Re: Harvard Crimson 2012-2013
Big fan of Harvard hockey but can you imagine if this was BU or BC or Maine??? The board would blow up. Seems like Harvard is getting a pass on this one.... Same thing with the goalie a few years ago. kids cheat, go play juniors for a year, work on their game and have fun and come back and play like nothing happened. Seems strange and have never heard of this cycle/model outside Harvard
Hard to fathom that the player would say this "I also didn’t want it to look like I messed up and everything."
I completely agree, but I'm not going to let some 20yr old quote get me all wrapped around the axle. We all know that young kids make mistakes. This is why when a kid re-negs on an LOI, I don't get crazy about it. Do I like it? Of course not. But these are 20yr old kids, not 40yr old adults, who are often not capable of making a fully-informed decision when they sign the LOI to begin with. I'd rather that they end up at a 4yr school because that's is where their heart & mind tells them to go...not because they signed an LOI 2 yrs prior!
Cheating is cheating no matter how you slice it. It goes above and beyond a lack of judgment because with cheating, you start to bring words like "character" and "integrity" into the conversation.
I have relentlessly ridiculed some programs (BU & North Dakota in particular) for their pedestaled hockey programs where hockey players continually are arrested or don't go to class with little to no ramification. These schools track record makes the NCAA and the moniker of "student-athlete" sound like nothing more than a slogan or a punchline.
It is a privilege to go to Harvard. There are more high school valedictorians that apply each year than spots available in the freshman class. And as such, the notion of parking a kid in juniors for 2-3 yrs (forget about cheating) does not sit well with me to begin with....to me, it directly conflicts with what Harvard stands for (even if it would make for a less competitive hockey program). Throw cheating on top of it, and it makes my blood boil.
Now someone is going to tell me that what Harvard is doing is consistent with Harvard practice. A non-athlete would suffer the same consequences (have to leave school for a year). If this is not true, someone correct me.
Here is what I think and hope happens. I hope that these players learn something....that is first and foremost. A glass half-full perspective is that these players never forget this and this helps shape them and the future decisions they have to make in life. I hope they also realize what an opportunity they have to play at a pretty darn good hockey program and leave with one of the most coveted & in-demand documents that exists in the entire world.
Now for the tough part, I also hope that they lose a year of eligibility. Meaning, all of these sophmores should not be considered sophmores next year. They should be considered juniors so that there is real teeth and sacrifice for showcasing such poor judgment. I get that they don't want to become stale and not play hockey for a year (hence, the USHL outlet), but I don't believe that they should get that year back. Similarly, I think all schools should support this such that if Harvard indeed invokes this stance, these players could not go to another school and retain that year of eligibility. All hockey schools would need to come together and uniformly state that they don't support this kind of conduct....Period!
What do others think?
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