The schools that are proposing this rule (B1G) are definitely more academically rigorous than schools like BSU (and by definitely I mean literally 1,000X more rigorous and difficult to get into). So wouldn’t this rule hurt them more? I would say that more players don’t attend school while in juniors and if they do they are attending local community colleges (which I guess would compare to BSU). The time spent not going to school everyday taking rigorous classes, I would argue, is actually hurting them in terms of being academically prepared for college.

Furthermore, if we are allowing our student athletes to mature academically or otherwise in juniors, why don’t we afford that opportunity to athletes in other sports? Oh wait. We do. We allow them to go to junior college. What happens when they go to a junior college to play? They lose their eligibility (What a concept). The only difference here is that junior hockey is not attached to any type of academic institution. In any other sport if you want to play at a lower, amateur level to help you prepare for college you play for a junior college and you use some of your eligibility.

The other arguments have fair/good points, but the academic argument is one that I can just not get behind.