On Nov 16, 11:09am, Dave Hendrickson wrote:
> That said, can smaller
> schools attract sufficient talent to compete for a championship?  I think
they
> can.  Aside from UML in 1994, what about LSSU?  Isn't that a small school in
> the backwaters?  I may have an incorrect assumption about Lake State, but I'm
> not sure that their school minus the hockey team offers much more (or less)
> than UML minus the hockey.  If you can build a hockey tradition of excellence
> (obviously a big if) it can be done.
>-- End of excerpt from Dave Hendrickson
 
For starters, LSSU and Sault Ste. Marie are definitely "out of the way".
In fact, the only way you could mistakenly go through the Soo on your way
somewhere else is if you were headed to Canada or on an ore freighter
going through the locks.  And with a student body population of around
3300, LSSU certainly qualifies as small. This, of course, is not meant as
a slam on either the university or the city.  I love them both and have
thoroughly enjoyed the time I've spent there, both before and after
graduation.
 
But I have often felt, without any way of really knowing, that it must be
difficult for a small, stated-funded university to compete for recruits
with larger, wealthier, bigger name institutions.  Obviously, by virtue of
the success of LSSU and many others, small schools can compete in Div. I
hockey.  My questions are what detriments do they face in competing
with larger schools off the ice?  What advantages do they have?  Is
their disadvantage as great or greater than that of private schools
(remember the earlier discussion about Brown and the ECAC)?
 
One of the things I love most about college hockey is that small schools
can compete with big schools.  Unlike football and basketball, hockey is
not owned by big money programs.  However, as the popularity of the sport
increases (as we all wish for) and TV contracts and arena capacities
start to figure into the equation, how long will this continue to be
the case?  Anybody?
 
 
 
 
--
Matt Wickey                                 LSSU '86
CIMLINC Inc.                                National Champs 88 92 94
[log in to unmask]                     Go LAKERS!
 
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