A Victory for College Hockey

Highly touted rookie Nic Kerdiles has decided to stay at the University of Wisconsin after a whirlwind couple of weeks.  If you aren’t familiar with his situation, Kerdiles was recently suspended a full season from the NCAA for violating unspecified amateur rules.  The University of Wisconsin instinctively appealed the situation as it seemed like a minor infraction and was almost impossible to prove.  After the appeal, the NCAA reduced Kerdiles’ suspension to 10 games (which included the two he already played in.)  Read that article here for more information. There was still speculation he could bolt to the Kelowna Rockets of WHL, but Kerdiles announced today that he will serve out the suspension and be ready to play as a Badger in November.

As a fan of a rival team, I can joke that I’m not thrilled at his return because Kerdiles is going to be a force to reckon with this season.  All joking aside though, this is a huge win across the board for college hockey and you never want to see a team lose a player or a player lose a season over a situation like this.  Kerdiles was a 2^nd round NHL draft pick and his rights are owned by Kelowna.  I have to believe they were pursuing him as he would be eligible to play there immediately and would be a huge pick up for them.  With how many college recruits have backed out on their college commitments to go the Major Junior route lately, this is a breath of fresh air seeing a kid stay loyal to the school he chose and not take the easy way out.  He will be eligible to play against Denver on November 9^th, and I’m willing to bet he will be coming out like a house of fire.