By Alec Roberson
Its that time of year again when the doldrums of the summer without hockey begin to recede and our favorite NHL teams begin cranking up training camps and preseason games. If you are anything like us you look forward to seeing not only the returning players and those players coming in via trades or free agent signings, but some of the younger prospects as well. However, out of that group of prospects participating in camp and the preseason, you may have noticed a handful of guys not participating and wonder why. These missing players likely include prospects playing either in international leagues or the NCAA. This article will provide a brief overview of the NCAA amateurism eligibility rules and specifically how they interact with players and their NHL teams as well as players deciding between junior hockey and college hockey.
Amateurism of NCAA Athletes
While student-athletes may be a “professional” in one sport and play another sport in college (assuming there are no endorsements or sponsorships), it is the foundational rule for all NCAA athletes that they be amateurs and have never played that sport professionally. In fact, the NCAA deliberately coined the term “student-athlete” out of a concern that the players may be considered employees legally. Historically, it has been difficult for NCAA athletes to successfully challenge NCAA eligibility rules pertaining to amateurism as courts will give deference to the NCAA’s application of those rules to promote amateurism in college sports. While exceptions do apply to that general rule, for those interested in NCAA hockey, the eligibility rules for amateurism in college sports, and specifically in hockey, should be adhered to.
Amateurism of NCAA Hockey Players
Even though the NCAA has uniform rules for all sports, there are some specific rules that apply to certain sports. For example, in the past hockey players could get drafted into the NHL and remain college athletes as long as they did not sign a contract with that team. Conversely, basketball players could not be drafted. These rules have since been modified to give some flexibility to basketball players. So, what does this all really mean as it relates to NCAA hockey players? What if a prospective athlete wants to play for Boston College but has received a contract offer from a team in the Ontario Hockey League (“the OHL”)? What if that player received a t-shirt from that OHL team? Why is it that players in the United States Hockey League (“USHL”) are allowed to go on to play in the NCAA but players in the Canadian Hockey League (“CHL”) are not? These eligibility rules are noteworthy for anyone looking to potentially play NCAA hockey or for the casual fan looking to understand why certain players might not be at training camp this year.
NCAA and its Relation with Junior Hockey
It is clear that any hockey player that plays in the OHL, the Western Hockey League (the “WHL”) or the Quebec Major Junior League (the “QMJHL”) signs a contract, gets paid a stipend and loses eligibility to play in the NCAA (collectively the OHL, WHL, and QMJHL are considered the “CHL”). It is interesting that the NCAA treats the CHL as a professional league even though the CHL tries to argue they are not. (If you missed it check out our article on this issue here.) Unlike the CHL, the premier Junior A level of hockey in the United States, known as the United States Hockey League (the “USHL”), does not pay their players a stipend and maintains strict rules to ensure that their players remain eligible for the NCAA. The USHL actually prides itself on being a premier feeding ground for NCAA hockey. Not receiving the stipend seems to be one of the biggest differences affecting NCAA eligibility between the CHL and the USHL.
While actually playing in the CHL clearly results in a loss of NCAA eligibility, there are other instances surrounding the CHL that could actually cause a player to lose eligibility that may not seem so obvious. The following actions would lead to a loss of NCAA eligibility:
- Signing a contract with a CHL team even if the player never plays a game with that team. Even signing or agreeing to things that are similar to contracts may result in a loss of eligibility as the NCAA will look at the intent behind the signing.
- Attending a rookie or training camp, tryout or visit of a CHL team can result in a loss of NCAA eligibility if:
- The team is paying for all of the player’s expenses (travel, food, lodging, equipment) and the player stays at camp for longer than 48 hours starting the moment the player reaches the facility until that player leaves camp; or
- That player has already attended one camp with that CHL team in which the team paid all of the expenses and now attends a second one paid by the team (one per team); or
- Attending the camp requires the player to miss school.
- Participating in any game in which another team is involved, including scrimmages or exhibition games. Intrasquad scrimmages do not count and would not affect eligibility.
- While the NCAA does have an appeals process available for players wishing to gain eligibility (discussed below), the NCAA is very strict about this rule. In 2016 the NCAA upheld a one year athletic eligibility suspension and denied the appeal of goalie Tyler Johnson, preventing him from playing for the University of Maine, after he played just 11 minutes of an OHL exhibition game.
- While the NCAA does have an appeals process available for players wishing to gain eligibility (discussed below), the NCAA is very strict about this rule. In 2016 the NCAA upheld a one year athletic eligibility suspension and denied the appeal of goalie Tyler Johnson, preventing him from playing for the University of Maine, after he played just 11 minutes of an OHL exhibition game.
- Accepting any apparel, items, equipment etc. (except that that may be provided to the player during an eligible training camp as mentioned above). If a player receives any such items from a team the player may mail them back, pay for them, or donate them to charity and remain NCAA eligible.
