Pros/cons of splitting first five scholarships for hockey?

[CTHUSKY74]

http://www.courant.com/sports/hc-uconn-hockey-0221-20130220,0,1678462.story
Any sense about how to start up giving schollies the correct way? Does the division of scholarships in the early years allow you to gain greater numbers of talented players earlier? How do most successful programs that make the transition manage this? I would imagine that kids on scholarship, especially full scholarship, playing on a team with veteran non-scholarship players might cause a rift, so I'm interested in how this usually is handled?

 

[Whale22]

I'd imagine the new recruits go halves. The older players came and knew there would be no scholarships. I would be excited with chance to compete at the Hockey East level and understand the 5 need to be used to bring in the quality of player needed to compete at that level. The true Hockey East recruit is on a different plane than the average college player. There are plenty that develop into professional (minor included) caliber player but the HE recruit comes in with NHL aspirations and pedigree.

 

[freescooter]

Hockey, unlike football and basketball, is an equivalency sport, so scholarships can be split up among a number of players with each receiving a partial scholarship. As long as you don't award more than 30 (I think that is the number) total recipients and the equivalent of 18 full rides. So one way to go would be to offer some upper classmen modest assistance, say one or 1.5 scholarships divided among several players, then use the rest for incoming freshmen. I think it is fairly typical for hockey players to get partial, as opposed to full rides anyway, though I don't know that for certain, and it is possible that it is a mixed bag. Players can also qualify for regular financial aid, and in at least a couple of cases, I have known athletes in equivalency sports like soccer, track and field and baseball to turn down partial athletic scholarships because the other "deal" was better. I think there are some NCAA rules on which kinds of other aid you can get if you get an athletic scholarship, but I don't know the details. So at the end of the day, I guess you could mix things up, and give partial aid to current players, and most to incoming players. It isn't a case as it would be with a "headcount" sport (football basketball) where 5 scholarships can only go to 5 players.

 

[Whale22]

My brother played hockey in college and received a partial "academic scholarship." You are correct there are many ways to skin a cat. The Ivies and NESCAC's offer no scholarships and love that pure image of themselves, but I've known plenty of hockey players who have gotten "help" in creative ways. They want you, they will find a way.

 

[freescooter]

My brother played hockey in college and received a partial "academic scholarship." You are correct there are many ways to skin a cat. The Ivies and NESCAC's offer no scholarships and love that pure image of themselves, but I've known plenty of hockey players who have gotten "help" in creative ways. They want you, they will find a way.

I know what you mean. A friend of mine was an assistant at an Ivy for a while. He always said the ivies give scholarhships based on need. If you are a goalie and we need a goalie, we'll get you a scholarship. While I don't think that is 100% accurate, and I know it isn't for the NESCAC, it isn't entirely untrue either. A couple of years ago Wesleyan did a study that found varsity athletes had a much higher rate of financial aid than non-athletes as I recall, too. And my nephew who plays lacrosse at another D-3 school got a grant from the school for his "contribution to the university community", or some such language as that. He didn't get it as a freshman, but when he became a starter on the team, it showed up out of the blue his sophomore and junior years. A rose by any other name, I think is the phrase.

 

[Husky68]

I know what you mean. A friend of mine was an assistant at an Ivy for a while. He always said the ivies give scholarhships based on need. If you are a goalie and we need a goalie, we'll get you a scholarship. While I don't think that is 100% accurate, and I know it isn't for the NESCAC, it isn't entirely untrue either. A couple of years ago Wesleyan did a study that found varsity athletes had a much higher rate of financial aid than non-athletes as I recall, too. And my nephew who plays lacrosse at another D-3 school got a grant from the school for his "contribution to the university community", or some such language as that. He didn't get it as a freshman, but when he became a starter on the team, it showed up out of the blue his sophomore and junior years. A rose by any other name, I think is the phrase.

I think the phrase is "it's on Ollie". Haven't seen you on the boys basketball board in a while, winning seems to keep you away like sunlite to a vampire.

 

[freescooter]

I think the phrase is "it's on Ollie". Haven't seen you on the boys basketball board in a while, winning seems to keep you away like sunlite to a vampire.

Apparently you weren't paying attention. I posted after the Cincy game a few times. One commenting on Napier's outstanding performance that I remember...though I'm not sure we have a "boys" team. and no doubt in your mind a "girls" teams, too. I don't want to get in an argument about Ollie here, though. UConn is having one of its best hockey seasons in a while, one that could be pretty memorable if they stay focused. And given the conference shuffle going on, hockey will be the one sport that actually plays in a major conference come 2014.