Talking NCHC playoff race, CHL eligibility, fighting with college hockey analyst Starman: Season 6 Episode 16

College hockey analyst Dave Starman joins hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) to talk about the NCHC playoff race, as well as general topics like the discussion of CHL eligibility and fighting in college hockey.

This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Division I Men's Frozen Four, April 11 and 13 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Visit ncaa.com/mfrozenfour

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Usccho dot com. Welcome to USEcho Spotlight for Wednesday, February twenty eighth,
twenty twenty four. This podcast issponsored by the NCAA Men's Division one
Frozen four April eleventh and thirteenth atXcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

(00:28):
Visit NCAA dot com slash M Frozenfour to get your tickets. Today,
I'm Ed Trevska alongside Jim Connelly.This week we turn our eyes to
the NCCHC and somebody who spends alot of time covering it and joining us
now in US Echo Spotlight. Agreat friend of the show and of college
hockey and general Dave Starman from CBSSports Network Star the NCCHC. I know

(00:53):
that is your beloved league nowadays.And I look at this league and what
a what a grind this has beenall season and now we're getting down to
the final couple of weeks. Lostsils to play for this league there is
because it's it's getting interesting now becauseteams obviously jockeying for home ice, and

(01:15):
that's certainly a key component. Theone thing that this league is showing is
you can't pull it upset. Theyhaven't had an eight to one upset since
year one, I believe when Miamiwent to Saint Cloud and knocked them off,
and unfortunately Saint Cloud I think ithas been on the bad side of
a bunch of big upsets. Thatwas one of them, and the four
or five batch up. Basically thesetwo teams that I mean, you can

(01:38):
put them on the moon, itdoesn't matter, they're gonna be equal.
So I mean that's a good onetoo. So then you get into the
ones that kind of matter, whichis like the two seven and the three
six. So right now, ifyou're Saint Cloud State, you're sitting in
the two hole, you get theloot, like, have fun with that.
And if you're Denver, right nowyou're sitting in the three spot,
you're gonna eat a omall and goodluck with that. I mean, like,
oh, that's pretty good too.So, like I think that there's

(02:00):
so much to play for over theselast four games, including the race up
at the top where North Dakota's gota basically one game lead over Saint Cloud
State, a three point lead withfour games to go. Well, let's
start at the top. Then inNorth Dakota, this is a team that
I think everybody saw them chugging along, and there seems to be one kryptonite
for them, and it is ColoradoCollege. Two weeks ago going down to

(02:23):
Colorado Springs getting swept and not justgetting swept, but two lopsided and scores
maybe surprised a lot of people.But then they come back and then win
their series last weekend. I thinkthat that probably, as I called it,
I think on Monday, was toget right series. All that said,

(02:44):
a one game lead. Do youfeel like they're in a pretty secure
position right now? I do,And that's what I've watched all four of
the games with North Dakota and CC. There are a couple of games where
CC was just flat out better.But I will tell you that the Saturday
night game, which we know thatCC recently out of score, taking a
score out of it, North Dakotais pretty good in the game, they
just couldn't score, and Emberiko isa big reason why. So do I

(03:07):
worry about North Dakota moving forward?If you're gonna have a concern, it's
the fact that they've got eight defensemanon there that are all basically in their
first season with notak. But Iwill tell you that they've got some kids
that are playing like veterans. They'vethey've got some younger kids who are playing
like men. They've got a reallydynamic offense, and they've got a pretty
good back end too. And youknow, the one thing about North Dakota

(03:29):
is they can score. Jackson Blakecan score, Cameron Berg can score.
McLaughlin can score. A gab Orcan score for manywhere he can score his
eyes closed. So you got agood group there, and you know on
their defense, between Garrett Pike andJake Livanovich, you're getting some really solid
play to Logan Britzman, real goodfor him, and the goaltender Olympic person's
been tremendous, Like he just kindof had a hiccup at CC, but

