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Between the Lines: How’s It Going? : College Hockey News

Not Enough : College Hockey News

February 2, 2023
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Thoughts On College Hockey Now, As We Hit February

by Adam Wodon/Managing Editor (@CHN_AdamWodon)

BU coach Jay Pandolfo has his team in position for a top seed in the NCAAs, in his first season.

BU coach Jay Pandolfo has his team in position for a top seed in the NCAAs, in his first season.

Oh wow, it’s February, and this is my first “Between the Lines” of the season.

Does it mean there haven’t been any topics to sink my teeth into this year? Not really. It means I’ve been doing most of my ranting on our podcast, and foresaking the writing of it. I hope you are listening to our podcast — we do some great stuff there, and not just our ranting. There’s been some really good interview subjects this year, just as there were last year. Check it out of it you can.

But it’s high time I put some thoughts together here, as we head into the stretch run. I know you can’t wait.

NCAA Shenanigans

From an off-ice standpoint, the biggest thing people talk about is all the NCAA issues. Like, will it even survive, and if so, in what form.

As usual, most of the really big changes have been spurred by football and basketball. But hockey is affected too, and in ever-increasing ways. Where that stops is anyone’s guess, but will any of it be for the better?

A series of lawsuits have forced the NCAA’s hand in recent years to make more and more allowances to players. It started a few years ago with allowing full cost of attendance to be included in the scholarship. Then it was the “name, image and likeness” (NIL) rights. And then it was the one-time free transfer without having to sit out a season.

The last one probably has the biggest impact in hockey, as we’ve seen.

The latest thing is the addition of a third full-time coach. The rich will keep getting richer. It will be interesting, though, to see how teams choose to utilize that, because along with it, there’s no more volunteer assistant. Some teams may just not pay anyone, and will just have to call the volunteer an unpaid third assistant. Others will want to pay the volunteer — in many cases a goalie coach. But in other cases, the volunteer goalie coach may not want to be a full-time third assistant, so you’ll lose that person if you hire someone else.

All of these things seem great to the people getting the opportunities. And they are. But what will it ultimately do to the sport itself? That is the question I don’t think enough people ever ask themselves. Pay…

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