Wow. This thread does seem Premature. First kudos to the girls that have worked their tails off and positioned themselves to be top recruits. However, the trend of earlier and earlier commits just does not seem healthy for womens hockey nor the athletes. Having been through this three times, our girls would have made significantly different choices at the age of 15-16 then they ultimately made at the age of 17. It's a rare player at 15 that is prepared to make this type of commitment based on facts and assessment and it would have been an emotional decision (local team, favorite team...... The up-side is if they are good enough to get offers at 15-16 then they will likely get many offers and they will have time to sort through their options. Having those options and taking time to evaluate opens up a whole world of opportunities they have never been exposed to and they may even have some inkling by 17 on what their career path might be which is a huge factor in choosing a school. They only get to do this once. Whats happening in D-I football, is that many of these "early commits" are re-evaluating their options and ending up DE-committing before their senior year. I can't believe this trend would be healthy for the womens' game nor do I believe the coaches would want to take an inordinate amount of risk. I would also speculate that it puts the Ivy's/others at a significant disadvantage as they have the the uncertainty if a player can hit the index. I have heard rumors that the coaches association has had some dialog on this topic but cannot confirm if these are moving toward more formal discussion or not. I do believe it's important for the entire college experience that the player finds the right environment and the coaches get the player/person they thought they were getting. This process takes time and effort and may be short-changed at such a young age. Just some thoughts.
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