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Team USA hopeful Nicolas Kerdiles has NCAA suspension reduced, faces choice between Wisconsin and WHL

Neate Sager

Nicolas Kerdiles, the Anaheim Ducks high second-round pick who two weeks ago was barred by the NCAA from playing for Wisconsin for accepting improper benefits from an agent, got some good news on Friday. Now the question after Kerdiles' suspension was reduced from the entire season to 10 games (including times served) is whether he plans to cool his heels for a month before he can play for the Badgers, or scratch the itch to play right away by joining the Western Hockey League's Kelowna Rockets.

As per Andy Johnson:

Are Kerdiles and the Ducks that impatient for him to resume his season? The 18-year-old wing could end up going nearly two months without playing an organized game if he takes his medicine in Madison. A prospect could miss the same amount of time due to injury and make up for it later.

One should be mindful of not reading too much into anything. For what it is worth, even Wisconsin's spin on the situation from senior associate athletic director Walter Dickeyacknowledges a possibility Kerdiles could make a run for the border. It is nice to see that the school is still calling out the NCAA because it determined that Kerdiles got a loan from his adviser even though his family paid the money back, as Chris Peters uncovered. It's heavy-handed. And you cannot call this a win for Wisconsin, since they could still lose a player they had already had convinced to come to school (can you win something twice?).

"While we recognize the significant nature of a reduction in penalty from a full season withholding to 30 percent, we are dismayed that any penalty whatsoever was imposed on Nic Kerdiles in this matter. We remain confident that the facts demonstrate Nic had no culpability. The facts serve as evidence that he has the kind of character we believed he had when he was first recruited. Throughout this ordeal, Nic has demonstrated nothing but poise and integrity consistent with the outstanding student-athlete we know he is.

"Nic is currently exploring his options which we have encouraged him to do. Our hope is that he remains a Badger." (uwbadgers.com)

I lurve Chris Peters' drier-than-Oscar-Wilde explanation of how the NCAA was "a tad liberal with it's definition of a loan. Though the hotel room [for Kerdiles' NHL draft trip] should have never been covered by [agent Ian] Pulver's credit card so as to ensure no violation would have occurred, this appears to be a rather minor issue in the grand scheme of NCAA sanctions. It certainly doesn't seem worthy of a year-long ban."

Now there is a waiting game.

Starting next Wednesday, Kelowna will play 15 games before Kerdiles' shortened NCAA suspension ends at the end of November. Of course, some would say that if was primarily about playing the NHL-style schedule, Kerdiles would have followed several other U.S. prospects' lead by jumping to junior soon after being drafted. Clearly, it's complicated.

(Stick taps: Andy Baggot, Andy Johnson and Chris Peters.)

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.