Satow, Clay wrote:
 
> I have a different impression of Minnesota.  Since my impression has been
> formed from a distance, it may be all wrong, and I'd appreciate feedback
> from Minnesotans.  In Minnesota, I have the feeling that the strongest
> programs are the public schools.  So there's a much closer link between the
> community and the school hockey teams.  The hockey team is an important part
> of the local culture.  The communities, not just the schools, think of "our"
> hockey team.  I think an interesting parallel may be with Indiana and
> basketball, as exemplified in the movie "Hoosiers."
 
I'd have to say, yes and no.  When hockey was dominated by the urban and rural
schools, I think this was very much the case.  It still is in the rural ones;
hockey is dying in most of the Mpls/St Paul high schools.  The suburban Twin
Cities schools have increasingly come to be the major powers, and like suburbs
everywhere, they tend to have less community feeling in general.  My impression
is that this has been more true in Minnesota, probably because it doesn't have
many suburbs that are long-standing towns that have some of their old character
in the way that Arlington is in Boston.  If anyone can actually tell the
difference between Minnetonka, Edina or Apple Valley, I'd be pretty surprised.
I doubt that any of these "towns" has its own paper that's read by more than 25
people.  In the few cases where there is a older suburb where they play hockey
(South St. Paul is the only one that comes to mind), there is quite a bit of
community loyalty.
 
> I think that if there is only one "our" university, there is pressure on the
> in-state heroes to go to that university, and for that university to recruit
> from "our" high schools.  In Minnesota there is -- I think some would argue
> was --  one dominant "our" university.
 
Based strictly on size, there is still one dominant university in Minnesota;
UMTC is almost an order of magnitude bigger than any other campus (measured by
number of students) in the state.  It still gets far more state-wide media
coverage than any of the others and, given the general population distribution,
is probably also the closest university for most of the population.  I suspect
that the "U" will always be able to get a disproportionate share of the in-state
players that it wants.  Whether that's enough to win with these days is a
different question.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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