(03:51):
he's been great. So when youlook at North Dakota, you see a
team that can really skate. Yousee a team with a ton of offensive
skill. You see a team that'sbeen lights out goal for just throughout every
game this year, and you seea team that's got a little swaggered to
it. And you're right, Jim, the series against UMD was the get
right series, but they weren't sowrong going into it that I think some

(04:14):
of the concerns among their fan base, which is look awesome fan base,
But I think some of the concernsin the fan base were a little off
the mark considering what this team hasdone all year. I want to look
at the next four teams, andthese are all teams that currently are inside
the pairwise bubble. Saint Cloud,Denver, Colorado College a great surprise this
year, maybe not to anybody thatfollows their program, and you know,

(04:36):
a great coach, but they've gotteninside the bubble. In Western Michigan,
Uh, these teams are obviously thetop five right now when you throw notes
Kota in there in this league.But you know, is there a lot
of separation when you look at thefour teams I just mentioned, throw notes
Quota in their five. I mean, it feels like all five of them

(04:57):
are pretty close. Well, we'regonna get a really get into on Friday
night and Saturday night when Western Michiganplays North Dakota for the first time basically
in a year. And we've gotthat game Friday night on CBS Sports Network,
And I like, I can't waitfor that because I thought Western was
pretty good last Friday night at SaintCloud and This should be a really good
one because Western Western is old,heavy, fast, and they don't fool

(05:21):
around like they're not. They're notthe prettiest team in a world to watch,
but they do have a lot ofskill and this pump kid is kids
off the charts. But they playa style that puts teams on their heels
and can fit their ears back prettyquick. And North Dakota is one of
those teams that hasn't had that happento them a lot, so I really
look forward to that. Is therea big separation between Western and North Dakota?

(05:43):
I'm going to tell you the answers. No, I think Western's gonna
gets powerplay scoring again like it didearlier in the year. But to me,
is there a huge difference beween thsetwo teams and they're abilditing to break
a game open and extend the lead. Not a ton. No, Let's
go to Saint Cloud State. SaintCloud is in the number two spot right
now, and the thing I likeabout Saint Cloud is they've got some balance.
Now, sometimes balance could be auphe misen for we needed everybody to

(06:06):
score because our topic guys aren't prettygood. That's not really the case here,
like Saint Cloud's top guys are prettygood and the depth through their lineup's
really good. Kyla Kok has beenbeen pretty steady throughout the course of the
year. Up front, he's afifth year guy. Another fifth year guys
Dylan Anhorn, and people were worriedabout Ian Horn as a defensive because remember
he missed a good chunk of timewith a bad injury, and when he

(06:27):
came back this year, he lookedlike he was out of shape. He
looked like he had no explosion tohim. And now he looks like bro
So he's got that figured out andthen you know, you get to be
it. And then brothers are prettydynamic basis. Solquist has been really good
in the circle and Zach o'cabi isscoring again and that was a big concern
early on the year. So tome, I think Saint Cloud Saint's the
kind of team that could push thepace and you don't believe it or not

(06:50):
as a big rink Olympic sized ringteam, they're actually better on regulation sheets,
So I think that's gonna help outonce again to the national tournament.
Then you go to Denver. NowDenver, Denver is a good one,
because obviously Denver is that team thatcan score like crazy, right, they
lead the country in goals. There'snobody within what twenty five goals of them,

(07:10):
I think in terms of overall scoring. And then it slowed down a
little bit recently. And this iswhere it kind of gets funny. Denver,
I think, is either the youngestor the second youngest team in the
NCAA, and BC is right therewith them. And I'm at BC a
couple weeks ago before I saw youdo that PWHL game, and I spent
the air to do with some ofthe coaches and they said, how's Denver
doing. I said, They've They'veslowed down just a little bit. I

(07:31):
think it's their youth at Greg Bradletzand he goes great, he goes,
we're as young as they are.And I'm like, yeah, Buth,
you've got half the world junior team. There's a big difference here, you
know, Like I think your setwhen it comes to the skill level component
having played in big games. ButDenver, Denver's going to score. I
think they're going to continue to score, even when scoring starts to get harder

