If No Hockey then......an intelligent discussion on scenarios.

[Reddington]

My prediction: If there is no hockey this year, then no players will be signed in November and those players will be asked to defer for a year to clear out the logjam of extra elgibili

[Reddington]

Eligibility. Thoughts? Any other thoughts on likely courses of action.

[Cornholio]

I am not optimistic at all there will be a season. From what I heard, best case is a delay to Jan or spring but really, with a (safe) vaccine or herd immunity at least 12 months away (optimistically..), does delay the season really change anything? I think the season is gone. If the goal was to just 'flatten the curve' to avoid hospital crunches, hockey would be played on time. The goal seems to be now "not to spread covid" given the unknowns with the virus and that will be a much longer process.

With that said, I think eligibility will be on a school-by-school basis, just like spring sports went. Some players may redshirt or withdraw for this year to retain eligibility (if the coaches still want them), some freshman coming in may be asked to take a gap year. Some schools (like Wisconsin did for the spring sports) will tell their seniors to graduate and their athletic careers are over at the school. Some schools may have to cut back on aid due to financial pressures. It is going to be wild-wild west for all the student-athletes and programs....

[EMPTYNETTER]

I am not optimistic at all there will be a season. From what I heard, best case is a delay to Jan or spring but really, with a (safe) vaccine or herd immunity at least 12 months away (optimistically..), does delay the season really change anything? I think the season is gone. If the goal was to just 'flatten the curve' to avoid hospital crunches, hockey would be played on time. The goal seems to be now "not to spread covid" given the unknowns with the virus and that will be a much longer process.

With that said, I think eligibility will be on a school-by-school basis, just like spring sports went. Some players may redshirt or withdraw for this year to retain eligibility (if the coaches still want them), some freshman coming in may be asked to take a gap year. Some schools (like Wisconsin did for the spring sports) will tell their seniors to graduate and their athletic careers are over at the school. Some schools may have to cut back on aid due to financial pressures. It is going to be wild-wild west for all the student-athletes and programs....

When I hear "From what I heard", I have to ask....from whom did you hear this?

[ZedLeppelin]

My prediction: If there is no hockey this year...

That's been in the back of my mind since the season ended in March, and I hate the thought. I can't imagine a winter without college hockey.

...then no players will be signed in November and those players will be asked to defer for a year to clear out the logjam of extra elgibility

That makes sense, because schools are going to have a mess on their hands if hockey is cancelled this season. Does everyone get a redshirt year? Do schools hold students to a four-year academic schedule, regardless of any cuts in sports scheduling? Without sports bringing in the money schools rely on, are scholarships affected by cuts in sports schedules?

I don't remember where I saw it, but at the end of the season in March I read speculation somewhere that maybe the 2020-21 season would be played, but with a drastically reduced fan base allowed inside the arena (something like "parents only" or something like that). That doesn't do much to fix the financial picture for schools, with such a loss in ticket sales and concession purchases. Speaking of which, Penn State hasn't sent out an email to season ticket holders about renewing for the 2020-21 season yet, and I think that's usually done by now, so we'll see.

[robertearle]

Some schools (like Wisconsin did for the spring sports) will tell their seniors to graduate and their athletic careers are over at the school.

I don't think that is an accurate representation of what Wisconsin told their students (though it isn't particularly clear that it isn't inaccurate, either).

I know I made reference to this here previously, but in an article from April, at least one UW track senior said she was told by the track coach "she was welcome to return to the team for her final season of outdoor eligibility in 2021 if she could pay her own way."

That is, what Wisconsin said was they "would not pursue an additional year of eligibility" for seniors; I don't think that necessarily equates to "their athletic careers are over" at Wisconsin. I think it means that 1) the school won't pursue a "sixth year' on the clock, and 2) if a student has a 'fifth year' available to them and wants to use it, they will have to do so while not on scholarship.

I have seen nothing further on the subject since that article.

https://madison.com/wsj/sports/colle...33cd41c6d.html

[GTOWN]

I don't think that is an accurate representation of what Wisconsin told their students (though it isn't particularly clear that it isn't inaccurate, either).

