NAPLES — While most of the convention attendees agreed that the popularity of the sport is on the upswing, some said one of the best ways to maintain the momentum is to keep the players healthy. Just like their professional counterparts, college hockey officials are trying to reduce the number of concussions and other serious injuries through rule changes and stiffer penalties for multiple offenders.I would have guessed that this would be an hot button issue that will get a lot of discussion during the American Hockey Coaches Association meeting... I wonder if college hockey will come up with the rule where a player has to go to "quiet room" for 15 minutes if they receive a shot to the head?
ECAC Director of Officials and former NHL player and referee Paul Stewart said the topic of hits to the head has been at the forefront of the convention.
“It’s the No. 1 topic for everyone at all levels of hockey,” Stewart said. “Player safety is a very important part of the game and through rules, coaching and punishment I think it’s something that can be improved.”
Here we go with expansion again, maybe we should find a home for UAH before we start talking about adding more programs to the college hockey landscape. Seriously, what league would a team like Florida Gulf Coast play in? I would hope the topic of realignment is going to come up this spring. I think that College hockey in general needs to focus on the teams already in college hockey before we go tripping all over ourselves to add more college hockey teams... Do we really need another watered down college hockey conference taking yet another bid away from a team that is worthy of receiving an at large bid.
In addition to coaches from all levels of NCAA hockey, several club coaches are also in attendance at the event. One of the topics is how to turn popular club teams, like the one at Florida Gulf Coast University, into self-sustaining NCAA scholarship teams.
Joe Battista, the associate athletic director at Penn State, is currently overseeing the school’s transition from club to Division I. He said that when he’s asked about the transition, it always comes down to one topic — money.
“There are a lot of challenges when you try to start a program but it’s really hard to do if you don’t have the funding,” said Battista, whose school received an $88 million donation from Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula to revive the hockey program last year. “But it all starts with finding someone who is passionate enough to go out, knock on doors and do whatever it takes to make it happen.”
