At the high school rinks and on the courts, transfer talk is rampant.

Who’s new? Where did so and so go? How did they let that happen?

But Minnesota State High School League officials said Thursday that the league’s transfer numbers are actually similar to last year’s.

At the nonprofit organization’s board of director’s meeting Thursday, MSHSL executive director Erich Martens said, “Around 2,000 transfers a year is what we see. It’s very consistent in terms of the amount of students that are changing their enrollment.”

Under MSHSL rules, athletes who transfer must sit out one year unless they meet the criteria to be eligible immediately.

MSHSL board member Jake Timm, who presented Thursday’s Eligibility Committee report, said the number of transfer reviews are down slightly from last year.

While the number of transfers remained relatively flat, Timm said there have been a record number of divorce and separation situations for transfers. MSHSL rules state “a student of divorced parents or parents who were never married, who resides with one parent and moves to reside with the other parent shall be eligible at the time of the move.”

A year ago, the MSHSL had conducted 15 reviews, granting eligibility for nine transfers and denying for six. This year, the league has done 14 reviews, granting five, denying seven with two decisions pending.