Thursday, May 01, 2008

Luck for the Irish

I'm planning a big update on the OHL Draft for tomorrow, but this is worthy of its own post today.

The Kitchener Rangers have dropped Notre Dame recruit Cam Fowler from their protected list to ensure they get a second round compensation pick in Saturday's draft.

This ends a good deal of speculation that Fowler would be signing with the Rangers, and should probably come as a huge relief to Notre Dame fans. There's still the possibility of another team taking him the draft on Saturday and convincing him to sign, but it seems unlikely. NTDP forward Jeremy Morin is still property of the Rangers, and it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see him playing there next season.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought the CHL got everyone they want? Maybe someone forgot to explain to Fowler that the CHL is the most superior form of hockey devlopment know to mankind? Perhpas the CHL don't want Fowler? Oh the humanity of it all.

Anonymous said...

^ - I see you went to college. Yes, perhaps the CHL "don't want" Fowler, but Notre Dame do.

Anonymous said...

Touchy, touchy. Thanks for the the grammatic lesson. Funny when backed into a corner how some resort to being the internet grammar police. Did I spell everything correctly? So how many kids are signing with the CHL again?

Anonymous said...

You should be careful about your gloating. Remember, a player doesn't have to come in year 1, they can wait for a few years, and when drafted by an NHL team(who tend to like thier players playing in the CHL) decide to come.

But if that happens, someone will say he couldn't get in marks wise, right?

Anonymous said...

i always thought it was "luck OF the irish"; i wish you pro CHL guys would get a life and just post on the hab blogs; this is a college hockey blog; no one cares about your whining because slowly but surely hab hockey is losing its pre-eminence as the feeder for the nhl; look at the numbers; whether its the ncaa or the euro leagues, the conventional wisdom just doesn't cut it any more.

Anonymous said...

I still say there will be more players leaving....take it to the bank..

Anonymous said...

I still say there will be lots of Canadian kids coming to play college hockey in the States.

Anonymous said...

It's great to see all the well informed bloggers and "people who know people". All the NCAA fans that insist the college route is slowly making gains on the CHL. Do you really think the CHL sees trouble here? Do you really think they are concerned with the NCAA? If they were don't you think they'd do something about it? They haven't because they aren't.
If they were they would simply impose one of two rules that have had some discussion in the last couple years. The first being the "commit" rule. Once a player makes a verbal commitment to the NCAA he must attend that university and leave before he is able to come to the CHL. That would stop a lot of the speculation on what a player is doing, NCAA or CHL. It would also take a lot of leverage away from the players as well.
The other rule is similar to the NCAA rules. If you play one NCAA game you lose all your CHL eligibility. I'm pretty sure that ends it right there. There would certainly be American players that continue to go the university route but I don't think many Canadian players would take the risk.
As you can see there isn't much concern at the CHL level about the amount of players going to college.
If this ever became a real fight it wouldn't last long.

Anonymous said...

Is the CHL Canada's version of the mafia?

Anonymous said...

any word on final roster for next year's u17 team (ntdp)

Anonymous said...

"Do you really think the CHL sees trouble here? Do you really think they are concerned with the NCAA? If they were don't you think they'd do something about it? They haven't because they aren't."

Yet CHL trolls comeout in droves on a COLLEGE HOCKEY blog at even the hint of a mention of the CHL?

Yes, please do change the rules with the CHL you dope. How on earth are you going to an enforce a "commit" rule? It's not exactly like kids (well other than Kessell) have a press conference to announce verbals in hockey. In most cases you would have a he said she said whether a "verbal" even occurred. Do you think you might see the ugly head of the dreaded football "silent" commit happen? Nahh....Americans are too stupid to play that game ehhhh?

The one rule change you had better hope never happens is the play one minute of CHL makes you ineligible for college. Do away with that nonsense, and you would see a two way street for players disgruntled over playing time, coaching relationships, homesick, ect instead of the one way Boulevard (or is it Rue) that the CHL has been able to take advantage of.

Not sure why I'm typing this because CHL'ers aren't worried about college hockey so none would every frequent a board like this lol.

Anonymous said...

"any word on final roster for next year's u17 team (ntdp)"

Some players have accepted invites already, but other invitations will be doled out after the Select 16 event.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm are the Irish still doing their happy dance now that Fowler was taken by Windsor in the first round?

Lets see...a very good coaching staff, a state of the art arena and a place that is close to home makes me think that the closest Fowler will get to Notre Dame is wathing the Irish football team on TV getting slaughtered from the confort of his lazy boy chair

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:40 Come on now. Let's be honest. Even Notre Dame fans don't watch Notre Dame Football on TV anymore. They just watch "Rudy" on DVD and pray for better days ahead. Especially when their Hockey team makes it farther than their Football, Basketball and baseball teams combined. ND? Fowler is smart enough to pass. NTDP? I think he knows that NOW is the perfect time to bail from there too.

Anonymous said...

the CHL is Canada's version of Notre Dame football

Anonymous said...

"if you play one ncaa game you lose your chl eligibility"

Wow; can someone please explain how this could have any widespread impact on the decision to accept a scholarship. Isn't the chl a "junior" league, meaning it's basically u20. So given that your average high school grad has two seasons of junior level eligibility; with the exception of the increasingly rare true freshman, how many ncaa players have any eligibility (in terms of age) left after one season of ncaa play. Of course, there are the quitters; those that think they should be showcased as freshman ahead of others that have already been on the team a few years. I gotta believe the guys that run the chl just laugh when they hear some of their wannabees posting such garbage.

Anonymous said...

Cam Fowler may of changed his mind.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/SPORTS13/342220689/1021/Sports

So far, no go. Fowler is staying in Ann Arbor with the USNTDP for next season. Beyond that, though, his camp has refused to say what will happen.

Fowler declined to comment on his status or commitments Tuesday, instead forwarding all questions on the matter to his father, Perry Fowler.

“As of right now, all we can say is that he’s committed to play for the U.S. team this coming season,” Perry Fowler said. “After this next year, we’ll sit down as a family and decide what’s best for Cam’s development. That’s all I can really say now.”