UND Celebrates an overtime win. (Photo Credit: Russell Hons for UNDsports.com)
It’s 80 degrees outside, and the dog days of summer are here. As we get closer to fall, there’s some hockey news beginning to emerge. For the most part, this has been an uneventful summer, especially when it comes to hockey news. Unlike the summer of 2011, no one is changing conferences. For those counting the days until the 2017-18 season begins, there’re roughly 70 days until the 2017-18 college hockey season kicks off.
In what could end up being good thing for college hockey, players on AHL contracts will be able to play in the 2018 Olympic Games.
Players on American Hockey League contracts will be eligible to play in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
President and CEO David Andrews confirmed through a league spokesman Wednesday that teams were informed they could loan players on AHL contracts to national teams for the purposes of participating in the Pyeongchang Olympics.
The AHL sent a memo to its 30 clubs saying players could only be loaned for Olympic participation from Feb. 5-26.
The Olympic men’s hockey tournament runs from Feb. 9-25. Like the NHL, which is not having its players participate for the first time since 1994, the AHL does not have an Olympic break in its schedule. (Stephen Whyno, AP)
Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy had a great post on the current state of Women’s College Hockey. Last Thursday, the WCHA announced their RallyMe.com fundraising campaign.
North Dakota cut its women’s hockey program in March, in one of the saddest and most stunning decisions to rock the sport at the collegiate level.
This was a hockey-mad university. This was a program that, on the day the news hit, was touring potential recruits through campus for next season. The issue, as it always is for sports that aren’t football and basketball, was money – it didn’t matter how many UND alumni played in the Olympics when the school faced a reported $1.3 million budget shortfall.
“When you see a school like North Dakota do what they’ve done, it is scary. But more than that, it’s heartbreaking,” said Katie Million, commissioner of Western Collegiate Hockey Association, where North Dakota played. “I’m just heartbroken for the student athletes that can’t continue their careers there and have to find new homes.”
Speaking of the Olympics, former Fighting Sioux defenseman Chay Genoway could end up playing for Team Canada.
15 NCAA alumni playing for @hockeycanada National Men's Team in August tournaments: https://t.co/T6qPQdmf0C pic.twitter.com/6OiyX23wcc
— College Hockey Inc. (@collegehockey) July 25, 2017
Is Minnesota really truly the “State of Hockey”? Nate Bauer from the Hockey Writers makes the case.
From the USA today, Even without NHL players, USA Hockey officials optimistic about potential Olympic roster. It will be interesting to see if anyone from UND makes the Team USA roster. Could we see Troy Terry, Ryan Donato & Jordan Greenway playing for Team USA in February?
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