NHL players looking to earn a university degree have a smoother path thanks to an agreement announced Wednesday between the union and Boston College.
The deal will ease the way current and former players graduate from BC’s Woods College of Advanced Study. Among the alumni: Marty Walsh, Executive Director of the NHL Players Association.
“It gave me the opportunity to complete my university degree,” the former mayor of Boston and the U.S. Labor Secretary said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I went to school with people who were undergraduates. It went to school before B.C., and I took classes in the evening. And I was in class (also) with people from the 70s. That’s amazing.”
Woods University’s Dean Goodman said the agreement was “the next evolution of a relationship that was already there” by removing “part of the friction” that may have prevented players from returning to school. It will make it easier for potential students to transfer previously earned credits easily, he said.
Josh Jolis, who played for Union College for three years before winning his first NHL contract with the Calgary Flames, is currently registered. The Brooks Olpic, who played for the Eagles for three years before his NHL career and won the Pittsburgh Penguins and Stanley Cup Championship twice, returned to school after retiring in 2022 to earn his degree.
“I had promised a lot of people, including my parents and former BC hockey coach Jerry York, to graduate from college at some point,” Olpic said. “The sense of pride I had was very different than anything else.
Goodman said students can study online, campus or hybrids. The new contract does not limit the number of players they can accept, but Goodman said he expects “dozens.” If there are more, the school will add sections to accommodate them, he said.
The NHLPA deal with BC comes in the same week that the Major League Baseball Players Association announced a similar deal with Syracuse. Walsh said he hadn’t spoken to his baseball counterpart.
“We all have a program,” said the NHLPA head, who, including members of Massachusetts representatives, required more than a decade to take one or two classes per semester to complete his degree while working full-time.
“We are a union representing workers on the ice. “But we want to make sure that these players are ready and that when their careers are over, they are set up to succeed in the future.”
The NHL says that more than a third of players play college hockey in the United States or Canada, with the majority leaving school before completing their degrees. Both Woods and Walsh have left them with a long work life before them, saying that even players who advance into successful NHL careers are likely to retire in their 30s.
“These players are usually scooped up for the first two years,” Woods said. “When they come back after success, going back to education isn’t necessarily a sexy move, but it’s finished what they once started.”
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Source link
