College hockey’s PR problem

Another one bites the dust.

It was reported this week that Dallas Stars prospect Jamie Oleksiak is leaving Northeastern University to play for the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit. Oleksiak joins J.T. Miller as first-rounders who were apparently going to play collegiate hockey but opted for juniors instead.

Jamie Oleksiak via USHL.com

As The Hockey News columnist Ryan Kennedy pointed out on Twitter, only one remaining player who was picked in the first round of this summer’s NHL draft (Tyler Biggs) is heading to the NCAA this season.

This is a public relations headache of significant proportions and College Hockey Inc., which is college hockey’s Division 1 information and marketing arm, knows it.

“I honestly think college hockey has so much going for it, a challenge is to come up with a simple, clear message,” was a tweet today from College Hockey Inc.’s director of communications, Nate Ewell. A follow-up tweet from Ewell to a reporter: “I’m just saying that a challenge is there are so many positives to college hockey, it can become tough to communicate.”

Ewell’s right, of course. College hockey does have a lot going for it. The quality of play is high … the kids get great coaching and development … there is pressure but not the ultra- intense pressure that comes with playing juniors in a Canadian market … throw in the education aspect of it, and there’s a lot to love about hockey at this level.

It’s just an uphill battle to convince 17 and 18- year-olds to attend an American university when juniors might to them seem like a more sure-fire way to make the NHL.

Penn State’s move to D1 next year will help in this regard. Happy Valley, as I can personally attest, is a great college environment. Our university’s student-athletes are widely respected, and like most students here, they make the most out of the academic and social scenes. For a certain type of player (think third round pick or higher), I’m sure the developing Penn State program will be an attractive option in the next season or two.

What college hockey needs is another Paul Kariya. Selected fifth overall in the 1993 entry draft by the Mighty Ducks after two years at the University of Maine, Kariya had an outstanding NHL career. When I think of Kariya, the first things that come to mind are his time with the U. of Maine’s Black Bears and the fact that he won the Hobey Baker award there.

Other NHLers have since come from the collegiate ranks (as a Bruins fan I’m familiar with Blake Wheeler and Phil Kessel) but Kariya stands out because of the length of his career, skills, leadership and likability. College hockey needs a player with Kariya’s franchise-changing potential to opt for the college route over juniors.

In addition, my bet is that College Hockey Inc. amps up the rhetoric in the coming years. For the most part the organization has been … tactical when it comes to communicating with the public and potential college-bound hockey players. The organization can sell the sport based on the factors I pointed out earlier, but it has appeared measured in its communications since the group formed in 2009.

Oleksiak and Miller’s decision to go to juniors may force the organization’s hand a bit to the point where it becomes more critical of juniors and even more visible even with its recent efforts. Obviously I’m not a skilled hockey prospect (wow, would things be different in my world if this were the case), but I can speak to the communications side of things. With the news this week about Oleksiak and the frustration that has to be building in College Hockey Inc. and at college programs across the country, I get the sense that the gloves are about to come off soon.