The Coaches Convention

The NCAA's college hockey coaches are busy sunning themselves in beautiful Naples, Florida this weekend at the annual Coaches Convention. Of course, that pill is a little easier to swallow since it was mid-70's and sunny here in Minnesota today.

The convention isn't all awkward white guys in polo shirts, khaki shorts, and sandals playing golf, though. There's also a good deal of discussion about the game and whatnot. Obviously I'm not there, but I did receive a few notes on some of the things that were talked about.

The WCHA pushed for the last two weeks in May and first two weeks in August to be "quiet times" in the recruiting calendar, with no off campus recruiting, and that reportedly passed.

There was some discussion about getting rid of verbal commitments, but that didn't pass. I'm not surprised since I'm not sure how they'd regulate unofficial, non-binding agreements.

New legislation was passed allowing teams to call players once per month, and mail out recruiting material, starting June 15th after their sophomore year. Notre Dame was one of the driving forces behind this change, which isn't a huge surprise, given that Jeff Jackson has been an outspoken critic of the NCAA rules that prohibit contacting players at a young age.