Well, it may be trivial, but it is interesting.  It doesn't look (just eyeballing it) that there is much relationship between overall quality of the program and distance players travel to get there.  IOW, its not like recruiting from a long ways off is giving people much of an edge.  Not surprisingly, Minnesota is almost at the bottom of the list and Alaska at the top - for fairly obvious reasons, I think.  But some of the others are - why is Rensselaer so high, just as an example?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Griebel [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 9:54 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: What's your recruiting radius?
>
>
> Chasing again after the annual Hockey-L Useless Information Award, I
> computed how far Division I colleges went to get this year's hockey
> players.  Alaska-Anchorage brings Seawolves an average of 1,794 miles
> from their hometowns, eleven times as far as Canisius.
>
> The D1 player who traveled farthest, 5,479 miles, is Colorado
> College's
> Peter Sejna from Liptovski Mikulas, Slovakia.  Anchorage could attract
> five players from the Czech Republic because it's just a
> short hop over
> the North Pole, less than 4,800 miles.
>
> Ohio State couldn't find anyone within 150 miles.
>
> Bob Griebel
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> MILES FROM PLAYERS' HOMETOWNS TO COLLEGE ARENA:
> Team                 Total    Avg    Min    Max  Roster
> Alaska-Anchorage     50,258  1,794     4   4,772   28
> Alaska-Fairbanks     37,122  1,427     1   2,249   26
> Rensselaer           35,549  1,367     1   4,286   26
> Quinnipiac           33,908  1,304    20   2,661   26
> Colorado College     31,820  1,272     5   5,479   25
> Iona                 31,620  1,264    16   2,445   25
> Alabama-Huntsville   33,295  1,233     1   4,930   27
> Mass Lowell          33,133  1,227    12   3,736   27
> Sacred Heart         31,932  1,182     2   3,635   27
> Denver               27,147  1,085     3   5,204   25
> Nebraska-Omaha       28,516  1,056     4   2,600   27
> Boston Univ          27,132  1,004     5   4,104   27
> Dartmouth            27,060  1,002    88   3,251   27
> Air Force            27,723    990    49   2,422   28
> Maine                27,126    968     8   3,840   28
> Brown                28,503    950    33   3,264   30
> Ohio State           23,610    874   151   3,096   27
> Bowling Green        22,663    871     1   1,951   26
> New Hampshire        22,185    821    32   2,598   27
> Findlay              21,323    820    42   4,285   26
> Cornell              22,133    819    45   3,902   27
> Princeton            22,529    804     5   2,406   28
> Bemidji State        20,180    776    70   4,196   26
> Northern Michigan    22,931    764     0   4,052   30
> Providence           18,934    728     4   2,680   26
> Michigan Tech        22,558    727     1   4,281   31
> Wayne State          19,189    685     4   4,952   28
> Lake Superior State  17,469    671     2   2,001   26
> Harvard              16,490    659     2   2,480   25
> Boston College       16,950    651     4   3,924   26
> Wisconsin            15,128    605     0   4,704   25
> American Int'l       14,505    580    10   2,499   25
> Michigan State       14,720    566    10   1,877   26
> Union                16,339    563    13   2,393   29
> St Cloud             17,407    561    46   4,770   31
> Michigan             14,444    555     1   2,952   26
> Western Michigan     14,834    549    61   1,846   27
> Notre Dame           14,234    547    79   2,899   26
> Niagara              14,725    545     3   4,027   27
> Mercyhurst           13,543    541     1   2,996   25
> Merrimack            13,287    531     2   4,084   25
> St Lawrence          15,342    529     1   4,105   29
> Northeastern         15,299    527     6   2,090   29
> Ferris State         13,229    508     1   1,857   26
> Yale                 14,059    502    19   2,048   28
> Connecticut          14,907    496    43   2,229   30
> Miami                12,691    470     1   1,983   27
> Colgate              11,271    450   122   2,077   25
> Minn State-Mankato   11,566    444    55   1,256   26
> North Dakota         10,331    430     1   2,274   24
> Minnesota Duluth     11,550    427     1   2,445   27
> Army                 10,662    380    22   2,001   28
> Massachusetts        10,787    359    13   4,060   30
> Clarkson              9,545    353    34   3,763   27
> Vermont              10,045    346     4   2,186   29
> Holy Cross            9,961    332    15   3,336   30
> Fairfield             9,682    322     7   1,408   30
> Minnesota             8,146    290     2   4,744   28
> Bentley               8,162    281    12   1,113   29
> Canisius              4,354    161     2   1,240   27
>
>
> FOOTNOTES:
> - Rosters and hometowns are from the USCHO website.
> - Distances are straight-line from published coordinates for hometown
> locations to coordinates of University's rink.
> - Two players from 150 Mile House, BC, may not find their
> homes because
> those coordinates aren't published anywhere.
>
> Some sites for geographic coordinates for place names:
> United States:
>   "U.S. Gazetteer" ...  http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer
>   Files for downloading ...
> http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/places2k.html
> Canada:
>   "Welcome to Canadian geographical names" ...
> http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/english/
> World:
>   "Names Files of Selected Countries" ...
> http://164.214.2.59/gns/html/cntry_files.html
>   "Geonames Query Home Page" ...
> http://gnpswww.nima.mil/geonames/GNS/index.jsp
> Arizona State University's links to "Place Names on the Internet":
> http://www.asu.edu/lib/hayden/govdocs/maps/geogname.htm
>
> If anyone wants formulas for computing great circle distances
> from Point
> 1 to Point 2 using longitude and latitude, email me.  I used them in
> Excel and Access and would be glad to share.
>