(07:53):
late in the season. I thinkthey're going to figure out a way to
get goals. To me, Denver'sissue is going to be give that goaltending
be steady enough to get them throughbehind a lot of youth, especially on
the back end. They've been prettygood defensively. Zeve Bulliam to me is,
to me is the reincarnate of BrianLeach and he's going to be a
top ten pick in the NHL draft, as we all know. But Denver,
I think has got a lot ofskill. The wildcard for them is

(08:16):
does their youth hold up through thegrind and will they be able to handle
it. And then the last teamthat we talked about on the list is
Colorado College. They're balanced, like, they're good down the middle, they're
pretty good on the back end,they keep bucks out of their net,
and Barrico has been tremendous. Imean like he has been lights out good.
He's the I don't want to sayhe's the comeback story of the year,

(08:37):
because I mean it wasn't bad lastyear, but to me as a
goalie, watching what he has doneover the last year has been remarkable and
what he has become as a netminder. Let's let's make the baseline the world
junior tournament where I thought he wasokay, he's now really really good.
And they can score a labick andscore Bromaia can score back and score.

(08:58):
These can move the puck. They'vegot some experience and they really will coach.
So that's kind of the NCAA topfive and in a nutshell. And
to me, is there a lotof separation between these teams? Not really.
They just all have a different dynamicor a different dimensional quality that sets
them in the right direction, Dave, Since you mentioned Caiden and Emberico,
I wanted to touch on goalies inthe league. If anybody looked at stats

(09:22):
just in conference, they'd see CaydenEmberico that the only Richter nominee from the
NCCHC with a nine thirty save percentagein conference games, and everybody else nine
oh six or below with several subnine hundred. Meanwhile, you have the
Big Ten with four Richter nominees anda lot of goalies putting up some big
numbers. What's the difference in theNCCHC. Is it uh skill upfront and

(09:45):
scoring? Is it? Is itsomething with goaltending this year? What's what's
the story there? Yeah, it'sgoing to make me really popular I answer
this question, but I want tolead with a quote that Chris Mayott,
head coach at CC, and youknow there's unformers SYS coach in Michigan,
gave me a couple of years ago, and I thought he was the right
guy to do it because he wasin the Big Ten and is now in
the NCCHC. He said, theNCCHC probably has better teams, whereas the

(10:11):
Big Ten probably has more high endplayers. So maybe the skill level top
the bottom of the Big Ten isbetter, but the teams in the NCC
are better. Well, when youhave better teams, you got a chance
to have more consistency and more repeatability. And in the NCCHC, these teams
really attacked the net, but theyattacked the net with some depth and with
some fury end and with some heaviness. So there's a lot of coggestion that

(10:33):
goes in front of the net.So to me, I think with the
Big Ten there's a lot more puckpossession of that conference because of the higher
end guys, just in my opinion. So I'm not quite sure that the
goalies are getting the same or themajority of the goali is getting the same
work because there are some goals onsome of these teams that defend with the
puck on their stick. They mightnot be getting the same looks in terms

(10:54):
of great eight chances against that someof the NCCHD guys are getting. It's
just kind of my theory, butit's something I see now. That being
said, I think the ncch goaltendingthis year is not what it has been
in recent years. Don't get mewrong, but person in North Dakota has
been really really good. Emberricho ColoradoCollege has been really good. Caam Rowe
in Western Michigan under the radar hasbeen dynamite. Like he has played every

(11:16):
game and he has held Western Michiganin a good chunk of him. Now
he's not getting thirty shots tonight andhe's only getting about twenty five, but
he's made some ten bellaris this yearthat have helped Western Michigan win some games.
The kid Lakotzi and Omaha skill wisemight be the best goalie in the
conference. Like he is the lightsout great. He's just played on a

(11:37):
team that kid has is not asthick depth wise as Almo, so he's
getting probably a few more great diesagainst him than he normally does the loose
gold thing's a little bit down thisyear when State School's been okay, but
he probably hasn't been the dominant guythey want him to be. And Miami's
goalies have been under siege most ofthe year, So I think the reason
that they only have one Richter Awardfinalist is because there's more periody among the

(11:58):
goalies in the NCCHG. Where inthe big ten, I think you're seeing
some of the bigger names that areout there more with Dave Starman in a
Moment. This podcast is sponsored bythe NCAA Men's Division One Frozen Four April
eleventh and thirteenth, twenty twenty fourat XL Energy Center in Saint Paul,
Minnesota. Where are my hockey fansat? Welcome to Fandom one oh one.