NCAA and its Relation with the NHL
Many of the NCAA eligibility rules applicable to the CHL also apply to the NHL and college or college bound players. The tryout/camp participation rules are the same for the NHL as they are for the CHL in that a player may only attend one camp or tryout per team in which the NHL team pays for the player’s expenses and the player is there for no longer than 48 hours from the time he arrives at the facility until he leaves camp. If the player pays his own expenses then he can attend however many he wants for however long. It is important to note that if the player participates in the NHL Draft Combine or a NHL Research and Development Camp, the NCAA treats this as participating in a camp with all 31 teams.
These rules are what seem to largely dictate who is at training camp and the NHL Draft Combine and who is not. For prospective players these are all important considerations. Is it worth potentially blowing your NCAA eligibility? Is it worth paying out of pocket to go to camp to also protect your eligibility? For some players like Brady Tkachuk who played for Boston University and was selected 4th overall in the 2018 draft by the Ottawa Senators, it is all but certain that if he decides to sign a contract with the Senators and attend their camp that he will make the team (*Note he did sign with the Senators). Such players might have an easier decision when they are confident they will go to the NHL sooner rather than later. Players that are on the fringe may have the toughest time deciding what is right for them. Also like the CHL, NCAA players drafted by an NHL team cannot participate in any games against other teams and is why NCAA players do not participate in prospects tournaments such as the Traverse City Prospects Tournament hosted by the Detroit Red Wings every September. As mentioned above, NHL teams (as well as CHL teams) may draft players without it jeopardizing that player’s NCAA eligibility as long as that player follows the rules mentioned in this article. The NHL team owns the right to sign that player or trade the right to sign that player from the time that player is drafted until a short period after he graduates or leaves college. The player may sign as a free agent with whichever team he wants after that period.
NCAA and Endorsements, Agents, and Advisors
One final look at remaining eligible for NCAA hockey puts us in the subjects of player endorsements, retaining an agent, or retaining other advisors. First for endorsements, it is clear that the player must be an amateur and not have endorsements for anything hockey related before or while playing NCAA hockey. However, it is also the rule that hockey players (or any college athletes) should not receive endorsements for other unrelated sports while playing hockey. This issue arose in Bloom v. NCAA when a college football player was also an Olympic skier receiving endorsements and television appearance opportunities and wanted to keep receiving those endorsements and television opportunities while playing collegiate football. The court ruled that the NCAA did not abuse its discretion and agreed with the NCAA that even though the sports are unrelated, the risk of allowing this could both promote the commercialism of college athletes and blur the lines between the two sports as it may not be clear as to which sport he or she was being endorsed. The company endorsing the athlete may end up promoting him or her as a “multi-sport” athlete. Therefore, if someone wants to play college hockey but is currently receiving endorsements for an unrelated sport, it seems that those endorsements must stop to remain eligible.
In addition, many young players may look to get someone to represent them such as an agent or other advisor to help them “make it” in hockey or navigate other facets of life. The simple answer is that players cannot have an agent and remain eligible for the NCAA. However, that player can have a “family advisor” even if that advisor is also a certified agent. Weird right? Well to remain NCAA eligible, the family advisor/player relationship must adhere to the following guidelines:
- The player must not accept any gifts including money, meals, travel expenses, equipment, etc. from the family advisor.
- The player must not enter into a written or verbal agreement to have that family advisor represent the player as an agent in the future.
- The player must make sure the family advisor doesn’t market that player to professional teams.
- The player must make sure he compensates the family advisor for his or her or their services. If the family advisor is not compensated, it could be construed as the player receiving a gift from that family advisor. This is a clear NCAA violation. It does not have to be extravagant or excessive, but there needs to be something.
Deciding whether to hire a family advisor or not is really a cost benefit analysis that must be looked at by the player and that player’s family. The family advisor could be someone who is one or multiple of an agent, attorney, financial advisor, accountant, ex-player or other professional and could be very valuable to a player navigating both hockey and other facets of life. However, if playing in the NCAA is the goal of the player, these guidelines must be followed to make sure eligibility is not jeopardized.
Conclusion
All of these rules and requirements are very important to adhere to for anyone trying to play hockey in the NCAA. It is important to note that this article did not cover academic requirements for players looking to play college hockey. A great resource for those interested in navigating the steps to take and requirements to be eligible for college hockey is CollegeHockey Inc.
As seen above, the NCAA is very serious about maintaining the amateurism of its athletes and will hold to these rules fairly strictly. In the event that a player’s eligibility is terminated, there is an appeals process to which the school that player wishes to play for files said appeal with the NCAA only after the player has enrolled with the school. Usually, if the player is allowed to regain eligibility that player is penalized one year of athletic eligibility. In addition, as seen above, taking these eligibility disputes to court generally does not render any more positive results for the player unless the eligibility termination by the NCAA was way outside of its bylaws, rules and regulations. A player’s best bet is probably to not poke that bear and adhere to the rules and requirements stated herein.
So the next time you are following your favorite team’s training camp or maybe watching a preseason game and wondering why certain prospects are there while others are not, these restrictions may be that very reason.
Post image attribution: By: Wendy (originally posted to Flickr as About to face off.) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
