Okay... There is a pending proposal with the NCAA, the "Five in Five" eligibility for D-I. It would allow athletes to compete for five seasons within a five-year period, starting at high school graduation or age 19, whichever occurs first. This would also eliminate most waivers/redshirts. Hockey would fall under this as it is proposed right now.
Hockey has always kind of been the "red-headed step child" when it comes to NCAA regulations. Everyone focuses on the major sports, which makes sense since those are the money makers and the sports most fans follow. Niche sports are always an after thought, and proposals in front of the NCAA for a vote always seem to not take niche sports into account.
If passed (vote is possible in May), what do you see happening with hockey, especially in the High School ranks in Minnesota? Will Juniors cease to exist, or will they get younger? Will high school players in Minnesota bolt for Juniors earlier?
If passed, it could be interesting as I would think the NCAA would have to "grandfather" in the current players. You could end up with a 19 year old freshman (possibly 18 depending on birthday and graduation) playing against 25 year old seniors for a few years (not that it couldn't happen now, but it is few and far between with the Junior Hockey structure).
My fear is that MN HS hockey will decline. I can see players leaving earlier for Juniors so they can get the games/experience before hitting the college ranks at 18/19.
I have said that since the Wild, Wild West of the portal/NIL/money has happened, the pendulum was eventually going to swing the other direction and possibly become too restrictive. I think it is going to take some time and probably several proposal passings to get everything into the so called "sweet spot".
New NCAA Proposal
Moderators: Mitch Hawker, east hockey, karl(east)
Re: New NCAA Proposal
NCAA's eligibility proposal could blow up college hockey
By Matt Wellens
Today at 9:01 AM
DULUTH — The NCAA is on the verge of granting all Division I student-athletes five years of athletic eligibility, no redshirts or hardship waivers necessary.
But there’s a catch, as there always is with the NCAA.
The clock for those five years will begin the academic year after high school graduation or after the athlete turns 19, whichever comes first.
The proposal is working its way through the NCAA’s multi-layer bureaucracy, with NCAA president Charlie Baker pushing to get it passed in May and for it to go into effect immediately.
If approved, there would be no more redshirts — even medical ones — and no more hardship waivers of any kind. Everyone would get five seasons of eligibility, assuming you jump right from high school to college, and never take a season off, even to play in the Olympics.
NCHC commissioner Heather Weems said last week in an email to the News Tribune that the Hockey Commissioners Association has been in discussions internally, with schools and with NCAA representatives, including Baker.
She said the rule change will be an important conversation this week as the NCHC meets in Bonita Springs, Florida, ahead of the annual American Hockey Coaches Association convention.
“While we acknowledge the NCAA’s need for rules consistency and clarity to slow litigation and create understanding, I have significant concerns about the unintended consequences of the proposal in our hockey ecosystem,” Weems said. “Without intentional consideration and implementation, the decision could render many youth and prospective student-athletes as collateral damage.”
The policy change will not apply to student-athletes who are exhausting their eligibility in 2025-26, the NCAA clarified in its news release Monday. So, Bulldogs seniors like Joey Pierce or Tova Henderson will not be allowed back for a super senior season in 2026-27.
However, the NCAA has left many other questions unanswered.
How many seasons of eligibility will current athletes have? The NCAA said nothing Monday in its release about grandfathering current NCAA Division I athletes who have at least one (and now maybe more?) season of eligibility remaining.
What will happen to athletes who did not make the jump right from high school to college, like hockey players who went to juniors for one or more seasons after graduating high school?
What about athletes from Europe or Quebec, whose educational system isn’t the same as the United States’ traditional kindergarten through 12th grade system?
How many seasons of eligibility will the incoming freshmen classes have? Some athletes began signing on with schools back in November, thinking they had four seasons of eligibility — or five with a redshirt — but are now facing a potentially shorter college career.
In its release Monday, the NCAA touted how the new rule “makes a world of sense in football for coaches and players alike,” but failed to mention the impact it could have on any of the other 23 sports it sponsors.
“There are real issues we need to discuss and problem-solve as advocates and leaders in the sport of hockey,” Weems said, “and the expected timeline makes this difficult.”
How could this impact the Bulldogs?
Who knows what the NCAA will classify UMD’s men’s and women’s hockey players as next season, or how many will gain an extra season of eligibility?
UMD coaches Scott Sandelin and Laura Schuler both have players on their rosters next season who came to college a year or more removed from high school, and both coaches have incoming freshmen between the ages of 19 and 21 who are not coming straight from high school in 2026-27.
For Sandelin, the only players on next season’s roster who entered the NCAA as 18-year-olds out of high school were sophomore wing and Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner Max Plante, sophomore defenseman Adam Kleber and junior transfer defenseman Brady Cleveland.
Forward Victor Plante of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program — where Max Plante and Cleveland also both played as high school juniors and seniors — will be the only one among the UMD men’s five incoming freshmen to be an 18-year-old that’s a year removed from high school graduation next season.
For Schuler, junior defenseman Ida Karlsson and freshman defenseman Linnea Natt och Dagg both came to the UMD women’s program as 19-year-olds from Sweden.
Junior French Canadian, All-American goaltender Eve Gascon of Quebec was a 20-year-old freshman at UMD in fall 2023 after spending three years in a pre-university program at Cegep de Saint-Laurent in Montreal.
The NCAA has not said how it will treat athletes from the CEGEP schools in Quebec, where students in the province attend for 2-3 years following 11th grade.
Schuler has four incoming freshmen in 2026-27 from Sweden, Finland and Quebec who will be between the ages of 19-21 at the start of next season, including another French Canadian goaltender, 19-year-old Marilou Grenier of Quebec, who has spent the past two seasons at CEGEP Limoilou in Quebec City.
