MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – A Number of NMU hockey fans are concerned about the number of Wildcat hockey players leaving the program through the transfer portal.
TV 19 sat down with NMU Athletic Director Rick Comley late this afternoon to get his thoughts on what this is doing to smaller schools like the Wildcats, Michigan Tech and Lake Superior State.
“To be competitive now with leagues like the Big Ten, the NCHC and Hockey East, we need to rely on the portal to bring in kids, because it is difficult with us to get that number 1 draft pick that’s going to pick Boston College over Northern Michigan, that has nothing to do with our program or our coach,” remarked Comley.
Comley coached the Wildcats from 1976 to 2002, he was the bench boss for the Cats’ 1991 national championship team. He says that he’s not sure he would want to be coaching into today’s environment, noting that during his time with seniors and juniors developed through the program the teams became national contenders. Comley say’s the challenge now is finding a way to be good every season with a different team. He gave praise to current Head Coach Grant Potulny, saying Potulny has done a really good job navigating the portal and has the best intentions of players in his heart.
Comley spoke about why players were transferring.
“If [the players] want something we can not give them they need to transfer, if they don’t think they are achieving their goals they need to try somewhere else, I think it is an unbelievably high percentage who transfer somewhere else that it is not better than the situation they left,” commented Comley.
Comley mentioned that another reason for the high number of transfers from the hockey team is the incoming freshmen class. Currently the Wildcats have the third ranked incoming freshmen class, according to Neutralzone.net. Comley says that class includes one of the best goaltender in the nation, Hampton Slukynsky.
“The challenge is to fill the roster around them, you don’t want to have the expectation a kid to come in here and be the best player on your team because they are a freshmen, I hope they come in as good as projected, I hope they are given time to grow and settle,” added Comley/
Around a dozen wildcats have entered the transfer portal with Mikey Collela announcing he will go to Canisius next season.
