According to Willy Palov's Twitter Robert Slaney will begin playing for St. FX next season...I believe he has two years of eligibility left. I am pretty sure UNB tried recruiting him after he finished junior...before he went pro.
Maybe it is just me but it doesn't seem like many of the AUS teams have improved over last season....at least based on what we know so far. Maybe teams are a bit more weary announcing any big name players until they know for sure they will show up.
- UPEI lost a ton of their top guys who are going to be almost impossible to replace in one offseason
- STU and Moncton have to replace Lavigne and Ouellet, respectively, and many of the guys they have announced are non-CHL guys
- Dal has been fairly quiet with only a handful of MJAHL guys announced
- SMU has lost Fergus and Pridham and I think Wharton, they have also recruited more non-CHL guys than I can ever remember
- St. FX has lost Swan and Chase Schaber from their recruiting class (although the rest of their class looks pretty solid)
- UNB, even after adding Braes/Robertson/Critchlow (officially), still has yet to replace 2 of their top-3 defenceman from last year.
So far it appears Acadia has improved the most over last season with a solid recruiting class and almost all of their top players returning.
Moncton lost a stud in Ouellet but they will probably have more depth with Pouliot(6'4" 210lbs) Emond(6'1" 200lbs) Dion(6'1" 215lbs) and Noel coming in, it adds size to the 2nd and 3rd lines. Blanchard replaces Labrie and Lemay replaces Marion, those two moves should net out. Gaudet not missing 3/4 of the season would be a big help also.
Anyone know if Picard-Hooper is back for McGill this year? The Redmen are going to be a quite different looking team this season with Vossen/Verreault-Paul/Dorion/Langelier-Parent/Wright all leaving for the pros. Should be interesting to see how they do this year.
According to Willy Palov's Twitter Robert Slaney will begin playing for St. FX next season...I believe he has two years of eligibility left. I am pretty sure UNB tried recruiting him after he finished junior...before he went pro.
he was very close to becoming a Varsity Red when he finished junior cause of his Connections with MacNeil, Culligan, Clendenning.
Anyone know if Picard-Hooper is back for McGill this year? The Redmen are going to be a quite different looking team this season with Vossen/Verreault-Paul/Dorion/Langelier-Parent/Wright all leaving for the pros. Should be interesting to see how they do this year.
Won't be back. He signed with Sorel-Tracy in the LNAH. McGill is going to be a whole other team, which will open the door for Carleton, UQTR and Nippising.
Won't be back. He signed with Sorel-Tracy in the LNAH. McGill is going to be a whole other team, which will open the door for Carleton, UQTR and Nippising.
They also lost Pouliot who was a pretty big recuit to Moncton.
I saw an earlier discussion about Graduate programs, and am compelled to correct some myths.
First, the rule that permits students to transfer for a graduate program came into effect in 2004-2005. The reason: in 2003-2004 Jeff Todd transferred from the University of Toronto to the Royal Military College to pursue a Masters degree in War Studies. The CIS, being a reactionary organization, denied his appeal to play in 2003, but amended the rule in 2004. The key to the rule is that the student must transfer to enrol in a program not offered by his present school, which is in the spirit of ensuring that the transfer is for academic purposes.
Second, each university has a Department of Graduate Studies (or variation thereof) that sets out rules for admission. Generally, one of the key criteria is that the enrolling student has to have maintained a minimum 3.0 GPA (i.e., a B or B+ average) in his undergraduate program. These minimum standards are non-negotiable, so in order to become a graduate student the person has to have been a good student. Maintaining a B average while playing hockey full-time through the season is not as easy as it sounds.
Third, no Dean would risk his/her career to allow a hockey player (or other athlete) into his/her school just for the sake of the team's championship opportunities. In the NCAA, there are separate classes for many athletes: in the CIS, they are in the same classes as everybody else. So, to suggest that UNB, or any other school, is letting in transfer athletes just for the sake of winning is misguided at best.
I am not going to state this as an absolute fact, but I am reasonably certain that Colby Pridham has a GPA of 2.1 - 2.5. If true, this does not meet your criteria of 3.0 for a Graduate Program.
Edit: If I am proven wrong, I will of course apologise to all on this board.
The key to the rule is that the student must transfer to enrol in a program not offered by his present school, which is in the spirit of ensuring that the transfer is for academic purposes.
I believe they have removed the 'not offered by his present school' as it infringes on the students freedom of selection (or right to choose). The current rule is worded as such ...
