It's Official: Melrose Can Return for First Semester

Senior Harvard hockey player Kevan Melrose, who was granted a one-semester extension of his collegiate athletic eligibility by the NCAA Wednesday, was awarded the extra term of eligibility in the form of an Olympic waiver, the NCAA announced yesterday.

Melrose, whose fifth year of eligibility ended last spring, played for a brief period with the Canadian Olympic program in the fall of 1986. His extension was limited to one semester--rather than the frequently-awarded full year--because he was not participating in the Olympic program during the spring and technically could have enrolled in school for that semester, according to Harvard Associate Athletic Director Patricia Miller.

The NCAA routinely extends athletic eligibility into a sixth year to replace time missed for Olympic training and/or participation, religious mission purposes or military service, Miller said.

Melrose enrolled in the University of North Dakota in the fall of 1984, but was injured before the regular hockey season and did not play his first year. He withdrew from North Dakota the following November and was accepted by Harvard as a transfer student that spring, but deferred matriculation a year in order to try out for the Olympic team. He then enrolled in Harvard in the fall of 1987 and has enjoyed two successful seasons with the Crimson.

"I am very excited about the decision," said Melrose, who started practice on Wednesday. "It is very hard for me to control my enthusiasm. We have a good core back and some good freshmen. It's going to be a great season."

Following Bourbeau's Footsteps

The extension was not the first granted a Harvard athlete for an Olympic waiver--last winter Allen Bourbeau '87-'89 was given an extra full year for his time on the 1988 U.S. Olympic hockey team. Previously, rowers Andy Sudduth '85-'85 and Curt Pieckenhagen '84-'86 both received one-year extensions after competing with the Olympic crew teams.

"The way I'm looking at it now," explained Melrose, whose last game will be against Brown on January 13, "is that there are a lot of games on the road in the first half of the season and a lot of teams will be gunning for us because we are the national champions. I want to help give the team a good record heading into the second half."