Exhale, fans of Cornell men's hockey. Riley Nash and Colin Greening -- the Big Red's top two points leaders from last season -- are back on East Hill and enrolled in school.As I've suspected for a while, Greening admitted that academics played a major role in his decision. From my limited interactions with him, Greening always seemed more focused on classes and earning a degree than did some of the other members of the team.It was unclear whether Nash, a first-round draft pick by the Edmonton Oilers in 2007, and Greening, a seventh-round pick by the Ottawa Senators in 2004, would return to Cornell or elect to play pro hockey.
"Just kind of over the course of the summer I decided that coming back would be the best fit for me," said Nash, who will begin his junior year today. "I just thought another year here would be more advantageous than going to play for a pro team."
On an interesting note, Nash stated that Cornell's light schedule helped persuade him to stay. His logic was that a minor league hockey season has more games, so there's a good chance he'd lose some of the extra weight he put on over the summer because he wouldn't have as much time to work out. With fewer games, that's more time he can spend in the gym. This should be a nice kick in the face to those in the hockey community who argue that top prospects should leave college early because the lighter schedule hinders development. Sometimes it's more beneficial to bulk up.
Nash says that Cornell has a legitimate chance to win a national title. I think we at least have a good shot at making the Frozen Four. Let's go red.
No comments:
Post a Comment