"40.10.3.5.1 A student-athlete, who enrolls in either a doctorate or master’s degree at a member institution, and who attended another institution the previous academic year, shall retain any available CIS eligibility to participate immediately. This shall be a one-time allowance".
Seems pretty clear - if you graduate from 'x' you can play for 'y' provided you are accepted into Graduate Studies.
I am not going to state this as an absolute fact, but I am reasonably certain that Colby Pridham has a GPA of 2.1 - 2.5. If true, this does not meet your criteria of 3.0 for a Graduate Program.
Edit: If I am proven wrong, I will of course apologise to all on this board.
Acceptance into Graduate School is not entirely based on your GPA. There are letters of recommendation, letter of introduction and possibly an interview. It is the Deans desecration, maybe they didn't have a lot of candidates apply?
I had a GPA of 2.75 and was accepted into Grad School for Computer Science . This was mainly due to my successful 4th year ComSci classes and that my average was reduced by poor marks in non-core electives for my degree (economics, Spanish civilization, etc - got to love those 12hrs of Arts electives they make you take).
Anyone know if Picard-Hooper is back for McGill this year? The Redmen are going to be a quite different looking team this season with Vossen/Verreault-Paul/Dorion/Langelier-Parent/Wright all leaving for the pros. Should be interesting to see how they do this year.
We play them friday, I'll let you know how it goes!
I'm a UNB fan and I'm not even naive enough to think that athletes, especially those playing high profile sports like hockey/football/basketball, don't receive preferential treatment. Although, like mentioned above, there has to be at least SOME kind of respectable minimum requirements.
I saw an earlier discussion about Graduate programs, and am compelled to correct some myths.
First, the rule that permits students to transfer for a graduate program came into effect in 2004-2005. The reason: in 2003-2004 Jeff Todd transferred from the University of Toronto to the Royal Military College to pursue a Masters degree in War Studies. The CIS, being a reactionary organization, denied his appeal to play in 2003, but amended the rule in 2004. The key to the rule is that the student must transfer to enrol in a program not offered by his present school, which is in the spirit of ensuring that the transfer is for academic purposes.
Second, each university has a Department of Graduate Studies (or variation thereof) that sets out rules for admission. Generally, one of the key criteria is that the enrolling student has to have maintained a minimum 3.0 GPA (i.e., a B or B+ average) in his undergraduate program. These minimum standards are non-negotiable, so in order to become a graduate student the person has to have been a good student. Maintaining a B average while playing hockey full-time through the season is not as easy as it sounds.
Third, no Dean would risk his/her career to allow a hockey player (or other athlete) into his/her school just for the sake of the team's championship opportunities. In the NCAA, there are separate classes for many athletes: in the CIS, they are in the same classes as everybody else. So, to suggest that UNB, or any other school, is letting in transfer athletes just for the sake of winning is misguided at best.
And I previously mentioned the Eirran Rigby rule which was just that, and about the same time so that lines up. Rigby transferred from, ironically, UNB, to the Vet College at UPEI. She wanted to play her fifth year of varsity basketball for UPEI, and the previous regulation was "you had to play your fifth where you played your fourth" in so many words. Her appeal to the CIS was successful, based on the fact that UNB did not offer her program of choice and she should not be denied playing her fifth year on that basis. The rule was changed to what you mention took place by the CIS in 2004. I was unaware the rule had changed until Cuddihy went to UNB, to play his fifth year while in the MBA Program. Brad Pierce also went, though I don't remember his program, regardless, Dal definitely has an MBA Program. So do others.
But Drummer provided the rule in his comment, which makes it perfectly legal, when it changed is not that important I agree. Naturally, those fifth year players in the AUS inclined to go elsewhere, look at UNB first. Therefore UNB attracts the lion's share of these prospects as far as hockey goes. Their reasons for letting them in despite their circumstances are their own, but Deans, Admissions, and especially Graduate Studies Officials, have wide latitude to exercise their discretions. I can attest to that personally and Drummer has provided some evidence as well. The graduate studies field is also intensely competitive for recruiting, and dare I say it, standards are changing in many minds but not in the written regulations. In any case, whereas I think the real concern is what this practice does to the league, regardless of who is doing it, the opinions toward UNB's role in this business are hardly "misguided".
And don't forget, MBA programs are different from the rest of grad school. MBA programs welcome students from all faculties as opposed to "normal" grad school degrees where more often than not the honours student in English moves on to a MA in English, and the Biology major does a MSc, etc.
