The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack hockey team has forfeited two games after finding out two of its players — goaltender Stephen Wolff and forward Brodie Gibbon — took to the ice while academically ineligible.
The WolfPack remain in third place in the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League, but is just two points ahead of the fourth-place Trinity Western Spartans.
The league’s top four teams make the playoffs.
Wolff, a Qualicum Beach native, has played in eight games for the Pack this season. He is 5-3 with a 2.48 goals against average and a .912 save percentage.
Head coach Don Schulz said the goaltender, who came to the team after playing for the Selkirk College Saints last season, was working his way into the team’s starting role — a task that will now be left to Chris Solecki and Mark Menicucci.
Gibbon, from Parksville, also came to the WolfPack from the Saints and had eight points, including three goals, in 16 games with TRU.
Schulz said Jon Shephard, TRU’s athletics and recreation assistant facility co-ordinator, brought the information to his attention. Shephard is responsible for checking player grades on all the WolfPack’s Canada West teams.
Like golf and baseball, hockey is a club sport at TRU — as opposed to a varsity sport — run with the support of TRU’s athletics department.
The WolfPack have been assigned 1-0 losses for their games against the Simon Fraser Clan on Jan. 11 and the Trinity Western Spartans on Jan. 18. Wolff and Gibbon also suited up against the Selkirk College Saints, but the Pack lost that game 3-1.
Schulz said he found out about the grade situation on Jan. 22.
“There was some confusion over the [BCIHL] rule and what the CIS rule is,” Schulz told KTW. “They were both mistaken in that there was confusion over the CIS rule.
“Just knowing their character and their general demeanour, I think it was just an honest mistake.”
The BCIHL requires players to register in at least nine credits in the first term, passing at least six of those credits in order to play in the second term. The CIS has no minimum requirement for the first semester and only says players must pass 18 credits in an academic in order to play the next season.
Both players only passed three of their credits.
Schulz said there was a disconnect between the athletics department and the hockey team — a request had been made for a printout of the grades and it somehow fell through the cracks. He said the team also interviewed each player after the first term and there was no indication given by the offending players that they would be academically ineligible.
“From now on, we’re going to get printouts of all the grades — especially after each term,” Schulz said.
“If I had had that information before, our staff would have never allowed those guys to play.”
The WolfPack lost three players to academic problems after the first semester — forwards Sean Maktaak and Daniel Higgs and defenceman Ben Bula — and Schulz said those players had told him in their interviews they were clear on the rule.
He has now discussed the issue with athletic director Ken Olynyk to get an idea of best practices for supporting students and will look at being more proactive when it comes to the team’s academic standing.
“In my tenure, this is the worst season that we’ve had in terms of academic standing — or lack thereof,” he said.
“The hockey team is different from other athletics, for the most part,” he continued. “All of the guys that we get are junior graduates and, for a lot of them, they’ve finished high school for a couple of years. So, I guess it’s fair to say there’s more of a transition period for guys to get back into the school side of things.”
Schulz said the team will be emphasizing the resources available to the team, tutors and the like, and will be making an effort to ensure that students joining the team understand the nature of being a student athlete.
Right now, this situation has put him in a bind with his lineup, one that he thought he had resolved with signings before the start of the semester.
“It’s been most disconcerting that here we are at the end of January and we’re still having to deal with eligibility,” he said. “It’s been unfortunate and it’s not something that we look on very lightly. It’s something that’s taken very seriously.
