Former NHL player Mike Danton, released from prison last fall after serving several years on a conspiracy to commit murder conviction, is in the process of enrolling at Saint Mary's University and could suit up for the Huskies over the second half of the season.

But a second chance at hockey? Sorry, gentlemen, he's on about his ninth chance. He's a PROFESSIONAL hockey player. Surely that should erase eligibility to play university hockey in Canada, shouldn't it? Excuse my ignorance, but doesn't 161 games of pro hockey somehow make a player still able to play in the CIS? Could Chris Chelios play for U of T if he so desired?

He's also 29 years old with a long rap sheet of misdemeanors and on-ice crimes. In junior hockey, he was a one-man wrecking crew, well, except for the times he was surrounded by the rest of David Frost's gang.

Again, let the man go to school. But let him play CIS hockey? What a dreadful decision. Is the school taking any steps to make sure Frost isn't around or involved? Are they making sure Frost can't attend St. Mary's games? Have they asked Danton, an ex-con, for a more thorough explanation of his past than was demanded on Sportsnet? Will he be carefully watched to make sure he's attending classes and actually working towards graduating?

This, of course, is also a comment on the dirty secret of Canadian university hockey. See, the one thing Danton won't feel in St. Mary's is old. The school carefully avoids listing the ages of its hockey players on its website — sensitive issue, you see — but the entire team is made up of second chances, guys who played in the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League but weren't good enough to go any further.

So now they've found a place to keep playing hockey — for another five years.

"We all make mistakes," he said. "The severity of those mistakes is what differs, but when it comes down to it, I think that everybody deserves a second chance. Where would we be if we weren't given second chances?"
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Danton wants to earn a degree in psychology. His plan is to put the classroom ahead of the rink.

"For me to be successful at hockey, I have to be successful at school," he said. "I'm a student athlete, not an athlete student."