Blind River goalie to ACHA
Dominic Boily, who played two seasons in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, has a school commitment for the 2020-2021 season, Hockey News North has confirmed.
The 20-year old goalie, who finished up the 2019-2020 season with the Blind River Beavers after being acquired from the Elliot Lake Wildcats, is headed to play for the Missouri-based Maryville University Saints.
Maryville is a Division 1, American Collegiate Hockey Association school.
The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Boily put up sparking numbers for Blind River — a 10-4-0 record to go with a 2.45 goals against average and .927 save percentage.
Randy
Do you know that ACHA even at division 1 level is club hockey, not varsity hockey? At the American schools playing ACHA hockey there are no athletic scholarships. The players may qualify (like any other student) for academic scholarships, financial aid or other bursaries but not based upon playing club hockey at the school. If the school provides funding assistance for the ACHA club hockey team that funding goes toward equipment, arena rental costs (if the team plays and practices in an off campus arena) and travel costs. Players on the team would have to make up the difference amongst themselves over the course of the season. It is nice that this young man is going on to university (called college in the US) but he is most likely, absent any academic scholarship or financial aid (based on financial need if the college has a good endowment fund that permits the school to give financial aid based on need) or bursaries he may get, footing the cost himself.
It is the same format as the NCAA D-3 programs for hockey. It is no longer club hockey Mr. Johnson as our team from Sault College has found out. It is a very well organized association that is run with the same rules and guidelines as there are in the NCAA.
As in all college hockey, there are weak teams and strong teams but for you to classify them as club hockey is an insult to the young men and women that are playing with these colleges and teams. If they can get grants and financial aid for their academics, all the better but the program at Sault College and many others in the ACHA, the cost to play is very minimal.