College Hockey's World Junior Conundrum

Your Team's Next NCAA Game May Be a Month Away

by Adam Wodon/Managing Editor (@chn-adam-wodon)

The down side of blue-chip Major Junior players joining college hockey teams, is that a number of them will leave for the World Junior tournament.

This is not a new phenomenon in college hockey. American players have been going to the World Juniors for a long time.

But what's new is that Team Canada brings its players into camp one week earlier than Team USA.

Now, this season, this affects just four teams — Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and North Dakota. And my guess is, college hockey fans around the country that aren't fans of those teams, are not exactly spilling tears for any of them.

However,…