An MBA program can choose to use your GMAT test score as a determinant for admittance, give it more weight, and give some leeway to your undergraduate grades. And as has been mentioned, letters of recommendation, maybe polishing his leadership abilities, might not have hurt. I'm sure Coach MacDougall went to the wall for him, and Gardiner is pretty popular on campus (Really? No ****.)
Does being a varsity hockey player help at UNB? Of course. Lots of folks would have gone to bat for him as hockey players who have done their MBA at UNB have a pretty good track record academically, so Swan (if his grades are really that bad) might be getting a break because of those who went ahead of him. But he still has to do the work. And if he bombs (not that I would want any student-athlete to fail), it will probably not help the hard-won internal academic reputation for hockey players.
Interesting discussion. If people want to annoyed that UNB attracts a lot of transfers, that's one thing, but's an entirely different matter to suggest that the university is letting anybody who breathes into their graduate programs so long as that person helps the hockey team.
I found this on the UNB Graduate Studies website: http://www.unb.ca/gradstudies/_resou...egulations.pdf
It explicitly states that a student may be admitted with a GPA of less than 3.0 (although it suggests an absolute minimum of 2.7), but that student will be on probation, and there must be written documentation of mitigating circumstances. This practice is common, and is consistent with my experience as a faculty member and my experience with recruiting and selection.
The point is that people can accuse UNB of being an attractive place for players to transfer, and it certainly has lower academic standards for entry (in most programs) than Dalhousie or McGill, but I would find it incredibly hard to believe that a Dean would permit a student to enter graduate studies with a 2.1 GPA. The career of a Dean is not affected by how well the hockey team is doing, but it is influenced by the success of his/her programs.
Interesting discussion. If people want to annoyed that UNB attracts a lot of transfers, that's one thing, but's an entirely different matter to suggest that the university is letting anybody who breathes into their graduate programs so long as that person helps the hockey team.
I found this on the UNB Graduate Studies website: http://www.unb.ca/gradstudies/_resou...egulations.pdf
It explicitly states that a student may be admitted with a GPA of less than 3.0 (although it suggests an absolute minimum of 2.7), but that student will be on probation, and there must be written documentation of mitigating circumstances. This practice is common, and is consistent with my experience as a faculty member and my experience with recruiting and selection.
The point is that people can accuse UNB of being an attractive place for players to transfer, and it certainly has lower academic standards for entry (in most programs) than Dalhousie or McGill, but I would find it incredibly hard to believe that a Dean would permit a student to enter graduate studies with a 2.1 GPA. The career of a Dean is not affected by how well the hockey team is doing, but it is influenced by the success of his/her programs.
Bryce Swan spent a lot of hours taking summer classes this year, he earned the spot hes getting. I know nothing about Pridham and his marks
Sooooooo to everyone out there if your are the head coach / recruiter for the UNB hockey team, do you start denying good hockey players that could improve your team. If Colby or Bryce comes to you as the coach and says hey I'd really like to see if I could transfer for my 5th year do you say no? If they want to come and they are allowed to, why would we as UNB say no to two guys like that?
Theirs no way Gardiner went to Colby and said hey you should transfer to our team. The players wanted to come, and we would be stupid to deny those two players to our team. If steins and peddle know theirs no possible way for those two guys to get into graduate classes legally don't you think we would be caught red handed?
The only way this talk will ever cool off is when UNB starts saying no to good players that want to come play here. What's that? You scored 50 goals in the WHL last year, and you want to play for us at UNB? Ahhhh sorry we do have a spot open but I don't want the other coaches to think we are trying to win
This discussion may also be a bit 'over the top' as UNB has only had two other 5th year transfers that really played in the past 10 years (Nick Marach and Jimmy Cuddihy - Steve Pearce was a transfer but only saw time because of injury). Nick and Jimmy were two years apart and I don't believe Gardiner tired to get either one.
It's been three years now without one and by coincidence we have two this year. Such is life.
From a recruiting perspective - it will be easier to make the cap when you know for sure these two aren't returning along with some of the 4th year guys who might graduate and move on (not to mention two goalies).
Bryce Swan spent a lot of hours taking summer classes this year, he earned the spot hes getting. I know nothing about Pridham and his marks
Sooooooo to everyone out there if your are the head coach / recruiter for the UNB hockey team, do you start denying good hockey players that could improve your team. If Colby or Bryce comes to you as the coach and says hey I'd really like to see if I could transfer for my 5th year do you say no? If they want to come and they are allowed to, why would we as UNB say no to two guys like that?
