Money: Cornellians lost to (and gained from) the portal

[marty]

Looks like there is language in the new rule that will also expressly prohibit delaying high school graduation for this purpose.  So ... yay?

So they'll have to try to monitor that rather than whether or not someone deserves their red shirt?

Yeah this is gonna be even more of a PITA to implement than redshirting. At least there's medical records and shit for that.

"The goalie are my homework."

[stereax]

Looks like there is language in the new rule that will also expressly prohibit delaying high school graduation for this purpose.  So ... yay?

So they'll have to try to monitor that rather than whether or not someone deserves their red shirt?

Yeah this is gonna be even more of a PITA to implement than redshirting. At least there's medical records and shit for that.

"The goalie are my homework."

I wouldn't put it above some goalies...

[Pghas]

Can someone explain the realistic way a kid delays HS graduation by a year two?

Short of failing something that is required for graduation, or getting permission to take an entire year off from school I can't figure it out.   Probably easier to do at a private school, but I'm trying to picture the kid who goes to a public US high school.

My high school days were certainly a long time ago (HS class of '85) but this only ever happened iirc if you basically flunked most of your classes one yr, or had a medical issue that made you miss too much class (kid had a serious car accident requiring lengthy rehab, or the occasionally pregnancy and child birth )

You could do a PG year at a prep school, but if that is helpful to you , you're not a D1 level player

[BearLover]

Can someone explain the realistic way a kid delays HS graduation by a year two?

Short of failing something that is required for graduation, or getting permission to take an entire year off from school I can't figure it out.   Probably easier to do at a private school, but I'm trying to picture the kid who goes to a public US high school.

My high school days were certainly a long time ago (HS class of '85) but this only ever happened iirc if you basically flunked most of your classes one yr, or had a medical issue that made you miss too much class (kid had a serious car accident requiring lengthy rehab, or the occasionally pregnancy and child birth )

You could do a PG year at a prep school, but if that is helpful to you , you're not a D1 level player

But you'd still have graduated from high school at the same time regardless. Graduating a second time doesn't reset the clock.

[tretiak]

Can someone explain the realistic way a kid delays HS graduation by a year two?

Short of failing something that is required for graduation, or getting permission to take an entire year off from school I can't figure it out.  Probably easier to do at a private school, but I'm trying to picture the kid who goes to a public US high school.

My high school days were certainly a long time ago (HS class of '85) but this only ever happened iirc if you basically flunked most of your classes one yr, or had a medical issue that made you miss too much class (kid had a serious car accident requiring lengthy rehab, or the occasionally pregnancy and child birth )

You could do a PG year at a prep school, but if that is helpful to you , you're not a D1 level player

But you'd still have graduated from high school at the same time regardless. Graduating a second time doesn't reset the clock.

My guess is prep schools will become more strict in accepting public school credits. 1 year repeat to delay graduation will be easy to accomplish, especially those from Quebec. 2 years is probably doable.

Unless PG years are grandfathered in, this will kill PGs. Most likely a 16/17 year old recruit who's D1 competitive but not a top recruit will start looking to repeat years at prep school to get the age edge back.

Adam, any thoughts on how 5 year eligibility will impact USHL?   

[adamw]

Can someone explain the realistic way a kid delays HS graduation by a year two?

Short of failing something that is required for graduation, or getting permission to take an entire year off from school I can't figure it out.  Probably easier to do at a private school, but I'm trying to picture the kid who goes to a public US high school.

My high school days were certainly a long time ago (HS class of '85) but this only ever happened iirc if you basically flunked most of your classes one yr, or had a medical issue that made you miss too much class (kid had a serious car accident requiring lengthy rehab, or the occasionally pregnancy and child birth )

You could do a PG year at a prep school, but if that is helpful to you , you're not a D1 level player

But you'd still have graduated from high school at the same time regardless. Graduating a second time doesn't reset the clock.

My guess is prep schools will become more strict in accepting public school credits. 1 year repeat to delay graduation will be easy to accomplish, especially those from Quebec. 2 years is probably doable.

Unless PG years are grandfathered in, this will kill PGs. Most likely a 16/17 year old recruit who's D1 competitive but not a top recruit will start looking to repeat years at prep school to get the age edge back.

Adam, any thoughts on how 5 year eligibility will impact USHL?   

I believe I said this earlier - but there will be no delaying HS graduation.  This is what coaches were saying at first - but after going to the coaches meetings in Florida last week, that is off the table. The new rule will not allow that either.