(12:26):
It's NCAA Ice Hockey Championship time,when the hottest teams in the country
face off under one group. Bethere to see your squad hoist the ultimate
trophy overhead the NCAA Men's Frozen PoolApril eleventh and thirteenth in Saint Paul,
Minnesota. Attendance is encouraged. Passionis men to tour, buy your seas

(12:46):
today at NCAA dot Com, slashm Frozen Pool class dismissed. We're back
with us Echo Spotlight and Dave's StarMan. We still have this season to
finish up. The next year aprogram that we've watched to go from club

(13:07):
to a community ranked to a beautifuljewel of an arena. And now the
NCCHD is Arizona State, nine teamsand three scheduling pods next year. What
do you see as maybe something thatstirs the pod a little bit bringing in
Arizona State and how does that impactthe NCCHC next season. Well, I'm
gonna start with the personal impact,and that is game prep. Watching video

(13:28):
at the pool of the Margarita isgonna be phenomenal when we do those games
at Mullet. So, like tellme in as a huge fan. As
a matter of fact, I saidthat, I think, you know,
we normally tried to win game inevery building for the eight regular season games.
I said, the hell of that, Let's do eight games in Arizona
State. Let's just let everybody gothere once and we'll just move there for
the season. Like, I thinkthis is phenomenal. But to me after

(13:50):
I think one of the first things, and I say this kind of tongue
in cheek, but after their gungshow with Alaska last week, I think
they need to understand that that's notwhat happens in the NCHD, like that
that's just not going to work there. And I think they're going to come
in and I think they're gonna gettheir toes wet a little bit in the
first couple of years as they see, you know what, they're all begins

(14:11):
consistently with some of the really reallystrong teams in college hockey into a conference
that at the moment as one offive by the last seven national titles.
Right. So, I mean,like, I think there's a chance that
they get did they get their earspinback a little bit in years one and
two? But I like Greg asGreg Powers as a coach. I think
they've got a great building and recruitto. I think they've got a great
market to recruit to, and beingthat they're going to be in the NCCHC,

(14:33):
I think that's going to really helptheir recruiting because some of those players
that might have been on the fensiveplaying independent or not. Despite the fact
that it is Arizona State, Ithink that you know, twenty something games
within the NCCHC. If they wantto be pros, that's a good place
to play. Yeah, and GregPower said he wouldn't have been able to
build this staff he has now ifit wasn't for going to the NCCHC and
recruiting kids to that league. Onehundred like it's I think it's an honor

(14:56):
to play in Hockey East. Ithink it's an honor to play in the
Big Ten. I think it's anhonor to play the nc It's just not
to play at endings toppers is.We all know that. But if you
are, if you want to bein the footprint of where a lot of
NHL eyeballs are, the ncch' isa good comfort to do it. And
because a the amount of players that'sbeen drafted and and those odd high end
guys that come in as draft eligible. So that's one of the things that

(15:18):
I think kind of the Big threeshare is the fact that you're constantly playing
against guys that are going to beplaying at the highest level, and that's
where a lot of the NHL eyeballsare. Watching the fight up at Alaska,
both coaches came out very strongly againstwhat happened, suspended their players involved
in the one on one fight forthe rest of the year. Is this

(15:39):
just another blip that comes along?You hear fans saying, oh, we
need fighting back, we need fightingin college hockey. You talk to coaches
around the NCAA hockey, that's thelast thing they want. Is this something
that we have to worry about oris this just a blip? I think
it's I don't even think it's bigenough to be a blip, to be
honest, I think this is justone of those things. I won't tell

