the same at the NCAA level. The more you can research and talk in specifics about how your players can help, relative to the NCAA program, the better you’re going to sound and the more a college program will respect working with you.

So do your homework/research and promote players that will be a good fit!

Until Next Time…

Grant Kimball is founder and contributing writer at Women’s College Hockey.org and beginning his 3rd season as an Assistant Coach with the Yale University women’s hockey program. Grant has developed an experienced perspective in the world of women’s ice hockey, having coached and recruited players from across the globe during his 25+ year amatuer and NCAA coaching career. He has coached at 6 NCAA DIII and DI programs in the NCHA (D3), the CHA, WCHA, Hockey East, ECAC, and the Ivy League (DI). Beyond coaching, Grant served as a site representative for the 2019 NCAA quarterfinal of the D-I NCAA Tournament. He also currently serves as an Officer with the American Hockey Coaches Association as Vice President of Membership and sits on the AHCA’s Women’s Hockey Executive Committee.

Post #29 — 2/9/21 — Welcome to women’s college hockey.org

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In This Post…

  • Welcome to Women’s College Hockey.org …
  • NCAA Weekly Polls…
  • Sifters — lots of them…

Welcome to Women’s College Hockey.org

Hello everyone, Grant Kimball here, assistant women’s hockey coach at Yale University and welcome to Women’s College Hockey.org! Many of you started following my Bulldog Pipeline blog back in early October where we kept you updated with news, notes, and insight about our program at Yale as well as across the world of NCAA women’s college hockey. Since then, we’ve heard from many of you saying how much you enjoy our content, especially on the recruiting side with all the changes happening in the NCAA due to COVID.

So, in an effort to better serve and educate prospective players, coaches and fans about NCAA women’s college hockey welcome to your new home – Women’s College Hockey.org. Our new site is more robust which allows for additional content and special features like dedicated pages for advice to help you understand the recruiting process, view video clips of game highlights and coaches post-game reaction, league standings, and so much more. There may even be a podcast in our future!

The Bulldog Pipeline IS NOT GOING AWAY but it will get a new home as well on the official Yale Athletics Women’s Hockey website which can be found HERE–be sure to bookmark it! All previous content specific to our program from bulldogpipeline.com will migrate over.

Now you have two great online sources to keep you up to date with what’s going on in NCAA women’s college hockey AND with your Yale Bulldogs. We’ll continue to send emails of new posts once they go live. If you already signed up to follow the Bulldog Pipeline there is no need to do so again. And if you want to keep up to date with all that is going on in the world of Women’s College Hockey – sign up now and give us a follow so you never miss a post! Just go to the Home Page and enter your email address in the ‘Follow Us‘ box located in the right-hand margin of the page.

Okay… on to some women’s college hockey news! Happy reading everyone!

NCAA Weekly Polls…

Weekly polls are out as of Feb. 8 with no change at all between them except for the #8 and #9 spots.

RANKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Minnesota
3Northeastern
4Ohio State
5Colgate
6-TMinnesota-Duluth
6-TBoston College
8Penn State
9Clarkson
10Providence
USCHO.com Poll
RANKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Minnesota
3Northeastern
4Ohio State
5Colgate
6Minnesota-Duluth
7Boston College
8Clarkson
9Penn State
10Providence
USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today Poll

Sifters…

New National Goaltending Award Announced… The Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association announced a new D-I women’s national goaltender of the year award given annually to the top female goaltender. The winner will be announced at this years Frozen Four in March held in Erie, PA. On the men’s side they’ve had the exact same award named after former Wisconsin goalie Mike Richter since the 2013-2014 season. The Hockey Commissioners Association assumed the responsibility for the Richter Award this Fall and felt a women’s equivalent was long overdue. A ‘watch list’ of 21 names was announced last week. You can see who’d on that list HERE.

The Hockey Commissioners Association is made up of the commissioners of each women’s and men’s D-I conferences. They are heavily involved in the administration of NCAA D-I women’s and men’s college hockey as well as serving as a partner with the NCAA and the institutions their conferences represent.

D-III Winter National Championships Cancelled… All NCAA Division-III 2020-2021 Winter National Championships have been cancelled as per the NCAA last week. You can read the official story HERE. The NCAA said the reason for the cancellations were due to low sport participation, meaning there weren’t enough teams in their respective sports to have a bona-fide true National Championship. The NCAA set strict limits on how many teams in each sport must play this season in order to play and national tournament. No word yet on what will happen with Spring championships yet.

NCAA Contingencies for Winter Sports Announced… With the NCAA cancelling D-III Winter championships last week, they came out with a statement on contingencies for D-I Winter and Spring sport national championships. You can read the announcement HERE. Based on the number of teams competing in D-I hockey, a full 8-team field is expected to be selected.

