I haven’t taken a poll but other than an angry, ummm, fan(?), who was very vocal on Twit-X, I think the overwhelming majority support his approach, including me.
Also, Noreen is honoring all scholarships. He did the right thing, and now we’re reaping the benefits.
tl;dr answer is yes.
Neutral Zone does the rankings and is the most accepted source that does this type of analysis. One of the variables is the number of kids in the class along with number of stars (3-star, 4-star), etc. so a large class can have an impact on the ranking. Last year Northern Michigan was rated #1 (this was before their coach left and the whole thing fell apart) but they had a huge class. However, one of those kids in that NMU class was someone named Hampton Slukynsky so while the number of kids in the class can sway things, you still need quality kids to make it into the top 10. That’s what’s going on with both us and BUGS this year. We both have big classes AND there’s a lot of talent there. Is BUGS really #1? Are we really #4? Probably no to both, but the bottom line is both these classes are good enough to easily be considered top 10 in the nation along with the other blue bloods.
Back to lurking.
I would expect nothing less from Miami.(to honor scholarships).
Another U Sports player coming in:
Miami commit Ian Scherzer flips to RPI
Trading one of the best college town environments for one of the worst!
Bonk is this a signicant loss ?
I’d kind of heard rumblings about him for a few weeks. Not surprised anyway since he was a Cisek recruit.
I think he would’ve been a third or fourth liner, so it’s a loss but he’s definitely not one of the higher projected forwards for next season. And Miami had 14 committed forwards so we knew all of them weren’t coming in.
It’s a good problem to have that a half point a game USHL guy decommitted and it’s not a huge deal.
Anyone know how long we get Lalonde? He turns 26 in February. College hockey, gotta love it.
One year. Sounds like U Sports is being treated like juco. If you play U Sports you get a total of five years of eligibility.
So the goalie who played one year of U Sports will be considered a freshman.
I would imagine USports might be a productive recruiting ground in future years now that a kid’s CHL experience isn’t disqualifying. We knew a number of both Canadian and American kids who went the USports route after WHL because UBC, UVIC and the University of Calgary are terrific public universities in vibrant cities. Kids that perform well in their first year up there might be good finds.
The son of a former coworker of my wife’s just finished his rookie year playing for Wenatchee. Gotta imagine the possibility of US college hockey is appealing if that’s a route that would benefit him. I wonder how much we’re putting into stuff like looking at American guys on CHL rosters who are unlikely to make the jump straight to the minors.
I’d love to know what kids like that are thinking right now.
This is all very new and we’re all of kind of figuring this out together, but – just thinking our loud here – I’m surprised there’s currently this huge lag supposedly because CHL players had never seriously considered moving to the NCAA and are just now considering it.
And also now in many cases kids are reportedly behind on credits to qualify for American U’s?
First off, Canadian public schools overall are excellent. I strongly doubt exceptional hockey players from Canada would abandon their studies because they thought college wasn’t a consideration.
Also, we’ve been talking about this being a possibility for years and in early 2024 those conversations were already very loud.
Players’ ‘advisors’ aren’t stupid and I would think those advising top-end CHL players were closely following this story and making families aware this was a possibility.
Not sure what you mean by you wondering how much we’re putting into American guys in the CHL. If you’re asking what you think the impact is, it’s already huge and may get a lot huge-r after the NHL draft.
There are reports out there high draftees may decide to go the NCAA route if that’s what their NHL team recommends. That would be in late June/early July.
Yeah, U Sports is good hockey, and the best players could surely help Division I teams. And the experience factor is huge on a freshman-laden team.
We’re apparently going to see how much they can help Miami firsthand in October.
I saw a Q game in Halifax when MacKinnon was there, and his linemate had a hat trick plus a Gordie Howe hat trick – four goals, an assist and a fight. 
He played four years at U. Prince Edward Island and had a fantastic career. I’d have taken him as a bottom six RedHawks forward in a heartbeat out of U Sports, even on a loaded 2011-15 roster.
*“I know Miami didn’t really have a true 200-foot defenseman this past season, and that’s something I want to bring."
I like the +35!
https://x.com/paragonathlete/status/1927709397775532448?s=46
Flip an Air Force commit goalie
#20 at Miami. Excellent player should be a great coach! Jimmy Mullin.