(16:00):
you this. I think if thoseteams are both in a conference, that
would not have happened. I thinkjust when you're an independent, there's probably
a little less accountability in that areathen there would be if you were playing
conference play, because the impact wouldbe a little higher. But I don't
think that. I don't think weneed fighting college hockey. I think anybody's
saying that's ridiculous. And I mean, the seventies and the eighties were fun,
but they're over and you know,from any of us in a lot

(16:22):
of ways, and I think thatas we as we move forward with the
game, Like here's the thing,Like I'm doing a lot of PWHL stuff
now, so I'm college hockey.In p WHL hockey, the games are
really really physical. There's no fighting. It's hockey in a more pure sense
in a lot of ways, andI really like the way that the game
looks, and I don't think weneed fighting at all. Like I'm seeing

(16:44):
a little bit of an uptick infighting coverage here in New York because of
what's going with the Rangers right nowand the kid that's come up and beating
out out of everybody, But like, I don't think we need that,
and I don't think that that's goingto drive the engine when it comes to
this game to be more popular.I think we're so far past the fight
and it's really not even anymore.Hey, before we let you go,
I want to pose a question toyou. You've been around this game,

(17:07):
I think longer than I have,so I guess you're more qualified even than
I am to think about this.But the CHL, A lot has been
going on with the talk about maybeallowing CHL players after they they play some
time up major junior to come intothe NCAA. Here, A lot of
coaches say doesn't make sense. We'vewon a war against that battle. A

(17:30):
lot of coaches say, hey,we need to expand the player pool.
Where do you think is the rightplace? You're more sensible than a lot
of people in college hockey at thispoint. Where do you see this falling?
I think it's a really complex issuethat along the lines for college hockey
will go the way that many ofthe big items that have come up in

(17:51):
Naples at the convention over the yearshave gone. You're going to have twenty
schools that are going to be bandedtogether thinking it's one way, you can
have forty thinking we need to gothe other way. And it comes down
a lot to the haves and thehave nots. And like a lot of
coaches have made some good points aboutyou know, if if the CHL was
an option, do you want togo play it? I don't want to

(18:12):
pick out any school. Do youwant to go play at a school that's
got lesser status? And do youwant to go play for the one to
Knights where you know it's terrific?Like can you if you can do one
or the other? What are yougonna do? Right? So you're getting
that comment, You're getting coaches saying, well, if the CHL is a
possibility, and some of those playersjump in that league for a year,
then we'll never see them in college. Aunt. So yeah, there's been

(18:32):
a lot of different things. Likeme personally, I think if you took
a look at taking the USHL andthe three leagues that can prize the Cchlcause
let's be honest about the USCGL islike bejor junior without the fifty dollars a
week stipmen, Right, I meanit's the same league, and in some
case you could say it's as good. So let's put a run on the
table and call spade a spade.If you took those four leagues and declared

(18:55):
them all as amateur leagues and cameup with something along the lines of,
you can up like college hockey toyou're nineteen. He took the draft and
you made it nineteen. So nowyou got guys playing junior through the nineteen
then going to college. You mighthave as system that can work a little
bit better. But you're probably gonnahave to expand the NC Division one pool
because you know you can have aboatload of players looking for places to play,
and you're going to have room formore program So I think it's kind

(19:19):
of program dependent too in a way, because if we start recruiting out of
the COCHL and we start bringing thoseguys in, then you're gonna start bouncing.
First of I think you can startbouncing out a lot of the US
born players, which is gonna bea problem. And number two is you're
going to have probably more inventory thanwarehousing and that might cause some issues along

(19:40):
the development path as well. SoI almost think like, right now we're
in pretty good shape. But tobe fair, like if you're a sixteen
year old kid and you decide you'regonna go play a Boosh Shaw and by
the time you're eighteen, you realizethat that was a total disaster and you'd
rather go play for o Law likethe University album talking, you probably should
be allowed to go to sixteen.I mean, you can't figure out what
sucks you on where litt alone whereyou want to play the rest of your

