It’s my Parting Shot for my take on the changes to the eligibility rules for N-C-Double-A men’s hockey and their effect on junior hockey…..

At the time I write this, four current W-H-L players have already declared their intentions to attend a Division 1 U-S College next season. In all four cases, Spokane defenceman Brayden Crampton plus forwards Braxton Whitehead of Regina, Tanner Scott of Victoria and Beau Courtney of Everett are all 20 years old and weren’t going to be returning to the Dub next season.

Good for them – an example of more options available to young men trying to enhance their playing career while getting an education!

However, the question becomes, what about players who are under 20 years old this season – or in future seasons for that matter – what if they get recruited by a Division 1 U-S College and decide they want to leave their W-H-L team for that opportunity down south once they’ve graduated from high school?!

It’s one of the questions that requires an answer that is still being debated. You see, the W-H-L pays its players a year of tuition and books for every season they play in the league at any accredited post secondary institution or most trade schools. What happens to the 18-year-old player this year who decides to skip playing as a 19-year-old next season to go to the U-S College that is hot after his services?! Does that player still get his scholarship money from the league, even if he’s getting a lot of his education costs paid for by the U-S college that has lured him away?!

Sounds like a slippery slope and one of many queries that still have to be hashed out!

What I do know is that Junior A hockey is going to take a hit as the option is now there for young men to not have to make a decision on their future direction until they’re 17 years old at the earliest and 20 at the latest. I hope for the sake of the humble, hard-working Junior A leagues – like the S-J-H-L, the Manitoba Junior League and others under the C-J-A-H-L umbrella that the hit isn’t overly debilitating! But, for the now-independent B-C Hockey League, crash and burn would look very good on them and their bravado!!

That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!