John splits the ECAC and HEA into different echelons to try to explain ECAC's
recent success over HEA teams.  The problem with that is that everybody has
their own ideas about which teams should be in which category(obviously, it's
already started).  I think some of it is even more fundamental than just
these two conferences and I think you'll start to see more parity everywhere
in the future.  This of course will be good for college hockey, but will take
some getting used to.  Here's how I see it.
 
Hockey in general has been getting much more popular lately.  NHL coverage is
up, college hockey coverage is getting A LOT easier to find(a big thank you
to everyone who takes the time to post recaps and scores here and elsewhere),
and the club leagues are also getting more popular.  In the Orono area at
least, there are now many more people playing hockey than there ever used to
be.  Tons of kids have been joining leagues for the last few years(at least
in the US, Sports Illustrated reported in their Dec 23 issue(pg 18) that
there are now more registered soccer players than hockey players in Canada-
go figure).  There is just a lot more talent to choose from now.  Kids have
just had more access to hockey in the recent past, and now they can play at a
higher level.
 
When you couple the increased talent pool with an increase in schools out
there willing to invest in a good hockey program- you start to see results.
 I don't just mean investments like new rinks, but also longer coaching
contracts and just the schools' recognition that there's more to college
sports than just football and basketball.  There's more interest in hockey
now, so there's money to be made.  It makes sense to boost the program- this
has started paying off for more and more schools- I think you'll see even
more parity in the future as this continues to happen.
 
There's also a shift in recruiting as this all happens.  The big name schools
will continue to have it easier- but I bet we can all name at least one or
two REALLY good players on squads that aren't known for great hockey.  A good
scoring or defensive line can determine games- not all of them, but maybe
enough to make a difference.  Most teams will be able to generate at least a
few wins now each season.  Recruiting battles for the stars might start to
get ugly, but at least there's the mighty NCAA looking out for everyone.
 
There's also the loss of players from Maine as we deal with the probation.
 We still got some great players- but how many more could we have had?  The
players went elsewhere.  I wonder how many young successes out there were
looking seriously at Maine before the bomb dropped.  I'm not dumb enough to
think that one school is going to make a difference in the overall power of
conferences, but I'm just trying to show possible examples.  Things like this
probably make a big difference to young players looking for a school to call
home for four years.  Maybe they turned to a smaller school.  Example- Brad
Mahoney(F, now w/ Northeastern) was on the fourth line at Maine.  He probably
could have made it up to the second line in a few years, but he probably
wouldn't have got the ice time he deserved at Maine.  Now that he's at
Northeastern, he's one of their better players who can really help the
program.  He'll certainly see more time on the ice and he's become an impact
player.  If given a choice, lots of people would rather be a starter on a
team they can improve than get only 8-9 minutes on a team they won't really
be able to do much on until their senior year.
 
I haven't really used numbers or anything(because I don't have them at the
moment), but in this case, I don't think numbers will help.  There are still
going to be teams that win most of their games(BU, Michigan, etc...), but the
number of teams able to compete is going to skyrocket.  I don't think it
makes a difference what league, you're in- almost every team will have a
chance to pull off an upset during a game.  You couldn't say that before.
 It's good for college hockey that you can start to say it now.
 
Rob Grover
UMaine 1996
Go Bears!!!!!!
 
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