NCAA rejects hockey's age-based counterproposal
Plus: Yale has a new assistant coach, Luke Strand extended at Minnesota State, a new goalie coach at UMass, and more
In today’s edition of College Hockey Insider:
The NCAA formally — or at least informally — rejected hockey’s counterproposal to the age-based eligibility model. What does that mean? What comes next? Who will this impact, and how?
Plus: Kyle Wallack is returning to Yale as an assistant coach, Luke Strand signed a contract extension at Minnesota State, UMass has a new goaltending coach, Arizona State officially hires a new assistant, and could rumors surrounding the Colorado Avalanche eventually spill into the college hockey world?
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NCAA rejects hockey’s age-based counterproposal
In a phone call yesterday with Division I coaches, NCAA officials confirmed they intend to move forward with the organization’s age-based enrollment proposal, informally rejecting the counterproposal the sport of hockey unified behind last week.
The Division I Cabinet met Friday (May 22) to discuss feedback on the proposal. Under the NCAA’s model, athletes in all sports would receive five years of eligibility beginning with the season following either their expected high school graduation or their 19th birthday — whichever comes first.
“Expected high school graduation” is being defined as four years after freshman enrollment in high school. In practical terms, that means repeating a grade in high school would eat into a player’s five-year eligibility clock.
The NCAA proposal would also eliminate redshirt waivers — medical or otherwise — with exceptions only for pregnancy, religious missions, or active-duty military service.
Hockey submitted formal feedback and a counterproposal to the NCAA two weeks ago. While it mirrored much of the NCAA’s framework, hockey’s proposal removed “expected high school graduation” as a trigger point and instead proposed that an athlete’s five-year clock begin with the season following their 19th birthday or initial college enrollment, whichever comes first.
That proposal carried unanimous support across the sport, including backing from the NHL, USA Hockey, the USHL, the CHL, the Hockey Commissioners Association, and the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA).
