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North Yarmouth Academy (Maine) 7th grader Oliver Wahlstrom reportedly committed Thursday night to the Black Bears for the 2019 season. While several players have made verbal commitments when they are freshmen in high school or even younger, Wahlstrom's promise to play for Maine five years down the line was different.
Coming on the heels of 1999-born Keith Petruzzelli doing the same for Quinnipiac, the first-ever NCAA hockey commitment from a player born in 2000, brought out a wide range of reaction from college hockey fans, writers and coaches. To see what the community is thinking, we've compiled some tweets below.
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Crappy part of a U signing a '00(!) kid - he has no idea what he wants yet, but can always default to mjr jnr. Cant do reverse (CHL to NCAA)
— Justin Bourne (@jtbourne) January 10, 2014
Excuse me? RT @SBNCollegePuck 7th grader Oliver Wahlstrom commits to Maine http://t.co/Bi6MOX4IRk
— Andy Johnson (@AndyJohnsonB5Q) January 10, 2014
@JoeMeloni the college stuff is out of the way. he can focus on growing up in a far more normal environment
— John Forsyth (@blackbear93) January 10, 2014
@blackbear93 @JoeMeloni John its not that easy...Look at Connor Anthoine committed to Vermont at 14 now is a freshman at Geneseo
— Nathan Fournier (@jrhockeywriter) January 10, 2014
If you have a problem with that, fine, but this is the situation the NCAA has created by deeming the CHL leagues professional.
— Joe Meloni (@JoeMeloni) January 10, 2014
A 13-year-old committed to the University of Maine, but it shouldn't be an outrage: http://t.co/D9Z8gl9D4l
— Ryan Kennedy (@THNRyanKennedy) January 10, 2014
Congratulations to @oliesnipes97 for committing to U Maine. Youngest commit yet, bravo kid. #WellDeserved @MaineIceHockey
— NYA Boys Hockey (@NyaBoysVHockey) January 10, 2014
13 year-old Oliver Wahlstrom has committed to play hockey at UMaine. If his name is familiar, here's why http://t.co/V4jxnQWYkA #gomaine
— WMEB Sports (@SportsWMEB) January 10, 2014
Reading the twitter debate on the commitment of a 7th grader to college...not sure of my thoughts on it as a parent of a 4th grader.
— Derek Schooley (@derekschooley) January 10, 2014
@derekschooley I'm not in their shoes, so it's easy for me to judge, but that's too early to make such a significant life decision.
— Andy Johnson (@AndyJohnsonB5Q) January 10, 2014
@derekschooley @AndyJohnsonB5Q Did a piece on the first three 14-year-olds to commit to schools. Only one ended up at that school (Merrill).
— Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) January 10, 2014
(For the record, the first 3 14 year-olds were Jon Merrill, Cam Fowler to Notre Dame - he de-committed for the OHL - and UND redshirt sophomore Colten St. Clair, who de-committed from Colorado College)
@smclaughlin9 @jrhockeywriter @CHeisenberg as absurd as it is college hockey coaches need earlier relationship to fight against major junior
— Jeff Cox (@JeffCoxSBNation) January 10, 2014
If you're a 13-yr old kid offered D1 ride you're ecstatic. But somebody tell college hockey Q draft is '98s this yr & make pact b/w ea other
— Russ Bitely (@russbites) January 10, 2014
@russbites I mean the kid is 4th Maine PeeWee team in scoring. Stats are far from everything but is this a kid worth the offer & publicity?
— Andrew Weiss (@WeissFC) January 10, 2014
This makes me feel old. RT @OTBPuckWatch: 00 F Oliver Wahlstrom has committed to Maine for fall of 2019. Seventh grader on NYA varsity.
— Darian Somers (@StuffSomersSays) January 10, 2014
Why does @NCAA and @collegehockey allow D1 schools to offer scholarships to 13 year olds? That's too young for life-changing decisions.
— Trevor Whiffen (@trevorwhiffen) January 10, 2014
@joemeloni @schlossmangf @jeffcoxsbnation @jrhockeywriter heres a good question: why does anyone care about this?
— ryan lambert (@twolinepass) January 10, 2014
@JeffCoxSBNation Thats fine if he doesnt want to talk but there are some people who may think this a hoax. Those questions will still linger
— Nathan Fournier (@jrhockeywriter) January 10, 2014
Well, hockey recruiting could be worse: CB Jalen Tabor committed to Arizona on national TV last Thurs. He's enrolling at Florida on Monday
— Chris Dilks (@ChrisDilks) January 10, 2014