NLI Signings

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ThatMNHockeyGuy62
Posts: 508
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2017 8:44 am

NLI Signings

Post by ThatMNHockeyGuy62 » Thu Nov 15, 2018 1:51 pm

Question: When a player signs their NLI, is this making it official they will be playing for the school the following season (as opposed to a year or two of juniors)? I notice some but not all senior verbal commits have signed and Loheit from Tonka signed yesterday as well. Can anybody shed light on this?

Goldy Gopher
Posts: 2475
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:41 pm
Location: Miami, FL

Re: NLI Signings

Post by Goldy Gopher » Thu Nov 15, 2018 2:12 pm

ThatMNHockeyGuy62 wrote:
Thu Nov 15, 2018 1:51 pm
Question: When a player signs their NLI, is this making it official they will be playing for the school the following season (as opposed to a year or two of juniors)? I notice some but not all senior verbal commits have signed and Loheit from Tonka signed yesterday as well. Can anybody shed light on this?

An NLI is only valid for one year and requires the signee to attend that institution beginning with the next academic year. Obviously no one is ever really "required" to do anything. I can imagine a situation where a player would sign an NLI, decide they don't want to attend that institution, essentially tear up the NLI, not play NCAA hockey for a year, and go through the process again next year..

That being said, I'm unaware if there would be any restrictions placed on such a player, and the effort it would take to google it is proving too much for me right now.
The U invented swagger.

Goldy Gopher
Posts: 2475
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:41 pm
Location: Miami, FL

Re: NLI Signings

Post by Goldy Gopher » Thu Nov 15, 2018 2:13 pm

Goldy Gopher wrote:
Thu Nov 15, 2018 2:12 pm
ThatMNHockeyGuy62 wrote:
Thu Nov 15, 2018 1:51 pm
Question: When a player signs their NLI, is this making it official they will be playing for the school the following season (as opposed to a year or two of juniors)? I notice some but not all senior verbal commits have signed and Loheit from Tonka signed yesterday as well. Can anybody shed light on this?

An NLI is only valid for one year and requires the signee to attend that institution beginning with the next academic year. Obviously no one is ever really "required" to do anything. I can imagine a situation where a player would sign an NLI, decide they don't want to attend that institution, essentially tear up the NLI, not play NCAA hockey for a year, and go through the process again next year..

That being said, I'm unaware if there would be any restrictions placed on such a player, and the effort it would take to google it is proving too much for me right now.

EDIT: Curiosity got me. I was mostly right.
http://collegehockeyinc.com/articles/20 ... ut-nli.php
The U invented swagger.

yesiplayedhockey
Posts: 312
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2014 7:33 am

Re: NLI Signings

Post by yesiplayedhockey » Thu Nov 15, 2018 2:28 pm

Senior signing day applies to all sports (not just hockey)... Almost all other sports you go straight from High School into college

Hockey is the one exception in that so many kids play a year or two of juniors before going to college

So the hockey kids signing their LOI's yesterday are most likely going straight to their college program after they graduate from high school. Those who didn't sign but verbally committed you can assume their college is asking them to play at least one (possibly two) years of juniors

Most of the time the colleges feel the kid needs a year or two of juniors. However in some cases the colleges are juggling the number of scholarships they can hand out. It's always a moving target colleges have to manage thru as many of their athletes leave their program earlier than expected.

ThatMNHockeyGuy62
Posts: 508
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2017 8:44 am

Re: NLI Signings

Post by ThatMNHockeyGuy62 » Thu Nov 15, 2018 3:26 pm

Thanks guys. That was my understanding of it as well, but there were a fair number of guys I had expected to play some USHL before college who signed so I wanted to be sure.

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