About Me
Landing College Club Hockey '98-'99
Landing College Club Hockey '98-'99
Landing College Club Hockey '98-'99
Like any serious youth and scholastic athlete, I had dreams of “going DI”. Like many, if not most student-athletes, I also did not come from unlimited resources to chase those dreams down at any cost.
I played soccer as a youth player in Glastonbury, CT and did not begin playing organized hockey until the 6th grade when my parents ultimat
Like any serious youth and scholastic athlete, I had dreams of “going DI”. Like many, if not most student-athletes, I also did not come from unlimited resources to chase those dreams down at any cost.
I played soccer as a youth player in Glastonbury, CT and did not begin playing organized hockey until the 6th grade when my parents ultimately acquiesced. I did not play goalie in hockey until my freshman year in high school. As a high school student-athlete I was very in tune with how and where to be recruited in New England in both soccer and hockey and I did not have the pedigree from club and premier non-scholastic programing to play NCAA DI soccer or NCAA DI or DIII hockey despite having been a standout scholastic player in both sports.
I wrote letters to Villanova’s soccer and hockey coaches and was told by both that I would be allowed to try out as a walk-on and the rest would be determined. At the time in 1995, Villanova played NCAA DIII hockey despite being an DI athletics school. Whether that standing was going to be allowed to continue would be announced in my junior year. That meant that by my senior year of college, NCAA hockey at Villanova might be thing of the past, and in fact that is what happened.
I went to Villanova as a non-scholarship athlete and walked on to the soccer team in 1995-96 and never saw game minutes despite making the squad. I saw what the level was like, was able to call myself a “DI athlete” even if in name only, and then made the decision to leave the soccer team to walk on for hockey in my sophomore year. Because of the NCAA status pending for the 1998-99 season, recruiting was thin which was silver lining and allowed me to make the team, play NCAA minutes in my sophomore and junior year on our struggling squad before the announcement that Villanova, along with a few of our league competitors, would be “declassifying” and moving to “club” status.
Of course there was much disappointment over the decision, but our funding was still 75% of what it was as an NCAA team and the competition we played were all very notable universities such as the Naval Academy and University of Rhode Island. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the club level was after having just seen NCAA DI/III competition and even I questioned myself as to why I hadn’t considered these places with club hockey only from the start!
In 1998-99 as a number of men’s NCAA hockey teams were being cut, it happened to be the exact same time as the NHL’s sunbelt expansion. I had an epiphany that was as obvious then as it is now - that more talent growing a the grassroots level while NCAA hockey was contracting was going to make for an increasingly robust club hockey culture!
Here we are just shy of 25 years later and I can assure you that “club” hockey isn’t “just” club. Non-NCAA intercollegiate “club” hockey is most definitely “college hockey”. Full stop.
Following College Clubs Since '98
Landing College Club Hockey '98-'99
Landing College Club Hockey '98-'99
Upon graduating from college, I found myself behind the bench of the University of Maryland’s women’s hockey team from 2002-2006 as well as a brief stint with Towson University’s men’s hockey team in 2006. I of course continued to follow my alma mater’s club hockey seasons, but I also began to notice a peculiar thing on television as an a
Upon graduating from college, I found myself behind the bench of the University of Maryland’s women’s hockey team from 2002-2006 as well as a brief stint with Towson University’s men’s hockey team in 2006. I of course continued to follow my alma mater’s club hockey seasons, but I also began to notice a peculiar thing on television as an avid watcher of sports on TV. I began to notice daytime college sports programming aired that was NOT NCAA sports.
As an NHL watcher, which was carried by the Outdoor Living Network (OLN) in the early 2000s (the precursor to Vs and NBCSN), things like college bass fishing (makes sense), rugby and sailing began popping up on national TV. I tuned in. A few years later when streaming became available, more of the same continued. As a New England Patriots fan, I kept hearing the story of Nate Ebner moving from the Ohio State rugby pitch to the football field and then of course the NFL and even the US Olympic rugby team. What seemed contradictory was that while “non-revenue” college sports were continually getting cut, non-NCAA collegiate club sports kept popping up on broadcasts, streaming options and social media.
As an adult participant, coach and now sports parent, I can also see the interest in grassroots-driven “alternative sports” or “emerging sports” that may not be saturated by talent yet that are not extremely cut-throat, commercialized, costly and professionalized yet. Sports like soccer and lacrosse once were like this in the 1970s and 1980s. Many of these sports are even Olympic sports, but are not sanctioned by NCAA and are excellent opportunities for meaningful sporting experiences from youth through college and even adult amateur levels at a fraction of the cost of playing established commercial sports.
The intercollegiate college club sports images people in their 40s or older think of like Chris Farley chugging beers at Marquette rugby games or midnight ragtag hockey games are no longer the case and will continue to progress in the years to come.
College Club Sports 2030
Landing College Club Hockey '98-'99
College Club Sports 2030
I began writing about trends in college club hockey in 2016 in a subscription-based website that I founded called the University Hockey Report. The website is since dismantled, but the social media feeds on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/universityhockeyreport) and Twitter (@campusclubpuck) continue to run strong.
I have also develope
I began writing about trends in college club hockey in 2016 in a subscription-based website that I founded called the University Hockey Report. The website is since dismantled, but the social media feeds on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/universityhockeyreport) and Twitter (@campusclubpuck) continue to run strong.
I have also developed and operated youth sports programming from the pre-k ages and have been involved all the way through high level hockey scouting for Neutral Zone Hockey Scouting Service (www.neutralzone.net) and the Norwich Sea Captains of the NA3HL. I have coached girls high school lacrosse and I am also a youth hockey, lacrosse, soccer parent.
As a follower of all of these sports at all these ages and levels, I consider myself an expert highly tuned into who can get where in college sports, how it is done, how much it will cost, what the experiences will be like and what are the best values of time are playing the sports we love. This book is directly related to the youth and high school sports administrators, coaches, parents and players so that, rather than selling and buying “the dream”, student-athletes can have an accurate picture of what the college sports landscape is and all of the meaningful opportunities that are out there to play.
In the end, every athlete wants to have a meaningful experience (and hopefully quality education) and most athletes and parents should not be concerning themselves with chasing after scholarships and professional sporting careers. I hope this book and services surrounding it can bring clarity to student-athletes coming of age in the next ten years!