Theirs no way Gardiner went to Colby and said hey you should transfer to our team. The players wanted to come, and we would be stupid to deny those two players to our team. If steins and peddle know theirs no possible way for those two guys to get into graduate classes legally don't you think we would be caught red handed?
The only way this talk will ever cool off is when UNB starts saying no to good players that want to come play here. What's that? You scored 50 goals in the WHL last year, and you want to play for us at UNB? Ahhhh sorry we do have a spot open but I don't want the other coaches to think we are trying to win
Doesn't matter how much Swan worked on his classes this summer. His low marks from X and alleged very low score on the GMAT should have come into play. Two summer courses won't change that. Pridham's marks weren't as bad from what I understand, but where do you draw the line? Anyway, if UNB as an institution will allow those to enter a pretigious graduate program with poor marks, far be it from me to judge.
I have no problem with guys looking to further their education horizons at another school when they can't at their previous schools. And you're right, why not pick UNB. Chance to compete for a national title every year. But as a fan of the AUS, and someone with knowledge of the process schools goes through in recruiting and transfers, it would be nice to see some transparency. This would protect UNB in anticipation of an impending investigation, as well.
I can't speak for the SMU and StFX coaches, but I can't help but think they're curious as to what happened. Who approached who? When did the dialogue start? As much as you would like to think University coaches want to see their players further their education, you have to think their competitive juices will overcome that. Especially seeing Steinburg and Peddle in action; not many more competitive/fiery coaches around than those two.
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. That aside, looking forward to another great year of AUS hockey action. Drop the puck, boys. It'll all be settled on the ice and not in a chat room.
I'm not sure either Bryce or Colby are getting into the MBA program at UNB. Everything I've read in the newspapers on-line from the Coach say "Grad Studies." I think it is simple - if they don't get the GMAT 550 or 600 of whatever the standard is - they aren't getting into the MBA program at UNB or anywhere. UNB and lots of schools have other "Grad Studies" other than MBA.
All the talk I'm seeing here about players transferring - the players aren't owned by their coaches. Several transfer rules are in place to eliminate students from jumping around from school to school, but if they abide by these rules, like transferring to a grad program - that is legal. I'm sure the UNB coaches didn't drive to SMU or X and kidnap these two students. They wanted to play for UNB. I don't see it any more difficult than that. They were done at those schools or wanted out or ideally wanted another academic program and needed to transfer to get that program.
I'm not sure either Bryce or Colby are getting into the MBA program at UNB. Everything I've read in the newspapers on-line from the Coach say "Grad Studies." I think it is simple - if they don't get the GMAT 550 or 600 of whatever the standard is - they aren't getting into the MBA program at UNB or anywhere. UNB and lots of schools have other "Grad Studies" other than MBA.
All the talk I'm seeing here about players transferring - the players aren't owned by their coaches. Several transfer rules are in place to eliminate students from jumping around from school to school, but if they abide by these rules, like transferring to a grad program - that is legal. I'm sure the UNB coaches didn't drive to SMU or X and kidnap these two students. They wanted to play for UNB. I don't see it any more difficult than that. They were done at those schools or wanted out or ideally wanted another academic program and needed to transfer to get that program.
And that's not what were talking about; To assume that this is a problem for which UNB hockey is responsible, or Gardiner, is to miss the point entirely. They are not the first university, nor the first hockey program to attract a fifth year student. These two are going this year, Cuddihy went a few years ago, that fella from X played at Dal, A number of years ago SMU had Mike Dawson from Acadia for his fifth year, and Bobby MacIssac, drummed out of X ended up at SMU for three years....Devin Praught played how many years at STU and played at UPEI last year...the point is Everybody either has done it, or will do it. Nor can these two, (Swan and Pridham) be blamed, because they are doing so under the legal definition of the rule, of course they want to go to UNB. And what the university decides to do with an entrant's qualification is their business. They can admit whoever they want, they'll find a way, and don't tell me athletes don't get extra consideration. The Saint Mary's football QB just got injured, he is out for the season, already he is talking about appealing this year's eligibility, so he can play another year, that will put him in university for six years, all so he can play one full year of football, ...I mean it has to stop somewhere. Anyway, the problem is the rule. It was fair enough upon the Eirran Rigby appeal, when it changed and to what it changed to, is a recipe for the ruination of the league and it will need to be reigned in. Otherwise this stuff will just get worse, and I don't care who is doing it.
. This was mainly due to my successful 4th year ComSci classes and that my average was reduced by poor marks in non-core electives for my degree (economics, Spanish civilization, etc - got to love those 12hrs of Arts electives they make you take).