I know I made reference to this here previously, but in an article from April, at least one UW track senior said she was told by the track coach "she was welcome to return to the team for her final season of outdoor eligibility in 2021 if she could pay her own way."

That is, what Wisconsin said was they "would not pursue an additional year of eligibility" for seniors; I don't think that necessarily equates to "their athletic careers are over" at Wisconsin. I think it means that 1) the school won't pursue a "sixth year' on the clock, and 2) if a student has a 'fifth year' available to them and wants to use it, they will have to do so while not on scholarship.

I have seen nothing further on the subject since that article.

https://madison.com/wsj/sports/colle...33cd41c6d.html

I think it'll be easier to manage the incoming freshmen than the outgoing seniors. I'm already hearing that some freshmen are taking a gap year here in Ontario which will push down the girls that should have been moving up to the PWHL. Having said that, there may not be a hockey season here either so the question becomes: do you go for your freshman year and practice/workout under the supervision of the team staff or do you stay home and try to maintain/develop your skill set that way? At least they have a future with the team/school.

As a senior it would be much harder to accept that you couldn't play in your last year, or that you now have to consider adding a year (potentially at your expense).

[Timothy A]

The non-Olympic players have no money making hockey in their future after college, which means they all need to get that degree as quickly as possible to get a job. Because if this, if I was in incoming Fr, the big picture is I give up a year of hockey to get into the workforce in 4 years.

[Sieve1]

To get a sense of how things might shake out it is worth looking at what happened to D1 spring sports. Ivies didn’t allow athletes to take the additional year of eligibility the NCAA allowed. Other schools which have limited grad programs didn't allow it either. Ivies didn’t allow athletes to withdraw and then re-enroll to preserve their eligibility. (See Princeton lacrosse star Michael Sowers)
Beyond the Ivies, some schools offered to keep seniors for a 5th year, but ended up cutting younger players, or taking away scholarships. This caused the transfer portal to explode. Bottom line- there is no easy answer and someone will get the short end of the stick if seasons get reduced or canceled. Not even going to discuss the new ICE rules for international students....whole other mess right there

[robertearle]

Not even going to discuss the new ICE rules for international students....whole other mess right there

Ugh... Hadn't even thought of that. Canada is a foreign country?! Who knew!

[ARM]

The non-Olympic players have no money making hockey in their future after college, which means they all need to get that degree as quickly as possible to get a job. Because if this, if I was in incoming Fr, the big picture is I give up a year of hockey to get into the workforce in 4 years.

At this point, we don't know how the world beyond sports will be impacted. Should a student rush to start college this fall, when there is at least a decent chance that students will be sent home again and teaching will regress to online-only? In some fields, that represents a greater impact than in others, but it should at least be considered by everyone. A huge part of my college education came via interacting with other students outside of the classroom. I'd be hesitant to sacrifice that.

What will prospects for getting a job look like in four or five years? Four or five months? Four or five weeks? The usual prediction models are on unfamiliar ground. If I was paying for at least a percentage of my education and had the option of doing something else (e.g. working in a family business), I would seriously consider deferring a year.

[Sieve1]

Stanford just cut 11 varsity sports. Ivy League is expected to announce today that football will be played (hopefully) in the spring. Winter sports plan will not be announced today.

[ManBehindTheCurtain]

Stanford just cut 11 varsity sports. Ivy League is expected to announce today that football will be played (hopefully) in the spring. Winter sports plan will not be announced today.

men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball and wrestling

[Cornholio]

Stanford's cuts is very surprising and worrying, much worse than even I as a athletic financials pessimist, would not have guessed. They have over a $27B endowment, get P5 football money and still can't make it a go financially for some of the "Olympic" sports. I am afraid this is the first domino to fall to a major restructure (and lot less support) of athletics. If Stanford is making this kind of cut, who really is safe and how do other, much less financially strong universities, justify their continued 'investment' in non-revenue sports?

[Rightnut]

Ivies just punted the winter semester for all sports. How that impacts the ECAC remains to be seen. Could go forward with 6 teams.