The void left last year by the absence of a professional hockey season is now filled, though the impact of the 2004-05 work stoppage in the National Hockey League and the subsequent collective bargaining agreement may still be felt this year by collegiate teams.

Collegiate hockey officials seem to believe universally that the work stoppage had little or no impact on attendance at collegiate hockey games. Many programs routinely sell out their games before the season even begins, and improving on a full-season sell-out is impossible. Others such as the University of Denver and Boston University that don't have perennial sell-outs had other draws in 2004-05 that might have contributed to modest attendance spikes -- including a second national championship at Denver and new facilities at both institutions.

Tom Anastos, commissioner of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, said the absence of professional hockey may have provided "a little additional visibility in some areas in which we normally wouldn't have that visibility." That includes Canada, in which several collegiate games were broadcast that otherwise wouldn't in a season with professional hockey. Overall, though, Anastos said the absence of professional hockey was a negative.

"Not having the NHL probably lowered the overall visibility of the sport," he said. "Whether that trickled down to our level, I don't know. We didn't see any direct correlation in the lockout along with our attendance within our league at all, one way or the other."

Boston University head coach Jack Parker, whose team competes for fans with rival Boston College as well as the professional Boston Bruins, agreed that a trickle-down effect was likely minimal.

"I think we're always better off having pro hockey on the front page and people talking about big teams coming to town because it gets them into the hockey mode," he said.

Precipitated rules changes

Bruce McLeod, commissioner of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), called the work stoppage a "little bit of a mixed blessing." On one hand, some WCHA teams that play in markets that directly compete with NHL teams, such as in Denver, may have seen a spike in attendance partly because of the absence of professional hockey. McLeod, though, said that when weighed with the national championship and a new arena, the true factors were difficult to gauge.

The WCHA had expected to see a surge in attendance for its league championship played at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, but those expectations were not fulfilled.

"We do very well -- we get about 85,000 for that tournament and it's very successful -- but the numbers didn't change a lot from last year," he said. "We thought we might see a nice little spike in attendance from people who want to get their hockey fix in at the end of the year, but it didn't happen for us."

Enrico Blasi, chair of the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee and head coach at Miami University (Ohio), said the work stoppage in professional hockey may have exposed people to the college game who otherwise weren't paying attention to it.

"I think it helped us last year that fans were looking for hockey, and they got a chance to see a college hockey game," he said. "I think they found out that it's a pretty good game. Ironically enough, the NHL has adopted a lot of our rules."

Many collegiate officials believe the rules shift in the NHL -- including a crackdown on interference -- were precipitated by a rules initiative begun at the college level with the start of the 2004-05 season. That initiative, which did not create new rules but increased the emphasis on enforcing existing areas, was met with some skepticism at first. But in the end, the decisions created a more open game that showcased players' talent and skills.

While officials believe the NHL took many factors into account when making its decisions on rules for this season -- including the format of the international game and the need to draw more fans back to the NHL after a year without professional hockey -- some said the NCAA initiative made it easier for the pro league to make its changes.

"Not that anybody has acknowledged this, but I think that we kind of set the table for it. They're actually going further than we are. Their crackdown is much more complete," said Joe Bertagna, commissioner of the Hockey East Association and executive director of the American Hockey Coaches Association. "Like ours, it is getting a positive response from the public."

Effect on draft decisions

One possible negative impact that the work stoppage and subsequent new collective bargaining agreement had on the college game is in the number of collegiate players who decided to enter the draft early to get in the NHL under the old, less-restrictive rules.

"I think a number of people left school because the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know," said Parker, Boston U.'s coach. "In all probability they were correct -- the new agreement is not as friendly to initial players as the old agreement was."

One of the sections of the new agreement states that teams lose the rights to an unsigned, drafted collegiate player after his class graduates. The player essentially can enter free agency, which could be good for student-athletes who are drafted but can't come to terms with their team. They would have the option of returning to school for a year and becoming a free agent.

However, several people believe that many student-athletes left college earlier than they had planned because of the new agreement, opting to get into the pros during the transition period. Anastos said that a number of players saw their opportunity and took it.

"There was a transition period in which players were given an opportunity who were pre-drafted before the (collective bargaining agreement) was completed. They had certain advantages that they wouldn't have gotten next year, and there's no question that a number of kids left early because of that," he said.

Some theorize that many student-athletes who made the jump earlier than expected never anticipated staying in the collegiate game for their entire four years.

"It's one of those things where you're happy to get the best players in the country, but the flip side is that you may lose them early," Bertagna said. "Like one coach said, you recruit them twice -- once to get them in the school and once to keep them there because the lure of playing professionally is so strong."

In the long run, many officials believe the changes in the game brought about by the work stoppage could benefit college players. Parker said the free agency clause will likely benefit players who might be able to command a higher price than what the team that drafts them is willing to pay. And the rules changes could benefit the college player, too, said Marty Scarano, athletics director at the University of New Hampshire and chair of the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Committee.

"What might happen is because the pro game has opened up and a lot of players are accustomed to the wide-open style, it might in future years benefit college players," he said. "Most of our college programs put a premium on skating ability, scoring ability and stick ability, and the defensemen are smaller and more mobile, so that should translate better to the pro game."

And while the absence of a professional season might not have propelled attendance figures any higher, Scarano said he believes some people were exposed to the college game that might not otherwise have seen it.

"I think a lot of people's eyes were opened as to how entertaining college hockey is, how much more skating ability is exhibited and how much more scoring ability there is," he said. "We all think in the college hockey world that it's an under-valued stock. The more people are exposed to it, the more they appreciate it. It's great entertainment, a great sport."