UConn @ Cornell (MSG), 11/26/2022

[billhoward]

Dick Bertrand '70 was a Toronto cop before he discovered Cornell and was the non-playing captain of the Ken Dryden 1970 unbeaten team. He could play RS but not NCAAs. The NCAA tried to level the playing field in favor of Americans by taking away a year of eligibility or more of eligibility for people who were older than the average age of undergrad students. It caught up kids from the Canadian juniors and/but for USA kids there were exemptions for military service years and for Mormons on missionary duty if not for doing that play on Broadway. All that went away over time. Maybe the NCAA realized they'd have a tough time in court explaining why the old proper age for college was 18 to 22.

[marty]

IIRC, back in the day Junior A was not a permissible path the pure amateurism of American college hockey. Like fifty years ago, which means back when Collegetown had two dozen bars and the restrooms in the Palms had been cleaned. Or swept out.

Yes.  Junior B was acceptable to the NCAA but not Junior A.

[ugarte]

IIRC, back in the day Junior A was not a permissible path the pure amateurism of American college hockey. Like fifty years ago, which means back when Collegetown had two dozen bars and the restrooms in the Palms had been cleaned. Or swept out.

Yes.  Junior B was acceptable to the NCAA but not Junior A.

gotta hope junior a is fine because it would be very surprising if nobody noticed where we've been getting our canadians from.

[marty]

IIRC, back in the day Junior A was not a permissible path the pure amateurism of American college hockey. Like fifty years ago, which means back when Collegetown had two dozen bars and the restrooms in the Palms had been cleaned. Or swept out.

Yes.  Junior B was acceptable to the NCAA but not Junior A.

gotta hope junior a is fine because it would be very surprising if nobody noticed where we've been getting our canadians from.

Bill and I are pulling thoughts from our 1970's memory banks.

[dag14]

I am pretty sure that Dick Bertrand was ineligible for the post-season games because he had turned 26, the age at which one was considered too old to play, rather than an arbitrary distinction between RS and playoffs.

I remember hosting freshmen players for Canadian Thanksgiving in the 80's and serving them beer because they were all 21.  At least the Canadian freshmen were.

[George64]

This from Dick Bertrand himself, as quoted in Forever Faithful - "After your twentieth birthday, every year that you played organized hockey counted as a year of eligibility.  I had played a year of organized hockey in Canada after my twentieth birthday, so that counted against me."  Bertrand had played in the NCAAs in both 1968 and 1969, so he was declared ineligible in 1970.
.

[Trotsky]

A very good explanation of Canadian Juniors now.

Junior A are eligible, Major Juniors are not.

To make it confusing, the Major Juniors (now CHL) were Junior A until 1970 when they seceded, like the English Premier League seceded from the Championship.  And so on top of the former 1st tier they created a "zeroeth" tier.  Post-HS CHL players get a stipend for cough "tuition" (in practice they make American football players look like dedicated scholars) so they lose their amateur status.  CHL players can also sign NHL contracts and even play in the NHL up to some magic number of games (8 maybe?) before the team has to choose to keep them up or return them to their CHL team for the rest of the season.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

It appears C.U. does have a competitive Men's hockey team this year. This takes the heat off apologists and puts it where it belongs.

Where exactly does the heat belong now?

Miami?

::bolt::

[The Rancor]

IIRC, back in the day Junior A was not a permissible path the pure amateurism of American college hockey. Like fifty years ago, which means back when Collegetown had two dozen bars and the restrooms in the Palms had been cleaned. Or swept out.

RIP The Palms, Rulloff's.

[Trotsky]

IIRC, back in the day Junior A was not a permissible path the pure amateurism of American college hockey. Like fifty years ago, which means back when Collegetown had two dozen bars and the restrooms in the Palms had been cleaned. Or swept out.

RIP The Palms, Rulloff's.

The Chariot.  The Nines.

[Dafatone]

IIRC, back in the day Junior A was not a permissible path the pure amateurism of American college hockey. Like fifty years ago, which means back when Collegetown had two dozen bars and the restrooms in the Palms had been cleaned. Or swept out.

RIP The Palms, Rulloff's.

The Chariot.  The Nines.

Chapter House, yo.

[ugarte]

IIRC, back in the day Junior A was not a permissible path the pure amateurism of American college hockey. Like fifty years ago, which means back when Collegetown had two dozen bars and the restrooms in the Palms had been cleaned. Or swept out.

RIP The Palms, Rulloff's.

The Chariot.  The Nines.

Chapter House, yo.

there's a whole thread for this

[scoop85]

I am pretty sure that Dick Bertrand was ineligible for the post-season games because he had turned 26, the age at which one was considered too old to play, rather than an arbitrary distinction between RS and playoffs.

I remember hosting freshmen players for Canadian Thanksgiving in the 80's and serving them beer because they were all 21.  At least the Canadian freshmen were.

I recently watched the Michigan-Illinois football game and the Illinois punter is a 29-year-old Australian, so the rules have obviously changed over the years.

[billhoward]

I am pretty sure that Dick Bertrand was ineligible for the post-season games because he had turned 26, the age at which one was considered too old to play, rather than an arbitrary distinction between RS and playoffs. I remember hosting freshmen players for Canadian Thanksgiving in the 80's and serving them beer because they were all 21.  At least the Canadian freshmen were.

It's hazy, this is a half-century ago, a lot of stuff I remember never really happened but it was still a good story. My recall is Bertrand played during the regular season but at least for senior year, he was not eligible for the NCAA tournament. He was I believe 29 at the time. Maybe the NCAA had a lose-a-year thing for years over 26.

There was a sense at the time, especially at BC, that hockey played in the US should be for USA Americans only. Jump ahead two generations and I see stats showing the percentage of Canadians in Division 1 hockey is down to 30%.

Still is a shame that Bertrand went from player/team captain directly to head coach and never had the chance to apprentice for a couple years as an assistant HC at Cornell or elsewhere. Else his Cornell tenure might have been longer.

[The Rancor]

IIRC, back in the day Junior A was not a permissible path the pure amateurism of American college hockey. Like fifty years ago, which means back when Collegetown had two dozen bars and the restrooms in the Palms had been cleaned. Or swept out.

RIP The Palms, Rulloff's.

The Chariot.  The Nines.

Chapter House, yo.

there's a whole thread for this

All of these. Especially the Nines Deep Dish.