Myers: Big money signings the latest twist in college hockey’s new world
At the NCAA Frozen Four in Tampa Fla Gophers coach Bob Motzko took questions before the tournament with future NHLers like Logan Cooley Ryan Johnson and Jimmy Snuggerud flanking him On that day just over two years ago Motzko was petitioned about how name image and likeness money was affecting other college sports and how it might affect NCAA hockey in the future Hockey is behind a little bit in the conversation Motzko declared perhaps inadvertently quoting Minnesota music legend Bob Dylan in his answer I think it s going to be a conversation that s going to heat up more and more in hockey over the next couple of years We just don t have that several teams compared to football and basketball But it s starting to heat up And there are more discussions You re hearing million-dollar deals for football and basketball Our players get burritos But I think times are changing It s months later And the times have changed in a big big way Gavin McKenna a Canadian forward with eye-popping offensive numbers in major junior hockey is years old and projected by several experts to be the top overall pick in the NHL draft Last week he was reportedly offered to attend Michigan State in the fall and skate for a Spartans company that returns one of the nation s top goalies in Trey Augustine The Spartans are a not-overly-risky bet to win the Big Ten s first NCAA hockey title since an underdog Spartans unit did it in After visiting campus and mulling their official bid McKenna handed Michigan State a polite No thank you and instead opted to skate for conference rival Penn State next season That decision came after the Nittany Lions who are coming off the activity s first Frozen Four appearance were able to reportedly triple Michigan State s monetary offer Tilting ice Over the past years the money meeting is the fourth seismic shift to hit the world of college hockey which involves roughly teams from Alaska in the West to Maine in the East and as far South as Arizona State s rapidly emerging initiative The first came in when Terry Pegula the billionaire owner of the NHL s Buffalo Sabres and the NFL s Buffalo Bills gave more than million to his alma mater Penn State to build an arena that facilitated the Nittany Lions move from club to Division I hockey That made for a half-dozen Big Ten schools with hockey programs with the Nittany Lions joining Michigan Michigan State Minnesota Ohio State and Wisconsin In short order the Big Ten became the first Power Five conference to include hockey and long-standing hockey-only conferences like the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and the original Central Collegiate Hockey Association either disbanded or radically changed their membership The next two changes came in the past five years as NIL meant for the first time college athletes could get paid for the use of their name image and likeness without losing their NCAA eligibility While football and basketball players were receiving six-figure deals from the start the immediate impact on hockey was players hosting summer hockey camps websites giving players a minimal hoodies in exchange for the use of an athlete s name and the aforementioned free burritos with the Mexican chain Chipotle signing several Gophers skaters to endorse their food With the money offered to top players skyrocketing there seems to be a movement afoot in Dinkytown to get the Gophers more involved in that tournament Last month social media posts were sent and a bare-bones website went live announcing the Golden Helmet Collective which is lacking detail but seems to be the start of a hockey-specific effort to raise NIL money for future Gophers The opening of the transfer portal allowed players to move from one initiative to another without having to sit out or lose eligibility This brought de facto free agency to college hockey where smaller schools are now routinely losing their top players to bigger schools after a year or two One coach in Atlantic Hockey America which is home to mid-major programs like Air Force Bentley Mercyhurst and Robert Morris compared their conference to a shopping center where multiple of the six players named to the AHA all-rookie squad one season are likely to be playing in the Big Ten or Hockey East by the time they re sophomores The Gophers have been sporadic but effective users of the transfer portal bringing in players like NHL first-rounder Matthew Wood from Connecticut and goalie Liam Souliere who backstopped much of last season s Big Ten title run from Penn State Open borders In November a lawsuit prompted the NCAA to allow players from Canadian major junior leagues to maintain college hockey eligibility which had not been the occurrence for the past four decades or so Because major junior players often receive a stipend of a minimal hundred dollars per month for living expenses they were long considered professionals in the eyes of the NCAA So in when current Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman who was committed to play college hockey at Miami of Ohio went to play for a major junior unit instead his NCAA eligibility disappeared The opening up of major junior players to college recruitment has meant a windfall of new talent available to NCAA programs McKenna is just the latest contestant from the Canadian leagues to pack for a home on campus in the fall with Wild prospect Ryder Ritchie Boston University defenseman Benjamin Vigneault Bemidji State defenseman Henry Mews Michigan left winger Blake Montgomery Wisconsin defenseman Ethan Armstrong Minnesota State Mankato left winger Nathan Piling St Thomas defenseman Grayden Siepmann Minnesota Duluth and center Cayden Lindstrom Michigan State all moving from major junior to college hockey in the fall North Dakota which is a project in transition after a coaching change in the spring landed two of the top players from the Victoria B C Royals center Cole Rischny and defenseman Keaton Verhoeff McKenna made his future Nittany Lions announcement live on ESPN SportsCenter in a move reminiscent of LeBron James and his infamous nationally-televised Decision from While several decried the big-money signing as an omen of college hockey s demise others noted that having the sport covered on national TV in the middle of the summer and attracting the top young talent on ice at least for one season is a net positive even as the sport goes through yet another new change Whatever your personal opinion it s clear that the future of college hockey has arrived And for programs large and small to attract and keep the meeting s best players more than burritos will be required Gavin McKenna of Group Canada celebrates his goal with teammates on the bench during the first period at the IIHF World Junior Championship against Company Finland at Canadian Tire Centre Dec in Ottawa Ontario Canada Photo by Minas Panagiotakis Getty Images Related Articles Bill in Congress would prevent schools from using participant fees to bankroll college sports The new college sports agency is rejecting various athlete NIL deals with donor-backed collectives Gophers in million hole for next year sketch out plan to tackle it Now an NBA champion Chet Holmgren returns to his roots in St Paul Gophers football coach P J Fleck receives contract extension