By Matt Wellens
Today at 9:01 AM
DULUTH — The NCAA is on the verge of granting all Division I student-athletes five years of athletic eligibility, no redshirts or hardship waivers necessary.
But there’s a catch, as there always is with the NCAA.
The clock for those five years will begin the academic year after high school graduation or after the athlete turns 19, whichever comes first.
The proposal is working its way through the NCAA’s multi-layer bureaucracy, with NCAA president Charlie Baker pushing to get it passed in May and for it to go into effect immediately.
If approved, there would be no more redshirts — even medical ones — and no more hardship waivers of any kind. Everyone would get five seasons of eligibility, assuming you jump right from high school to college, and never take a season off, even to play in the Olympics.
NCHC commissioner Heather Weems said last week in an email to the News Tribune that the Hockey Commissioners Association has been in discussions internally, with schools and with NCAA representatives, including Baker.
She said the rule change will be an important conversation this week as the NCHC meets in Bonita Springs, Florida, ahead of the annual American Hockey Coaches Association convention.
“While we acknowledge the NCAA’s need for rules consistency and clarity to slow litigation and create understanding, I have significant concerns about the unintended consequences of the proposal in our hockey ecosystem,” Weems said. “Without intentional consideration and implementation, the decision could render many youth and prospective student-athletes as collateral damage.”
The policy change will not apply to student-athletes who are exhausting their eligibility in 2025-26, the NCAA clarified in its news release Monday. So, Bulldogs seniors like Joey Pierce or Tova Henderson will not be allowed back for a super senior season in 2026-27.
However, the NCAA has left many other questions unanswered.
How many seasons of eligibility will current athletes have? The NCAA said nothing Monday in its release about grandfathering current NCAA Division I athletes who have at least one (and now maybe more?) season of eligibility remaining.
What will happen to athletes who did not make the jump right from high school to college, like hockey players who went to juniors for one or more seasons after graduating high school?
What about athletes from Europe or Quebec, whose educational system isn’t the same as the United States’ traditional kindergarten through 12th grade system?
How many seasons of eligibility will the incoming freshmen classes have? Some athletes began signing on with schools back in November, thinking they had four seasons of eligibility — or five with a redshirt — but are now facing a potentially shorter college career.
In its release Monday, the NCAA touted how the new rule “makes a world of sense in football for coaches and players alike,” but failed to mention the impact it could have on any of the other 23 sports it sponsors.
“There are real issues we need to discuss and problem-solve as advocates and leaders in the sport of hockey,” Weems said, “and the expected timeline makes this difficult.”
How could this impact the Bulldogs?
Who knows what the NCAA will classify UMD’s men’s and women’s hockey players as next season, or how many will gain an extra season of eligibility?
UMD coaches Scott Sandelin and Laura Schuler both have players on their rosters next season who came to college a year or more removed from high school, and both coaches have incoming freshmen between the ages of 19 and 21 who are not coming straight from high school in 2026-27.
For Sandelin, the only players on next season’s roster who entered the NCAA as 18-year-olds out of high school were sophomore wing and Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner Max Plante, sophomore defenseman Adam Kleber and junior transfer defenseman Brady Cleveland.
Forward Victor Plante of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program — where Max Plante and Cleveland also both played as high school juniors and seniors — will be the only one among the UMD men’s five incoming freshmen to be an 18-year-old that’s a year removed from high school graduation next season.
For Schuler, junior defenseman Ida Karlsson and freshman defenseman Linnea Natt och Dagg both came to the UMD women’s program as 19-year-olds from Sweden.
Junior French Canadian, All-American goaltender Eve Gascon of Quebec was a 20-year-old freshman at UMD in fall 2023 after spending three years in a pre-university program at Cegep de Saint-Laurent in Montreal.
The NCAA has not said how it will treat athletes from the CEGEP schools in Quebec, where students in the province attend for 2-3 years following 11th grade.
Schuler has four incoming freshmen in 2026-27 from Sweden, Finland and Quebec who will be between the ages of 19-21 at the start of next season, including another French Canadian goaltender, 19-year-old Marilou Grenier of Quebec, who has spent the past two seasons at CEGEP Limoilou in Quebec City.
Re: New NCAA Proposal
What is the purpose? It seems to me that the NCAA has bigger problems if there even is a problem that this would be addressing.
Re: New NCAA Proposal
It seems to be aimed at football and basketball, where agents are "trying" to get kids an extra year through various waivers to improve their draft status (at least that is what I have read). By locking it down to "five in five" and having clear cut age guidelines, it would accomplish that. The problem is, it doesn't account for what it does to the other 20+ NCAA sports.
It will be interesting to hear what comes out of the Hockey Coaches' Meetings, if they make any public comments. Looks like they will have ample opportunity for discussion:
https://ahcahockey.com/pdf/naples26/agenda260428.pdf
Re: New NCAA Proposal
Sounds like a lot of D-I coaches/teams are leaning towards having a player play one year of juniors after they from High School graduation. They realize they will "only" have the player for four years, but if they bring them in as a true, 18/19 year old freshman, they most likely will be a healthy scratch. Then, you risk losing them to the portal after one season due to them being unhappy with playing time. 60 game junior schedule with time to get stronger/more mature also helps.
And, if you do get that phenom that can play right away as an 18/19 year old freshman, you most likely won't have them for the full five years anyway, as the pros will come calling.
And, if you do get that phenom that can play right away as an 18/19 year old freshman, you most likely won't have them for the full five years anyway, as the pros will come calling.