NHL second round pick Ed Caron, who left New Hampshire after his freshman year in 2001-2002 and transferred to Yale, will head back to UNH and enroll in classes this spring.
Caron, who had already sat out one semester at Yale because of NCAA transfer rules, would need to sit out another full year at UNH before becoming eligible to play again. If he does enroll now, he would be able to play in late December 2003 or early January 2004.
“The only thing I can tell you is that he’s not coming back to Yale this semester,” said Yale coach Tim Taylor to Foster’s Daily Democrat. “I think he just has some family and personal issues, and I think he felt he needed to be closer to his family at this point to put his feet on stable ground. He’s got a lot swirling around in his head right now.”
Because he would end up sitting out for a year and a half, Caron can play a total of no more than three and a half years of college hockey if he opts to remain at UNH.
The 6-3, 227-pound Caron was chosen by the Edmonton Oilers in the second round of the 2001 NHL Draft, 52nd overall. He will turn 21 this April and is considered a top pro prospect.
Taylor said of Caron in the team’s media guide, “He is a prototypical power forward who has the potential to be one of the premier forwards in college hockey.
“It’s hard to find players with his size and strength who also have the skating ability and scoring touch.”
Caron scored six goals and added seven assists in 34 games as a freshman at UNH. He never indicated why he chose to leave the school, saying only to the Lowell Sun last May, “This whole thing was based on environment and I knew right away that [Yale] was the place for me.”
Caron, who is from Hudson, N.H., was named as the Wildcats’ Top Student at the team’s postseason awards banquet in 2002. He is considered one of the top in-state players ever to play for UNH.
