But in the face of the minor league circuit’s uncertain future and the possibilities open to him at Harvard, passing up his senior season proved an untenable option.
“I felt like I had more to prove at the college level, more to prove at Harvard, to myself, and to my teammates. I definitely can develop more,” Welch said. “These are things that I was looking at. Am I ready to go? It’s a life decision. Do I want to turn pro? I mean, that’s going to be my job. Or do I want to finish up and finish my last year in college, knowing that it’d be pretty tough for me to go back. And if I did go back, I’d have to finish classes in the summer. So I mean there’s graduating with my friends. All those things factored in.”
TIMES THEY AREN’T A-CHANGIN’
Despite the upheaval in the professional system, Welch’s decision to return to Cambridge shielded him from much of the turbulence, leaving his hockey world for the most part intact.
The Penguins offer rookie camps and strength training programs to all of their prospects, and Welch is in weekly contact with a former coach who scouts for the Penguins. But those players who already have suitable regimens and coaching are encouraged to continue their schedules uninterrupted, in the hopes that they will mature more quickly.
“They don’t ever step in and say, ‘You gotta do this, you gotta do that,’” Welch said. “They leave that to my coaches and they don’t interfere at all, which is great. And they come to the games and watch and see I’m developing and as long as I’m developing they have no problem with my being here.”
And as long as Welch is here, he has no problem tuning out the news about his uncertain future.
Though he and his teammates are vaguely aware of the lack of progress between representatives from the union and ownership, Welch hasn’t been paying too careful attention to the parties’ day-to-day negotiations, since, at least for the moment, they don’t actually apply to him.
“I made my decision so whatever happened this year was really not going to affect me,” Welch said. “I’m in college. College hockey’s not locking out this year. The only way it affects me is I can’t watch my favorite guys on TV any more.”
“Now, since there is a lockout, the only way it affects me is hopefully we’ll have more people in the stands this year because there’ll be no Bruins to watch and hopefully we’ll get some of their fans,” he added.
Of course, if there is still a lockout when the season does end—whenever that may be—both Lannon and Welch will have a trusted source to turn to for advice: Donato.
The Crimson coach faced a similar situation during his playing days when, mere weeks into his professional career, a work stoppage threatened to end it all just as quickly as it had begun.
“I’m sure he has some idea what’s going on because he was just in the players association and he had some contacts in the league after playing there for 13 years,” Lannon said. “But all of those things aren’t going to be an issue until our season wraps up in April.”
And until then, they’ll all just hold off on polishing those resumes.
—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.