Undecided about college?

On September 15th CHS will be hosting a college fair for all interested juniors and seniors looking to narrow their college choices as well as get more exposure to new schools. On this night students and parents will be able to meet with representatives from all over the country. Over 160 schools will be present that night, including the University of Texas, University of Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Baylor, Columbia University, Emory University, George Washington University, Southern Methodist University, Texas A&M and the University of Oklahoma. Specialty schools such as the Dallas Culinary Institute will be present as well.

Students are encouraged to pre-register for this event in order to have more opportunities and longer visits with the representatives. To pre-enroll click here.

Once the student has enrolled they will have to print and  bring the barcoded pass for  admittance to The College Fair. As a student identifies college representatives that they would like to have contact them-–the representative will scan the student’s barcode. This provides students for an opportunity to discuss more with college representatives.

The College Fair is free to all current juniors and seniors and is a product of Texas College Fairs. 

Some seniors include sports as a deciding factor when determining which college to attend. Some, for example, only want to go to a Big 10 or Big 12 school. 

However, it is very unlikely that these few in Coppell might consider basing their decision on a school’s hockey program.  

Popular universities among the students at Coppell High School include Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Texas. All of these schools have hockey teams, which is probably a surprise to most of these universities’ prospective students.

“To be honest, I didn’t really know that OU has a hockey team,” senior Olivia Hayden said. “One of the reasons I am thinking about going to OU is that it is a large, Big 12 school, but I think it is even cooler to know that it has a hockey team as well.”

Although hockey is much more prevalent at northern schools, particularly at schools such as Wisconsin and Michigan, southern schools, which are favored by students at CHS, are still competitive and successful.

The Oklahoma men’s hockey team is currently ranked No. 7 in men’s DI by the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA). Texas A&M, Texas and Texas Tech are all DII; A&M is ranked 10th in the West Region

Recruiting for DI and DII college hockey is evolving rapidly due to the amount of skill emerging in high school and club teams. A few years ago, a player recruited as a D1 player might be recruited as a D2 player now. Although hockey recruiting is different from football recruiting in ways such as being able to recruit players from club teams outside of school, it works very similarly.

“College hockey is becoming much more popular than it used to be,” Coppell hockey assistant captain and senior Peter Dempsey said. “I bet most people didn’t even know that a player could receive a scholarship to play hockey in college.”

Collegiate hockey does not receive as much recognition as other college sports. Most college campuses which CHS students will attend next year do not have hockey rinks located on campus, which makes it harder for students to attend games.

“I didn’t know that Texas Tech had a hockey team until this year,” Texas Tech freshman and former CHS student Katie Leonard said. “I haven’t been to a game yet, but sometimes I hear stuff about the team like how well they are doing and such. I would probably go to a game if it was on campus.”

There are other options for players wanting to continue playing hockey in college.  There are different level club teams located throughout the country that are just as competitive as the college teams.

No matter the team or organization, college hockey is growing fast. It is predicted to grow even more in upcoming years which will, in return, help college hockey become more well-known among students at college campuses.

Staff Writer

The SMU Mustangs played in their first bowl game since the cheating days of the 80s, but it didn’t show. Former Southlake Carroll quarterback Kyle Padron threw for an SMU record 460 yards as they just annihilated Nevada in the Hawaii bowl, 45-10.

The most surprising thing about this game, rather this beat down, was how the Mustangs sustained drives, on five of their seven scoring possessions they had eight or more plays. It wasn’t turnovers or offensive miscues by the Wolf pack that allowed SMU to score so much, the Mustangs were just better. However, the quick strike early helped SMU’s confidence, and it was all uphill from there. The future looks bright for June Jones and the Mustangs.

Texas A&M and Georgia played a shockingly scoreless game up until late in the second quarter when a scoring frenzy broke out in the Independence bowl. After the Aggies drive down and score a touchdown, two special teams mishaps cause them to lose their 7-0 led going into halftime. First an 81-yard kickoff return and a blocked punt on the ensuing A&M possession led to 14 points in the first half for the Bulldogs. In total, Georgia collected 24 points off the Aggie’s special team squad in their 44-20 victory over A&M.

What this shows me is that Texas A&M isn’t ready to jump back in the same class as Texas and Oklahoma in the Big 12 yet. Offensively the Aggies can roll with anyone, but on defense and in special teams, as we saw last night, need plenty of work if they wish to be garnered as a top tier program in the Big 12 South.

Bowl picks record this far: 6-5