he OHL eligibility rules provide that each team may have only three twenty-year-old players, typically referred to as "overage" players. In addition to limiting the number of overage players, the OHL adopted a rule in August of 2000 under which any overage player signed by an OHL team must have been on a Canadian Hockey Association (CHA) or USA Hockey Player's Registration Certificate the previous season. This rule, commonly referred to as the Van Ryn Rule
1 (also referred to as "the Rule"), effectively prevents OHL teams from signing any twenty-year-old United States college hockey players because the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) does not allow individuals holding a CHA or USA Hockey Player's Registration Certificate to play hockey at an NCAA school.
Anthony Aquino is a twenty-year-old hockey player who has been affected by the Van Ryn Rule. At age sixteen, Aquino, a Canadian citizen, was drafted by an OHL team, the Owen Sound Attack. Instead of playing for the Attack, Aquino chose to attend Merrimack College in Massachusetts. Aquino began playing hockey at Merrimack during the 1999-2000 season and played for three seasons. In June 2001, Aquino was drafted by the Dallas Stars, an NHL hockey team. During the 2001-2002 season, the Attack traded its rights to Aquino to the Oshawa Generals, another OHL team. While attending Merrimack College, Aquino was placed on the Generals' "protected list," which prevented Aquino from negotiating or signing with any other team in the CHL.
