Big Ten Proposal Could Change College Hockey

Interesting read at collegehockeynews.com on a proposal introduced by the Big Ten, independent of the other NCAA Division I men's ice hockey leagues.

Essentially if not exactly, it wants to make the college hockey world a bit younger by retracting a year of eligibility for players who don't enroll in school until after they are 20 years old, down from 21 years old.

Older players from junior A/B hockey have almost always been a staple of the college ranks. My roommate my sole season at Alaska Fairbanks turned 21 as a freshman because he played in both the USHL and NAHL after graduating high school, and prior to enrolling at UAF. Unless you're a Thatcher Demko, the days of 18 years old jumping directly from high/prep school to NCAA Division I are pretty much long over with.

Despite spending two years at Michigan State (1994-1996), I've never been enamored of the six-team Big Ten hockey conference. I've always felt they should have played a schedule within a schedule like the Ivy League schools in the ECAC do, while maintaining membership in the old Central and Western Collegiate Hockey Associations—but that wasn't going to happen with the Big Ten Network.

I'm also still waiting for the CCHA to come back. One of these days.