I'd like to explore a different aspect of Minnesota hockey.
 
I look at the Minnesota roster, and the thing that strikes me is that
EVERYBODY  on the roster lists a home town in Minnesota.   I can't believe
that this is an accident.  Can someone more knowledgeable tell me if there
is a policy of only having Minnesota residents on the roster, and if so
whether it comes from the athletic department, the university, or somewhere
in the state government?
 
I grew up in Colorado, so the teams I followed  ('60s) were CC and DU, whose
teams were almost exclusively Canadian. Back then  I remember then that
Minnesota seemed to have an almost snobbish pride in being not only
exclusively American, but exclusively Minnesotan.  They could be competitive
then, because they pretty much had the pick of the litter in a hockey crazy
area.  But if they're still trying to do this, it seems to me that times
have changed enough that such a policy or practice might produce
consistently decent teams, but won't produce champions.
 
The University of Minnesota no longer seems to have the hold on local talent
that it once did.   They now have in-state D-1 competition, which I don't
think existed before.  Out-of-state schools now seem to land some of the
good Minnesota players.  Junior programs, once a basically Canadian
phenomenon, now exist in the US, and compete for talent.
 
I live in the Boston area now, and I know that BU and BC, for example,
recruit very hard locally, but also recruit out of the area.  The result is
that a significant portion of the team is local, but that important members
of the team are from elsewhere.  Without looking I'd guess the same is true
in other schools in hockey rich areas, such as Michigan.
 
I'd be interested in more background on Minnesota's -- in my opinion
anachronistic -- recruiting philosophy.
 
Clay
 
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