NHL union, Boston College announce
program to help players go back to school and finish their degree
 [February 27, 2025]
By JIMMY GOLEN
NHL players who want to complete their college degrees will have a
smoother pathway thanks to an agreement announced Wednesday between
their union and Boston College.
The deal would ease the way for current and former players to
graduate from BC’s Woods College of Advancing Studies, an arm of the
university that offers flexible routes to certificates and degrees
for non-traditional students. Among the alums: NHL Players
Association executive director Marty Walsh.
“It allowed me the opportunity to get a college degree,” the former
Boston mayor and U.S. secretary of labor said in an interview with
The Associated Press. “I went to school with people that were
undergrads, that went to school at BC, taking class at night. And I
was (also) in class with people in their 70s. Which is amazing.”
Woods College Dean David Goodman said the agreement is “the next
evolution of a relationship that was already there,” by removing
"some of the friction" that might have prevented players from going
back to school. It will make it easier for potential students to
transfer previously earned credits, as one example, he said.
Josh Jooris, who played three years at Union College before earning
his first NHL contract with the Calgary Flames, is currently
enrolled. Brooks Orpik, who played three years for the Eagles before
an NHL career in which he won two Stanley Cup championships with the
Pittsburgh Penguins, returned to school after he retired and earned
his degree in 2022.
“I had promised a lot of people, including my parents and former BC
hockey coach Jerry York, that I would finish college at some point,”
Orpik said. “The feeling of pride I had was just so different than
anything, athletically, I have accomplished.”
Goodman said the students can study online, on-campus or hybrid. The
new agreement doesn’t have a limit on the number of players it can
accept, but Goodman said he expects “a couple of dozen”; if there
are more, the school would add sections to accommodate them, he
said.
[to top of second column] |
Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik (44) celebrates his
game-winning goal in overtime of Game 2 of an NHL hockey first-round
playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes in Washington, April
13, 2019. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
The NHLPA agreement with BC comes the same week as
the Major League Baseball Players Association announced a similar
deal with Syracuse. Walsh said he hadn't talked to his baseball
counterparts about it.
“We all have programs,” said NHLPA head, who needed more than 10
years, taking one or two classes per semester, to get his degree
while he was working full-time, including as a member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives.
“We’re a union that represents our workers on the on the ice and
through to collective bargaining,” he said. “But we also want to
make sure that we’re preparing these players, that when their
careers are over, that they're set up for success going forward,
too.”
The NHL says more than a third of its players played college hockey
in the U.S. or Canada, with the majority of those leaving school
before getting their degrees. Both Woods and Walsh noted that even
players who go on to a successful NHL career would likely retire in
their 30s, leaving a long worklife ahead of them.
“These players are typically scooped up in their first two years,”
Woods said. “When they come back after having been successful,
coming back to one’s education is not necessarily a sexy move. But
it’s finishing something they once started.”
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