What's new
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

HARVARD, in a time of trial, '20-'21

Reading the portion of that I wonder if 1st year recruits might defer for a year and if current players might choose to take a leave of absence

I don’t see this happening. Harvard wants all freshmen on campus this fall and I don’t think they’ll look kindly on recruited athletes deferring. A logistical (maybe even an ethical) nightmare. Among other considerations, what is one to do with impossibly bloated freshmen rosters next year? And would-be returning leave-of-absence upperclass athletes in 2021-22? One or two classes burst while one or two classes disappear. The Ivy League will presumably address this grey swan event.

Keep in mind that given the extraordinary pains Harvard has taken in coming up with this plan, the “wellness programming” they’re instituting is not likely to be a joke. They know what they have to deal with vis-à-vis athletes, very few of whom, btw, will actually be on campus at any given time during the year. As a recruit wanting to maintain my skills I’d bet on their facilities over those in my hometown of, say, Orlando, Houston or L.A. right now.
 
I don’t see this happening. Harvard wants all freshmen on campus this fall and I don’t think they’ll look kindly on recruited athletes deferring. A logistical (maybe even an ethical) nightmare. Among other considerations, what is one to do with impossibly bloated freshmen rosters next year? And would-be returning leave-of-absence upperclass athletes in 2021-22? One or two classes burst while one or two classes disappear. The Ivy League will presumably address this grey swan event.

Keep in mind that given the extraordinary pains Harvard has taken in coming up with this plan, the “wellness programming” they’re instituting is not likely to be a joke. They know what they have to deal with vis-à-vis athletes, very few of whom, btw, will actually be on campus at any given time during the year. As a recruit wanting to maintain my skills I’d bet on their facilities over those in my hometown of, say, Orlando, Houston or L.A. right now.

How will the news that international students have to actually go to classes (i.e. not online) to stay in the U.S. affect team rosters? Surely there are at least a few Canadians impacted by that. If Cornell wants everyone on campus but offers online classes that will clash with the directives coming from the government.
 
Yes the new ICE rules are an issue. Just read that U of Arizona has already come out with a plan to hold at least one in person class for international athletes so they can remain enrolled. Loopholes will be found
 
Uh, yes it is still up in the air as some Harvard hockey players are jumping ship.

??? There is no ship to jump from. It's in dry dock. Read the decision. The only thing that's still up in the air is whether Harvard can field a team of non-traveling, socially distancing, minimally fit seniors next spring. Golf maybe.
 
Last edited:
But, it might be like the Battle of Dunkirk movie where the sailors would be in the water desperately trying to get to another ship only to have that ship go up in flames. I'm not sure anyone has a clearer path.....
 
I wonder if 1st year recruits might defer for a year and if current players might choose to take a leave of absence

Harvard is now expecting a more than 20% reduction in undergraduate enrollment this fall, including both freshmen deferrals and upperclass leaves of absence. This gives me license to indulge in my fantasy of a crimson swan event for women’s hockey:

a) all freshmen recruits defer
b) no sophomores take a leave
c) all juniors take a leave
d) no seniors take a leave

The result in 2021-22: no sophomores and no seniors on the roster, just double-barreled freshmen and junior classes. So, in 2022-23 no juniors, of course . . . and no seniors the following year! Nightmare? or scenario for ultimate utter dominance? One can dream.

Probably not happening, but we’re going to see some interesting anomalies for several years, at least in the Ivy League. (Princeton has reversed course on its earlier 50% on campus decision, saying they now want no one to return this fall, recognizing that the college experience would be "confining and unpleasant for most students.” Ya think?) The HE schools apparently hope to avoid all this by pretending the virus is a phantom.
 
Last edited:
Harvard defeated Dartmouth today 1-0, at Hanover. It must have been after multiple OTs because by the time I got there they were skating 2-on-2. After lots of listless play Harvard stole the puck deep in the Dartmouth end and slipped it into an empty net. Though it happened right in front of me I couldn't tell who scored the winning goal until I saw #11 as the players left the ice. As I stood and shouted "KDR! KDR!" I appeared to be the only person at the rink. It was a strange but exhilarating game. Approximate time of goal: 5am.
 

This extended off-season is getting really weird. Apart from dreaming about a hockey game for the first time in my life (btw, after I awoke my bedside clock said 4:27 a.m., so that was the approximate time of the winning goal, not 5 a.m., as previously reported), I spend my time checking the Crimson website about once every 3 weeks, to see if there’s a pulse. About a month ago there was a full roster, wink winking and nudge nudging about a fantasy season that will never happen. Now there’s a roster listing six players: a senior (Moy), a junior (Petrie) and four of the seven freshmen recruits! Is this some bizarre variation on my theme of a possible black/grey/Crimson swan event, announcing that all but these players have taken leaves of absence or have deferred? This may be for the sake of eligibility tracking, rules and regs being rules and regs, but to publish this bookkeeping memo as a roster is really strange. On the other hand, is it giving us news we otherwise would never have? That we won’t lose Gilmore and Jovanovich next year; that Bloomer, KDR and Reed will be back for two; that there’s room for next year’s recruits! This announced six skater roster was really messing with my head until I realized that it isn’t a roster at all. It’s an open door into a possibly really exciting 2021-22. Meanwhile the four “first years” have the ice to themselves this fall and can Zoom with Petrie and Moy! I do realize it’s also possible that there won’t be a 2021-22 that’s at all familiar. Maybe my two-on-two dream was prophetic, and we’ll all wake up from this Covid nightmare to find nothing but pond hockey. Hang in and hang on everyone.
 
“Hunger Games for the ruling class.”


Here’s a little pre-election diversion, though it will hardly take your minds off the ills of our culture. Sorry. We all think we know about this stuff, but really have no idea. (Women’s hockey is in its own niche, of course, but doesn’t quite keep company with these guys.) The article starts with an unusual beat-down of the writer, but you’ll see why she’s worth holding on to. The photos are ingenious . . . and chilling.


https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...ssions/616474/


(free access for all as far as I can tell)
 
Last edited:
Can’t dress a roster that doesn’t exist.

PRINCETON, N.J.Consistent with its commitment to safeguard the health and wellbeing of student-athletes, the greater campus community and general public, the Ivy League Council of Presidents has decided that league schools will not conduct intercollegiate athletics competition in winter sports during the 2020-21 season. In addition, the Ivy League will not conduct competition for fall sports during the upcoming spring semester. Lastly, intercollegiate athletics competition for spring sports is postponed through at least the end of February 2021.

. . . . . .

How do you dress a Rubik’s cube of future rosters?

Winter and fall sport student-athletes will not lose a season of Ivy League or NCAA eligibility, whether or not they enroll. Students who wish to pursue competition during a fifth-year of undergraduate education at their home institution, if permitted, or as a graduate student elsewhere will need to work with their institutions in accordance with campus policy to determine their options beyond their current anticipated graduation date.
 
Back
Top