One Site Location for Women’s D-I Championship… The NCAA announced it will hold the entire NCAA Women’s National Collegiate Championship at its Frozen Four site in Erie, PA March 15-21. All 7 games of the tournament, 4 qtr. final, 2 semi-final, and 1 championship game will be played at one site. Normally the 4 highest seeds would host a quarter-final game with the winners moving on to a single-site for the Frozen Four. Of course, this is all done to protect the health and safety of all participants in an environment where the NCAA can control what it wants – namely COVID testing. You can read the official statement HERE.

SAT Testing News… A big change from from The College Board, the company that administers the SAT Test… SAT Subject tests will no longer be offered and the optional Essay on the SAT will no longer be offered after the June SAT dates. You can read the official announcement HERE. Some additional SAT test dates were announced as well.

SAT/ACT Test Optional to Continue? A number of high profile institutions, Cornell and Harvard to name a few, have recently announced its extending test-optional policies beyond the ’20-’21 admissions cycle and into ’21-’22. No word if other institutions will follow suit, but you have to think with all the trouble students across the US and Canada have had to even register for a test date, more schools will go test optional.

Dartmouth and Brown announce Athletic Director changes… The Ivy League athletic director landscape has been upended with the announcements of Brown University Athletic Director Jack Hayes and Dartmouth AD Harry Sheehy will step down from their respective posts. Hayes has been at the Brown helm since 2012 and will move on to explore other opportunities, one of which starts March 1 in a new role with Bruin Sports Capital a private sports, entertainment and media company. Sheehy will depart Dartmouth after 45 years in competitive athletics, the last ten of which he spent with the Big Green. The news comes on the heels of both departments deciding to ‘restructure’ and cut various sport programs last Spring and Summer as the COVID-19 pandemic put a choke hold on college athletics. There has been an alumni groundswell of support as well as lawsuits to bring some of those sports back and some with success.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Post #28 — 1/19/21 — Weekend Update, Scores and Highlights, COVID Recruiting, Sifters

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In This Post…

  • Weekend Recap…
  • Scores & Highlights…
  • COVID Recruiting Update…
  • Sifters…

Weekend Recap…

To clarify, the first ranking number you see will always be the USCHO.com poll and the second will be from the USA Toda/USA Hockey Magazine Poll.

How The Top 10 fared… Top 10 teams through Sunday’s games went 11-6-1-1-1 (W-L-T-OTW-OTL). #2 Wisconsin swept #1 Minnesota at home in Madison.

#3/4 Northeastern needed OT to beat Maine

#4/3 Ohio State split with #6 Duluth.

#5 Colgate beat #9 Clarkson at home in game one of that series.

#7 Providence swept its weekend series with Merrimack.

#8 Boston College swept its series with Holy Cross.

#10/NR Mercyhurst tied and lost to Robert Morris in OT

#NR/10 Quinnipiac swept its series with LIU.

All scores, game highlights, and postgame reaction can be found below.

COVID Postponements… Due to COVID protocols the Penn State @ RIT and Lindenwood at Syracuse series were postponed.

Conference Standings as of 1/18/21…

Friday Scores & Highlights – 1/15

Holy Cross 2
#8 Boston College 3
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
#1 Minnesota 0
#2 Wisconsin 5
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video (MN)
#7 Providence 3
Merrimack 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Concordia-Wisconsin 1
Adrian College 9
Box / NO Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Robert Morris 2
#10/NR Mercyhurst 2
Box / Video Highlights & Postgame Reaction
UCONN 1
New Hampshire 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Bemidji State 1
St. Cloud 3
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Ohio State 0
MN-Duluth 2
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
Penn State @ RIT – PPD
Lindenwood @ Syracuse – PPD

Saturday Scores & Highlights – 1/16

#10/NR Mercyhurst 2
Robert Morris 3 (OT)
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Long Island Univ. 0
#NR/10 Quinnipiac 5
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Minnesota 3
Wisconsin 6
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video (MN)
#9 Clarkson 1
#5 Colgate 4
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Bemidji 2
St. Cloud 2 (OT) BEMIDJI Wins Shootout 1-0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
#4/3 Ohio State 1
#6 MN-Duluth 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video UMD
Adrian College 4
Concordia-Wisconsin 1
Box / No Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
UCONN 4
New Hampshire 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Penn State @ RIT – PPD
Lindenwood @ Syracuse – PPD

Sunday Scores & Highlights – 1/17

Merrimack 2
#7 Providence 4
Box / Video Highlights & Postgame Video
Maine 2
Northeastern 3 (OT)
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
#NR/10 Quinnipiac 11
Long Island Univ. 0
Box / No Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up

COVID Recruiting Update… Players & Parents Hang In There!

Recruiting in women’s hockey has been turned on its head and in many respects has come to a standstill for certain age groups. Needless to say, it’s been a bit messy. On March 12th, 2020 the NCAA announced the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Women’s Hockey National Championship due to concerns over COVID. Shortly after that announcement the NCAA announced a temporary ‘COVID’ recruiting dead period which basically meant no off-campus recruiting for D-I coaches nor could recruits and or their families make trips to visit campuses in an official or unofficial capacity. Since then, the COVID recruiting dead period has been extended several times and is currently in effect until April 15, 2021.

