Whoa. My boxed in brain hadn't really considered this, but I wonder how many more schools are going to follow suit.

And as someone that attended one of the last schools allowed to have just one program as D1 and the rest D3, I wonder if the NCAA is going to revisit that rule change.

Not to threadjack, but Hopkins is one of the teams that embraced this approach 3 or 4 years ago (At least that's when I starting noticing) with Grad Transfers from D1 schools and while not everyone of those have hit... Many of those guys have played important roles.

I know it's not a like-for-like situation, but even non-scholarship D1 players are going to be pretty darn good players.

That was a baller move.

(And the big BIG difference is that guy went all sneak attack. The issue I had with the Hop PK takers is that they spent way too much time over the ball. Got in their own heads.)

Quote from: Kuiper on February 21, 2025, 10:36:52 AMWestminster College is advertising for a new head men's soccer coach

Girish Thakar is still listed as the head coach on the website, but he must be retiring or leaving after 26 years (or is going to only coach women's soccer since he has been coaching both most of those years)

That sounds wild, from a logistics standpoint. PITA.

College hockey figured out how to remain relevant as feeder to the pro leagues. That did this primarily by dramatically altering (caving, really) on the eligibility rules, allowing young players to test the waters in certain semi-pro leagues while retaining their college years.

That's why see the W. Michigan's and Quinnipiac's of the world with 25 year old dudes on their D line. Those guys tried to take the "fast track" to the pros, it didn't work out, and now they can a) get an education and b) keep their thinning professional career dreams alive.

Some system in D1 soccer that allows for a semi-pro Spring season seems very viable and certainly not out of line with the type of arrangement college hockey worked out.

And where many folks 10-15 years ago would say college hockey was a dead end to an NHL career: 1) that was never really true, it was often skewed by the sheer number of professional and semi-professional players funneled into those leagues to dry up the college rosters. 2) The new eligibility rules have pretty much leveled the playing field. Michigan had 3 of the top 5 draft picks a few years back; this year, the Cap's best prospect (and one of the top draftees) returned for one last year at BC and a gold medal at Juniors.

EDIT: I had to do something and didn't want to leave it there. There are lots of articles showing that number of college players getting drafted/playing in the NHL has increased over the years... Leveling off at around 1/3 to 1/4 of draftees year over year.

I mean, dude says "...and across North America." Would he prefer to stay in those zip codes? Sure. But he's saying he's open to just about anywhere.

That said, it's an odd way to present it. Up thread, I looked at some opportunities in and around Baltimore at the collegiate level. If you expand that to the entire DMV, and he opens up to prep schools and Jucos...

Well, this was an interesting catch-up.

One item that really jumps out is how much this kid grew from high school through college. That is a remarkable growth spurt, and kind of makes me think that even if he had luck-boxed into some club giving him a tryout when he was younger, he likely wouldn't have stood out all that much. As has been mentioned, he's sort of in the Dike mold of using his considerable size, power and speed to beat his opponents. Maybe he was super fast as a youth?

FWIW, flag football is low-key a lot lot kickball in that participation has sky-rocketed... You just have to know where to look to find it.

Shows up on The Ocho from time to time, just like kickball. And spikeball. And cornhole (well, cornhole shows up on the mother ship at this point.)

College Hockey has been this way for many years. Guys who aren't top-level prospects in their teens tend to play in quasi-professional leagues (major juniors, CHL, etc.) and then mature to the point that college hockey programs offer them scholarships in their early 20s. You have guys playing college hockey up until 26, sometimes 27 years old. At that point, they're either done or go play in the AHL or Europe somewhere.

And, btw, this OT stuff should be encouraged. I think the original moderators were WAY TOO STRICT about OT stuff. Not trying to stir the pot, but the way to keep us engaged is just to keep talking.

Thanks for the insight jk... I know JHU's offense if balanced, with a heavier dose of passing, but had no idea what Salisbury runs.

Totally OT:

SC - Your Purple Raiders and my Blue Jays face off this weekend in the football Semifinals.

While your boys are used to these lofty heights, this is only the second time Hopkins has made it this far.

In all honesty, I don't hold out much hope. Hop's only loss came to Salisbury, which y'all dispatched fairly easily on Saturday. Hop lost to the Seagulls 13-41 in September... Their only loss of the season, but by transitive property... (kidding, I know you still have to play the game.)

I found out about this on social media, from women upset that their lax program was going away. Pretty brutal to announce this with zero chance for those students to find a place to play.

Quote from: EnmoreCat on December 10, 2024, 06:21:18 PMThe Amherst players that can read, do also.

This needs more love. Hilarious.

I will say this about posting. I'm with jknezek and most of the alums in following the teams from a distance. Both in terms of being very far removed from attending the schools and, quite literally not being in-person for the vast majority of the games I'm posting about.

I know that early on, I was WAY too flippant and cavalier with my posts. I bought into the Am-hate and got wrapped up in trying to look at pretty gnarly camera angles to break down "dirty plays" and commented on actions and words spoken when my knowledge of those incidents was often hearsay.

I backslid and got into that once this year following the Kenyon PK kerfuffle and felt bad about it later. But for the most part, I try to stick to what I can see with my peepers and join in on big-picture discussions where I think I can add something.