So you're looking at the clock to begin ticking at 17 or 18 - 5 years of eligibility - no matter what. Which likely means most college teams will bring in 19 year olds with 4 years left.  It will make the 5th year issue largely a non-factor - as BL indicated last week.

I'm working on a new story - to be published soon - summing up last week's meetings.

[BearLover]

Can someone explain the realistic way a kid delays HS graduation by a year two?

Short of failing something that is required for graduation, or getting permission to take an entire year off from school I can't figure it out.  Probably easier to do at a private school, but I'm trying to picture the kid who goes to a public US high school.

My high school days were certainly a long time ago (HS class of '85) but this only ever happened iirc if you basically flunked most of your classes one yr, or had a medical issue that made you miss too much class (kid had a serious car accident requiring lengthy rehab, or the occasionally pregnancy and child birth )

You could do a PG year at a prep school, but if that is helpful to you , you're not a D1 level player

But you'd still have graduated from high school at the same time regardless. Graduating a second time doesn't reset the clock.

My guess is prep schools will become more strict in accepting public school credits. 1 year repeat to delay graduation will be easy to accomplish, especially those from Quebec. 2 years is probably doable.

Unless PG years are grandfathered in, this will kill PGs. Most likely a 16/17 year old recruit who's D1 competitive but not a top recruit will start looking to repeat years at prep school to get the age edge back.

Adam, any thoughts on how 5 year eligibility will impact USHL?   

I believe I said this earlier - but there will be no delaying HS graduation.  This is what coaches were saying at first - but after going to the coaches meetings in Florida last week, that is off the table. The new rule will not allow that either.

So you're looking at the clock to begin ticking at 17 or 18 - 5 years of eligibility - no matter what. Which likely means most college teams will bring in 19 year olds with 4 years left.  It will make the 5th year issue largely a non-factor - as BL indicated last week.

I'm working on a new story - to be published soon - summing up last week's meetings.

If this comes to pass, the 5 year rule will have an interesting effect on Cornell.

Hockey - we'll need to bring in recruits earlier, but so will every other team. I don't think we'll have a huge issue bringing in kids at 19, but schools that rely on older kids will be hurt. These are mostly the lesser hockey programs, not the blue bloods, so the blue bloods will benefit comparatively. Sounds like the Quebec recruiting issue may be tough initially but kids planning on college will find some way to graduate at 18 I imagine.

Lacrosse - very bad for us and all other Ivies. I wonder if kids will just not attend a couple fall semesters so as to spend all five years of eligibility at Cornell. If so, that mitigates the downside, but it still prevents us from bringing in grad transfers like the Marylands and Hopkins of the world. So, at minimum a comparative disadvantage for the Ivies.

Basketball - now kids like Cooper Noard can stay 4 years and graduate before doing a grad year elsewhere, though who knows if this actually helps since these kids might still want to graduate in 3 years and do 2 grad years elsewhere and make even more money. I don't think this will much help our ability to compete nationally and certainly not within our conference, as the better teams were seeing their stars transfer out/graduate early more often than we were.

Wrestling - sounds bad but I guess a lot of kids were doing a postgrad year after high school already to train for college?

[adamw]

here's my article

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2026/05/04_Eligibility-Changes-Hot-Topic.php

[BearLover]

here's my article

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2026/05/04_Eligibility-Changes-Hot-Topic.php

Thanks for the reporting, very interesting. Metcalf says college hockey is arguing for the clock to start at 19, and to not look at college graduation at all. That wouldn't make sense for the other sports, right? In those sports there is no junior system, so if the five years start at 19, what would that mean for the 18-year-olds in these sports?

[stereax]

here's my article

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2026/05/04_Eligibility-Changes-Hot-Topic.php

Merci as always Adam

Yeah, this sounds like it's gonna be a shitshow.

[tretiak]

here's my article

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2026/05/04_Eligibility-Changes-Hot-Topic.php

Merci as always Adam

Yeah, this sounds like it's gonna be a shitshow.

If child born in December
1. Redshirt kindergarten
2. Send to Eaglebrook for grades 8a and 8b before prep school

This will definitely be a shitshow that lasts for a few seasons before self-immolating.

A few positives. They gamed out the prep school shenanigans so that only the craziest parents will get their kid an extra year. I actually like the 19 year old gets 5 years of eligibility rule and think it's a good mix of letting kids get some junior time and then jump to d1. That means it has no hope.

[adamw]

here's my article

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2026/05/04_Eligibility-Changes-Hot-Topic.php

Thanks for the reporting, very interesting. Metcalf says college hockey is arguing for the clock to start at 19, and to not look at college graduation at all. That wouldn't make sense for the other sports, right? In those sports there is no junior system, so if the five years start at 19, what would that mean for the 18-year-olds in these sports?

you mean high school graduation? I think he meant just for college hockey.

