Re: Yale: Cheating their way to #1?
From the New haven Register website, I hope this puts this thing to bed.
YALE HOCKEY: School refutes eligibility questions about Cahill
Published: Monday, January 10, 2011
By Chip Malafronte, Register Staff
cmalafronte@nhregister.com
An Internet report questioning the eligibility of a senior forward on the Yale men’s hockey team raised concerns about whether the top-ranked Bulldogs might be in hot water with the NCAA.
The website “Hockeybuzz.com” alleged Chris Cahill played on a team with professionals last winter in France, which would make him ineligible for NCAA competition and result in Yale possibly forfeiting all games in which he participated. Cahill, currently the team’s fifth-leading scorer with nine goals and nine assists, was not enrolled at Yale last year.
Yale issued a statement on Monday refuting the report.
“Yale University Athletics Director Tom Beckett confirms that every standard pertaining to the collegiate eligibility of Chris Cahill has been met to the satisfaction of the Yale and Ivy League compliance staffs. Chris Cahill remains eligible to compete in all Yale hockey games.”
Academic issues forced Cahill to take a year off from Yale following his junior season in 2008-09. Intending to return this year and play hockey for the Bulldogs, he played in 18 games for Reims, a club team in the French Hockey Federation.
Beckett told the Register that Yale coach Keith Allain worked with the Ivy League and Yale’s NCAA compliance officers to ensure Cahill would retain his college eligibility.
Some players received living expenses necessary for participation on the team, which is permitted in NCAA bylaws. But Yale has written verification from team officials that no players drew a salary.
“It was approved prior to Chris being involved with the team. It wasn’t after the fact,” Beckett said. “Chris’s family was very concerned about doing what was right. This is a process that took months.”
Beckett said he has no concerns that the NCAA will launch an investigation.
“The burden of proof, every standard, all of those issues have been met; the Ivy office signed off on it at the very beginning,” Beckett said. Continued...
Concerns over Cahill’s eligibility began as an anonymous letter, which was recently issued to coaches and athletic directors around the ECAC Hockey league urging those administrators to look into the Cahill matter. According to sources, one school made a formal inquiry Friday. Yale held Cahill out of the lineup for its game at Dartmouth to allow the matter to be resolved.
The situation was cleared Saturday, and Cahill was back in the lineup that night at Harvard. He scored a goal in the Bulldogs’ victory.
STILL NO. 1
Yale remained No. 1 in both national polls released Monday, extending its stay at the top to six straight weeks. Its nine-game win streak is the longest in the country, though North Dakota is unbeaten over its last nine games (8-0-1).
). Bottom line is it looks like Yale & Allain did not break any rules (assuming there were no pros in the league), and it would be a shame if all of Yale's players were penalized for a screw-up by one.
