r/collegehockey • u/LocksTheFox Vermont Catamounts • Jul 29 '21

Recruiting Granted eligibility by NCAA, former OHL player Swankler commits to Bowling Green for 2021-22 season

https://www.uscho.com/2021/07/28/granted-eligibility-by-ncaa-former-ohl-player-swankler-commits-to-bowling-green-for-2021-22-season/
27 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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3

u/lilbitspecial UMass Minutemen Jul 29 '21

I dont know much about this situation (and cant find much about it on my google search), but why was he granted eligibility by NCAA?

Does this open up possibilities for others to do the same?

6

u/TheReformedBadger Wisconsin Badgers Jul 29 '21

I couldn't find details on the NCAA's ruling but I did find a bit about his history. He committed to Michigan, played USHL for a season and got passed up in the NHL draft. He was asked to wait longer to come to the NCAA and wanted to go up against better competition to get noticed so he went to the OHL instead... after a season in OHL my guess is he realized his NHL draft chances weren't happening. He's not on the 2021 prospect list for the NHL. Probably coming back to BGSU to play school now which I think would help his chances with the NCAA.

​

We'll probably be seeing more of this in the future after the recent NCAA court ruling. The NCAA is running scared after the comments from some of the judges in their opinions and they're changing a lot of things regarding amateurism that previously would have needed to be challenged in court to get them to budge.

5

u/sezenack RPI Engineers Jul 29 '21

Fun fact, he was committed to RPI before Michigan

5

u/OldSkates Providence Friars Jul 29 '21

He played in the OHL two years ago but since they didn’t have a season last year he “sat out” the year he needed to in order to regain his NCAA eligibility.

3

u/TheExogenisis Michigan Tech Huskies Jul 30 '21

AFAIK you can't "sit out" when you have professional history, and OHL counts as that since players are compensated.

1

u/mdneilson St. Cloud State Huskies Jul 30 '21

There's a threshold of games played, though I don't think it's actually written in stone. There has been a lot of situational discretion when it does happen.

2

u/TheExogenisis Michigan Tech Huskies Jul 30 '21

I mean a few games is different than a full season played like it is here

2

u/mdneilson St. Cloud State Huskies Jul 30 '21

Yep. 59 games is a lot. As said, the NCAA is revising unwritten rules, and there has never been a hard game limit on the books. IIRC the OHL doesn't really pay like a professional league. It's more like a per diem, but I don't recall.

2

u/OldSkates Providence Friars Jul 30 '21

OHL does only give a small stipend and doesn’t consider itself professional, but NCAA views it as such because the players do get paid. From what I’ve heard, the kid shouldn’t have actually been allowed to play this year, but they messed up and already granted him eligibility so they’re going to just stick with the ruling.

3

u/mdneilson St. Cloud State Huskies Jul 30 '21

Ah. Thanks for that clarification.

For the record, I agree that letting this guy play is BS.

1

u/lilbitspecial UMass Minutemen Jul 29 '21

Very interesting... thanks!

2

u/sec_actuary UAH Chargers Jul 29 '21

Sucks that he has to go to Bowling Green though

8

u/Xmeik Jul 29 '21

Eh, I’m sure he’ll at least win more conference games than Huntsville this season

2

u/sec_actuary UAH Chargers Jul 29 '21

That’s fair