(20:00):
hockey career. So maybe it's timeto think along those lines that some of
these kids got steered into a baddecision which they should be allowed to get
out of. Is that another issuethat you have to make too many decisions
as youth at two year of anage. I will tell you this,
Jimmy, I do now there arethere are some players where decisions kind of
gett made for them because of howgood they are, right those top five

(20:22):
percent kids in a birth year.I am so thrilled to death that Ryan
Stearman is not in the upper fivepercent of the old five birth year so
I never had to deal with anyof that nonsense. But but I see
it with some of the kids he'splayed with, and you know, I
see it at the USHL. Isee it with the North American League level
Tier two versus Tier three junior,where to play Division one versus playing Now,

(20:42):
most US born kids that I'm around, their goal is to play in
the NCAAA Major. Junior was nevera consideration. So that's I have a
little bit of a different take onit. But like B personally, I
think the college path towards the nextlevel of whatever hockey you want to play
is the US all around the paththat you could possibly think. My opinion
and have've been around it longer,but again, remember I was an NCD

(21:04):
scout for eleven years, so Imean I saw some crossover games at the
CHL level versus a hundreds of gamesI saw at the NCAA level. I
really think that the NCAA does atremendous job and playing a peer game that
really develops players to play at thenext level. Plus the ability to coach
older players that become men as they'restill playing amateur sets them up for more

(21:26):
success down the road. Well,I don't think you have an unpopular opinion
there. I think that there isprobably a bias and i'd say a majority
bias toward But you're saying, butit's a long road stills go with that.
But listen, we always appreciate notjust that input, but obviously everything
you tell us on the NCC whenwe get the chance to talk to you,

(21:47):
So we we appreciate your input.I think it's going to be a
fantastic last two weeks of the regularseason and then the playoffs and the NCC.
So Daves Starman, I know youget to call it all and be
there for it all. I hopingget to enjoy all these games along the
way. I'll tell you something,Jimmy, after you know, this is
my twenty first year and I domiss seeing every conference. There's no question

(22:11):
I really miss Hockey East I reallymissed the ECAC. I loved when we
did a lot of stuff in Atlantic. I mean, that was always fun.
And obviously there's some new conferences goingon, and I haven't really done
a lot of Big ten as muchas they used to, and you know,
a cch I just don't get tosee anymore. But that was so
much fun. At fifty five yearsold. I got to tell you,
I'm not quite sure I have themental capacity for six conferences anymore. So

(22:33):
the fact that I only see oneprobably goes a long way towards me being
able to do this year after year, because I couldn't even begin to imagine
trying to figure out six conferences atthis point, when, like I said,
there were days I can figure whereI put my keys twenty minutes ago.
Well, I know that Ed ison the other side of you.
I'm just below you. In eightWe're all in that same boat right now.
We can't figure out where our carkeys are. So to finding our

(22:57):
car keys tomorrow, that'll be theThat'll be the only mission that we have
to voe for. Here's the thing. We all still do it because we
love it, right, So we'llall keep doing it as long as they
keep asking us to be a partof it, We'll all smile and say
thank you very much for let uscontinue to be a part of college hockey
because to me, it is morefun than anything. So you guys keep

(23:18):
doing what you're doing too. Welove the podcast. Thank you, and
we will see you in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Absolutely, thank you,
gentlemen. That's the always knowledgeable andalways opinionated Dave Starman. Jim I was
really interested in the comments Dave hadabout the CHL. He really made the

(23:40):
point that we already don't have enoughDivision one teams for the talent that's out
there, and I like the termmore inventory than warehousing, and that it
can also mean bumping some US playersfrom college teams if there was CHL eligibility,
I want to mention I want tolook at that part of it first,

(24:00):
and then maybe about the player whomay have made a wrong decision along
the way, but first about nothaving enough spots. I mean, that's
a pretty compelling argument right there.No doubt. Do we need eighty teams.
Yes, I've said I've said thisfor a while now that I feel
like we could use more teams.There's plenty of need. There's a supply

