Eligibility for Canadian University Hockey
(Playing University Hockey as a Grad Student)
Here are some articles about the women's ice hockey eligibility
of graduate student that I posted to the women-in-hockey mailing
list. Please pay attention to the dates of the postings.
------------------------------
Date: Sat Jan 31 19:36:25 EST 1998
From: "Andria L. Hunter"
Subject: Canadian University Hockey Eligibility
Now that university hockey in Canada is a full CIAU sport, players
are only allowed a maximum of five years of eligibility. You
can play as a Graduate student as long as you don't exceed
five years of playing.
------------------------------
Date: Sat Sep 2 18:40:09 EDT 1995
From: "Andria L. Hunter"
Subject: Playing University Hockey as a Graduate Student
If anyone is interested in playing hockey for a university team while
they are attending grad school (that's what I'm doing now), there are
two options. You can either play for a club university team in the
USA or for any university team in Canada.
The reason that I am allowed to play for a Canadian university team
while I'm a grad student is because there is no national (CIAU) title
for women's university hockey in Canada. However, there is currently
an effort being made to bring the number of women's sports at the
national level up to the same number of men's sports at the national
level. Women's hockey is one of 4 sports (from which 2 will be
chosen) which are up for nomination (i.e., to become a CIAU sport).
From what I understand, if women's hockey is chosen, there will be a
western division (perhaps in British Columbia & Alberta), a central
divistion in Ontario, and then a division either in Quebec or the
maritimes. At the end of the season, the winner in each division
would go to a CIAU national championship tournament. If and when
this comes into effect, it will mean that the women will have the
same eligibility policy as the men - only 5 years of eligibility,
I believe.
Andria
*** Please note that the above message was written in 1995 ***
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 14:32:47 -0500
From: "Andria L. Hunter"
Subject: Re: scholarships + grad programs
>Yes, you can get hockey scholarships at some of the Div. I varsity schools.
>I know you can get them at UNH, and I'm pretty sure you can get them at
>Providence. Nobody knows what is happening with Northeastern. Many
>schools, like the Ivy League schools, don't give hockey scholarships, but
>do provide financial aid. There are also some other
>non-university-sponsored scholarships. The best way to get info is to talk
>to the coaches and ask them directly.
>To Cathy and any other Canadian grad students - Sorry, we have eligability
>rules in the US that don't allow grad students to play. However, I was
>thinking of going to Canada to get my MBA so I can get my degree and
>continue skating (I'm a junior at Cornell). Does anyone have any info that
>would help me?
The reason that there is currently no restriction on the number of years that
you can play women's university hockey in Canada is because there is currently
no national title (CIAU). There are women's university hockey leagues in the
Maritimes, Ontario, and Quebec, but the winners of each league do not currently
go on to compete for a National title.
However, within the next few years (and possibly as early as next year), there
will be a National CIAU title in Canada for women's hockey. There has been
a push for this because they want to bring up the number of CIAU sports for
women to the same number of CIAU sports for men. From what I understand, this
would mean that women university hockey players would have to follow the
same eligibility rules as the men do in Canada. I think that means 5 years
of eligibility, but I'm not sure of the details. I'll check with my coach
and get back to you on this. I would assume that everyone starts at zero in
terms of eligibility when this first gets incorporated, but I'm not sure.
Andria
------------------------------
This page is maintained by © 1998
Andria Hunter
(andria@cs.toronto.edu).
URL: http://www.whockey.com/univ/canada/eligible.html
