Cole Eiserman (Newburyport, Mass.) just finished his freshman year at BU. (Patrick Donnelly/NEHJ)
Since midway through last week, the storyline that has dominated our website has been college hockey recruiting — and that makes sense.
Starting Aug. 1, rising juniors in high school became eligible to get offers from Division 1 programs and commit. It’s been less busy than previous years, but there have still been several prospects who are now committed to a Division 1 school.
Given how many stories are done on this, it can feel like everyone is committing — when that isn’t the case. It can also skew expectations.
Getting a Division 1 or Division 3 offer was already incredibly difficult. The CHL ruling made that even harder.
So, I asked New England prep hockey coaches a simple question: Are players becoming more realistic with their college hockey aspirations?
LIVE TRACKER: Live updates from the start of college hockey recruiting
It was part of our end-of-season prep coaches survey, so all coaches were granted anonymity.
The boys prep hockey coaches are a good bunch to ask. Sure, some deal with high-end players who either have committed since Aug. 1 or will do so soon. But many coach players who are either going to commit to Division 1 down the road, Division 3 or ACHA (American Collegiate Hockey Association).
We picked out some of the most interesting answers from coaches.