[BearLover]

here's my article

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2026/05/04_Eligibility-Changes-Hot-Topic.php

Thanks for the reporting, very interesting. Metcalf says college hockey is arguing for the clock to start at 19, and to not look at college graduation at all. That wouldn't make sense for the other sports, right? In those sports there is no junior system, so if the five years start at 19, what would that mean for the 18-year-olds in these sports?

you mean high school graduation? I think he meant just for college hockey.

Oh, so they want a carve-out just for hockey.

[stereax]

here's my article

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2026/05/04_Eligibility-Changes-Hot-Topic.php

Thanks for the reporting, very interesting. Metcalf says college hockey is arguing for the clock to start at 19, and to not look at college graduation at all. That wouldn't make sense for the other sports, right? In those sports there is no junior system, so if the five years start at 19, what would that mean for the 18-year-olds in these sports?

you mean high school graduation? I think he meant just for college hockey.

Oh, so they want a carve-out just for hockey.

I mean, it makes sense. Hockey already has a highly-developed junior system that generally takes a non-bluechip player until they're 20, if not 21. Really all you have to change is drop the HS graduation thing and go 20+5 or from when college starts, the earlier of the two.

But, I mean, 19+5 isn't too awful either. Colleges will adapt to it, and still, a 20yo entry will get 4 years and a degree. (And if you're going to Cornell, chances are the 4 years is "enough" anyways.) It's more so going to have terrible implications down the chain, especially at the USHL level. The CHL will still have the 20-21yos who don't want to do college hockey (and plenty of those still exist). Leagues like the BCHL, AJHL, and so on, which were already pretty gutted after the CHL-USHL transfer stuff, are only going to get worse. And the USHL is going to suffer as well from the difficult decisions it's going to force kids who are 18 and 19 into. Especially if they're going to be strict about "not gaming the system" for delaying graduation.

Iunno. It feels like it benefits the bluechippers, who come in at 18, sometimes even 17, and only stay 2-3 years anyway, and hits the "average player" who comes in at 19 or 20 (or 21, in several cases) and wants to complete a degree.

[BearLover]

here's my article

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2026/05/04_Eligibility-Changes-Hot-Topic.php

Thanks for the reporting, very interesting. Metcalf says college hockey is arguing for the clock to start at 19, and to not look at college graduation at all. That wouldn't make sense for the other sports, right? In those sports there is no junior system, so if the five years start at 19, what would that mean for the 18-year-olds in these sports?

you mean high school graduation? I think he meant just for college hockey.

Oh, so they want a carve-out just for hockey.

I mean, it makes sense. Hockey already has a highly-developed junior system that generally takes a non-bluechip player until they're 20, if not 21. Really all you have to change is drop the HS graduation thing and go 20+5 or from when college starts, the earlier of the two.

But, I mean, 19+5 isn't too awful either. Colleges will adapt to it, and still, a 20yo entry will get 4 years and a degree. (And if you're going to Cornell, chances are the 4 years is "enough" anyways.) It's more so going to have terrible implications down the chain, especially at the USHL level. The CHL will still have the 20-21yos who don't want to do college hockey (and plenty of those still exist). Leagues like the BCHL, AJHL, and so on, which were already pretty gutted after the CHL-USHL transfer stuff, are only going to get worse. And the USHL is going to suffer as well from the difficult decisions it's going to force kids who are 18 and 19 into. Especially if they're going to be strict about "not gaming the system" for delaying graduation.

Iunno. It feels like it benefits the bluechippers, who come in at 18, sometimes even 17, and only stay 2-3 years anyway, and hits the "average player" who comes in at 19 or 20 (or 21, in several cases) and wants to complete a degree.

In Adam's article it sounded like the NCAA wasn't interested in budging and carving out certain sports because the rule would more likely survive legal scrutiny if it were uniform across all sports.

Cornell is fucked if the rule is 19+5, so I hope that doesn't happen. I think the current system is pretty silly. Why does hockey need to be the one sport where kids are spending multiple years between high school and college? It feels off to most people that there are 25 year olds still playing college hockey. Colleges can adjust to the new rule and junior hockey eventually will have to as well. Nobody shed a tear for the CHL when the NCAA eligibility rule changed last year, but now the NCAA is supposed to protect junior hockey? I just don't think NCAA hockey is putting forth a very compelling case that the NCAA should carve it out.