(24:22):
and demand issue right now. Weneed to have more players finding spots on
Division one rosters. It's just notthere sixty four teams, even at sixty
four. Again, sixty four hasmassively expanded in the last five six years.
We were down in the sixties belowsixties. So we've seen the expansion

(24:45):
of this game. It needs togo further if you're going to suddenly just
drop what could be another two hundredor so potential players in the NCAA talent
pool. And I know that coacheswant and you know, you say to
a coach, well, you know, if you're at a lower tier school,
why do you want to have moreplayers coming in? They're all just

(25:08):
still going to go to the toptier schools. That's true, But does
that push the third line player fromMichigan down to play at maybe Michigan Tech
or you know, someplace in AtlanticHockey maybe? And I get those schools.
Those coaches want more access to moreplayers. I don't know that our

(25:30):
current structure, I shouldn't use ourI don't know that the current structure of
the nc DOUBLEA is ready for this. That is one of the biggest I
think hurdles that really faces all sixtyfour teams and the NC Double as as
an institution. Are they ready tofigure out the way that you allow a

(25:52):
league with NHL players, players underNHL contract to be playing and then then
possibly going back to college. Idon't know that that is set up.
There's a lot that has to getfigured out. Everybody says it's one lawsuit
away. Yeah, maybe it is, but those lawsuits are out there,
and I still say this is threeto five years away minimally. Will it

(26:15):
happen at some point? I thinkabsolutely, you'll eventually have to see the
CHL players allowed in. There's justtoo much that we have done on the
NC Double A side that has we'veseen between nil and just everything we've done
to kind of, you know,give the players more of a voice and
more power that you can't turn awayplayers that you know, they've lost their

(26:40):
amateur status because they take fifty dollarsa week and they take some money that's
guaranteed to them at the end foreducation. You know, that's not that's
not fair. Probably, but Idon't think that we're ready for it right
now. The NC Double A DivisionI men's game is not ready for this
right now. I suppose there's away it could be worked out that if

(27:00):
you're not under an HL contract thatyou're free to move, or maybe you
use up some eligibility along the way. Those are the kind of things that
can be sorted out along the way. With all that, I think one
thing that Dave said, I know, he was just kind of using some
round numbers to make a point,sounding like, well, they're going to
be twenty over here on one sideand forty over here on another side.

(27:23):
That's really not too far off fromwhat we've heard, and really with a
forty or probably a few more beingagainst it at this point, I think
he was pretty much spot on,you know. I think it's probably is
two thirds one third right now.The larger leagues don't want this. They
feel like there's been a battle thathas been ongoing against the COCHL for so

(27:45):
long, and that that has beensomething that through the great efforts of college
hockey YANK have really been combated toallow Canadian players to understand what they have
to do to maintain their NCAA eligibilitychange those rules right in the middle of
what they're trying to do in theirefforts doesn't make sense. But then,
as I just kind of pointed out, the lower schools want to see more

(28:08):
of a trickle down effect, findplayers that maybe we're gonna would go to
a top tier school, falling maybeto Atlantic Hockey because this CHL player is
pushing them down in the economy ofthis sport. I get it. I
get it at both sides. ButI think that you know, Dave just

(28:29):
throwing out kind of some round numbersand saying forty twenty. Okay, that
doesn't take all sixty four teams intoaccount, but it's pretty darn close,
and I wouldn't be surprised if ifwe had to actually do a straw poll
right now, if we found thatit was probably about two thirds one thirds
in favor of not still not allowingCHL players in. Although rumblings I think
both CCHA and Atlantic Cockey there's asplit in those leagues among coaches for and

(28:55):
against as well. So I mean, we haven't pulled all sixty four and
I don't think we'd be able toget that answer. Maybe we'll see what
happens in April in Naples, butwe'll wrap it up there for this edition
of us CHO Spotlight This podcast hasbeen sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division One
Frozen four April eleventh and thirteenth atXcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

(29:18):
Visit NCAA dot com slash m Frozenfour to get your tickets. Today
for Jim Conley, I'm Ed Trevskerand this has been us CHO Spotlight