It didn't take long for Frank Mazzoco of "Minnesota" Sports Channel to
bring up the old bugaboo about Canadians in US college hockey.  He
commented in praising BU's performance last night that BU now has a only a
couple of Canadians on thier team which is different than in prior years.
He went on to add that most of thier players are from Massachusetts.
 
While factually all of this is correct I don't think there is any
principle involved.  It is probably more correct to say that those
Canadian players of the past established the BU program to the extent that
they have an easier time recruiting locally so don't need to be so far
flung in their search for players.
 
What really disturbed me was the necessity of saying that there was no
need to go to Canada for players anymore in the wake of the World Cup of
Hockey.  I think the consensus on this list was that the first team the US
can come up with is as good or better than anyone but if there was a
second team Canada would have been better.  There is still, I believe,
more talent up here.  This is because, contrary to the impression one
might get reading HOCKEY-L, hockey is a niche sport in the US and for
every Mike Grier who might have played another sport and chose hockey,
there are many more talented athletes in the US who may have been (or are)
great hockey players who choose to play other sports.  Hockey is and for
the forseeable future will be the sport of choice in Canada.
 
I'm not seeking to have the last word on this (and who would give it to me
:-)) but there are plenty of discussions about the Minnesota obsession
with native players defined even more narrowly than nationality in the
archives.
 
I know Frank Mazzoco reads this list and he is a good announcer, but I was
disappointed in what I hope were  ill thought out off the cuff comments.
 
Arthur Berman [log in to unmask]
GO BU!!! GO ICE!!! GO GOLDEN BEARS!!!
 
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