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Why Do You Hate America?

Canadian Hockey News got a hold of Hockey Canada's Player Development Manual to Parents. The manual basically explains the different options a young player has in Canada.

Needless to say, Hockey Canada isn't big on the whole NCAA option. As a matter fact, I can't find any direct reference to the NCAA anywhere in the manual. There are a few mentions of "college and university opportunities," but it's usually pretty vague, and seems to put the NCAA on par with CIS(Canada's version of college hockey) rather than as a pro development route. I can't necessarily blame Hockey Canada, since I'm sure that they want all of their kids to stay in the country, but still, it seems foolish to not even mention it as a viable option. But at least they don't disparage college hockey, right?
All levels agree that should a player not be capable of competing in the top level of the Canadian system- the CHL, it may be fitting to keep open all his avenues of opportunity
So basically Hockey Canada is saying "If you're not good enough to play in the CHL, then you can go to the NCAA."

What do you think about this obviously ridiculous sentiment, Swift Current Broncos' GM/coach Dean Chynoweth?
"But the reality up here is that if the kids are not good enough to play in our league, they’re not good enough to get a college scholarship. There just aren’t that many full rides.


Hockey Canada also seems to be pushing the league's educational package pretty heavily. Among the benefits of the CHL, Hockey Canada says that the CHL will:
Provide full academic scholarships for players who do not advance to top professional levels
That sounds noble enough. But who is eligible to receive that money, and how much do they get?

Hockey Canada goes on to provide a chart of each league's scholarship program. In the OHL, they have a tiered benefit system. First round draft picks get their tuition, books, and board covered. Second through fifth round picks get tuition and books, and everybody else only gets tuition covered. The OHL also caps expenses at $15,000 per year. That doesn't strike me as going very far at a lot of colleges.

The WHL's plan strikes me as the best. Players get one year for every year/part of a year they play for a team. They cover all tuition, fees, and books at a public university in the player's home province.

In the QMJHL, a player has to play at least two seasons to qualify for scholarship, and has to play at the age of 19 to get scholarship money. The maximum a player can get if he plays 3 seasons is $10,500. If they play 2 years, it's only $7000.

And of course, all of this gets voided if a player signs a professional contract. So it doesn't quite seem like the sweet deal that Hockey Canada makes it out to be.