As coaches we often tell our players to be patient… things will work themselves out in time. Well… whether you’re a player, a parent, or minor/youth coach reading this, I’d like to offer the same bit of advice – be patient with the recruiting process during COVID.

I’ve spoken to several club and high school coaches since the holidays on how the pandemic is impacting their players. Almost across the board, coaches have intimated their players and parents are on full out freak-out mode relative to their D-I recruiting situations and perceived loss of opportunity–mostly for those who are in grade 11. And the biggest complaint I heard is the lack of information coming from college coaches back to these players and parents. And there is good reason why college programs aren’t providing that info — because they don’t have it themselves, yet.

Part of this angst stems from a recruiting environment we were all used to prior to the pandemic where early commitments and back-and-forth communication was the norm. Players could call coaches on their own and get the info they wanted/needed to make decisions or just to know who had interest in them was nice to know because it meant you might have some options. Since June for those in grades 9 and 10, most of that has been taken away due to NCAA rules. Players in grades 11 and 12 have been subject to a whole new world of college recruiting in the COVID era where coaches won’t know how many spots they’ll need or what there roster could look like in a lot of cases until May or June this Spring. I’ve talked with plenty of college coaches of late, and the sense I get is they want to be patient. Not being able to see players play live doesn’t make for great recruiting decisions. And let’s face it – players haven’t really been able to play. Some yes, but this hasn’t been a normal hockey season of development. Add in a whole class of NCAA players who can come back and play next year and you have a new transfer market college coaches are now taking into account. Trouble is, college coaches won’t know who’s going to transfer in a lot of cases until this Spring.

When I first started coaching in the early 2000’s, coaches wouldn’t even call players for the first time until the summer between a players’ junior and senior year when the rules said we could. Official visits were a real and a vital aspect of the recruiting process which absolutely helped determine who we made official offers to… after the player came to campus. Players would actually take multiple visits to schools before making a decision and for the most part were patient with the process.

Then, all of a sudden the process changed and early recruiting/commitments became the norm. So too did the expectations of players, parents, and their club or high school coaches. Patients in the process went out the window. Enter the pandemic, a NCAA dead period that will last at least 13 months, and NCAA rules allowing current college players an extra year of eligibility… Welcome back to the early 2000’s and programs taking their time to make recruiting decisions.

Here is the reality for a lot of college programs–they don’t even have all of the info they want and need to make recruiting decisions. In part because watching live games of club and high school hockey has been off-limits due to the dead period. And also because the NCAA threw a nice wrench into the mix granting all players on a roster this year an extra year of eligibility. A lot of programs are still trying to hash-out what seniors may come back or transfer elsewhere. Chances are that won’t be known until sometime this Spring after the season is over.

The old saying ‘control what you can control’, really applies here – otherwise you are going to drive yourself nuts over-thinking all of this. You can’t control what the NCAA does nor a college program.

So if you want to be smart, use this time to your advantage and take control of your development. Do what you can to make yourself a better player so when the time comes for coaches to get back out on the road and watch games live, you’re ready and can show them how much you’ve improved. You might have to re-think your approach to your process like taking a gap year somewhere or you might have to consider other schools where you know there is an opportunity for you. Because there are still spots available out there – but you have to be good enough to get one. Case in point… when the Univ. of North Dakota dropped their program in March of 2017, all but a player or two found a home. That meant there had to be space on rosters and scholarship money available to give out – and there was. So, if you’re one of those players who’s in a holding pattern and haven’t heard much from the coaches you were chatting it up with this summer or early fall, take a deep breath, hang in there and be patient as you let this crazy process play itself out. Things will get better but it will take some time.

Sifters…

Transfers Make Debuts… A couple of recent transfers have made debuts with their new teams. Freshman forward Lacey Eden was supposed to suit up for Princeton this year but has found her way to Madison, Wisconsin and is now a Badger. She skated in her first game this past weekend in UW’s sweep in #1 ranked Minnesota. You can read her story HERE. Maureen Murphy suited up for Northeastern this past weekend after spending 2+ years at Providence College. The Hockey East executive committee granted her immediate eligibility beginning this Spring semester. You can read her story HERE.

A Change for the May Quiet Period… There has been talk D-I Coaches will try and request the NCAA to suspend its self-imposed May quiet period this Spring. D-I coaches in women’s hockey have long had what is called the May Quiet Period where from the Monday prior to the American Hockey Coaches Association convention (usually late April) and ending 12:01am June 1, coaches were not allowed to go off-campus to recruit and evaluate or meet face-to-face with perspective players and their families. So, with the NCAA COVID temporary dead period slated to end on April 15, that would give D-I coaches a 10 day stretch to get out and watch players play. Not exactly an ideal amount of time to make recruiting decisions. By April 15, D-I coaches will have gone a year + without being able to watch players live. We’ll keep you posted on future developments.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!