Another View on the Commitment of Schmaltz

Chris over at the Western College Hockey Blog has a different take on the recent commitment of 14 year old Jordan Schmaltz. He points out that there have been several players younger than Schmaltz to commit, though most had stepped foot into high school before hand. Just how birthdays work out, he is old for his grade.

I like the following paragraph:

"Of course the fact that this is slowly becoming standard practice doesn't necessarily make it right. But before people think this is a college hockey problem, look elsewhere in the hockey world. Next April he could be presented with an opportunity to move away from home and spend the next two seasons with the US National Development Program. Next May, Schmaltz will eligible for the Ontario Hockey League draft. If he lived 200 miles west of his hometown of Verona, he could have already been selected by a Western Hockey League team(though he would have been restricted in the number of games he could have played this season). "

Sounds like the next year of his life will be rife w/ hockey decisions as well.

It will be funny at the end of all of this if he turns out to be a top draft pick and all the worrying was for nothing, but we have 4 long years to wait to see if that happens.