To a degree, recruiting in college athletics is like dominos. Once one school stretches the boundaries, others are sure to fall in line to avoid being left behind.
In college hockey, the boundary that’s being redefined is the age that is too young to be recruited. It took a new form last week when Jordan Schmaltz — a 14-year-old defenseman who’s about to start his freshman year at Verona Area High School — verbally committed to the University of Wisconsin, accepting the team’s offer of a full scholarship.
It got people talking because it’s rare in hockey for a player who hasn’t even entered ninth grade to be already at the endpoint of the recruiting process instead of at the beginning.