-----Original Message-----
From: Satow, Clay <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, February 10, 2000 8:01 AM
Subject: Re: distance matrices
 
 
 
>Interesting point.  I can't speak for the west, and can't even generalize
>about the east, but I know of at least one -- me -- follower of college
>hockey generally rather than fan of one team specifically.  One factor that
>affects this is that high school hockey is big and concentrated, and many
of
>the players (e.g. Bellefeuille, Mottau, Corrazini, Jim Fahey, Brian
Collins,
>Kevin Truelson, Mike Ryan, etc.) had achieved local notoriety BEFORE they
>went to college.  Fans who come to college hockey from the high school
>direction are likely to have shifting attachments to college teams.
 
One difference here is that a lot of western schools are in locations where
youth hockey never generates much presence.  Outside of Minnesota, anything
like this is a recent development.  Growing up in Ann Arbor, the only thing
I knew about youth hockey was that a couple of the Pioneer High team members
were in classes with me.  Combined with the fact that, in the WCHA at least,
you're really going to get coverage of one team, as none of the others could
really be described as local, there is less push to become a general college
hockey fan rather than a follower of a specific team.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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