Some random replies to Mark Middagh's random questions:
 
>1) An Olympic follow-up:  During the CBS broadcast of the gold
>medal game between Canada and the Unified Team, some Canadian
>players were profiled against a map of the U.S., showing cities
>in Minnesota, and I believe, Massachusetts.  Was that an
>indication of their current residence?
 
This one I'll pass on.
 
>2)  Given that the western provinces of Canada have provided such
>a wealth of talent in NC$$ college hockey, why haven't more
>universities in the U.S. Pacific Northwest (excluding Alaska)
>developed hockey programs of their own?
 
As a former westerner, I feel confident about this reply:  hockey
has simply never caught on in the Pacific Northwest ... in fact,
not in the west at all.  Yes, there have been a few club or
varsity teams, and the WHL plays in Seattle and Portland, but
that's all.  I suspect the major reason is the mild winter
season.  No natural ice, very few rinks, and for the most part an
absence of youth hockey groups in the major population centers.
(The strongest youth hockey organizations in the NW tend to be at
inland towns -- with relatively small populations.)  Even in
Alaska, hockey has only been a "major" sport since about the
mid-1970's.
 
>3)  A cynical question that I haven't seen asked. Colleges are
>very defensive these days about the number of basketball and
>football athletes they actually graduate.  Yet I've seen no such
>moralizing for college hockey.  What kind of graduation rate are
>we talking about here?  Yeah, I know there are exceptions, but
>overall I have a sense that college hockey may be equally guilty
>of being primarily a talent pool for the pros. Anybody have any
>data on graduation rates for hockey players?
 
We'll all get the definitive answer to this next year, when NCAA
institutions have to publish graduation rates for their athletic
programs.  Based on my own experience at a number of hockey
schools, on the whole I think we'll find that hockey players
graduate at a better rate than football/men's basketball, but not
quite as good as other "minor" team sports.  Needless to say,
Division III hockey does much better at this than Division I.
Part of the problem is that the NHL has no reservations about
signing a sophomore or junior (baseball does the same thing...).
Another part pertains more to Canadians playing in American
college programs; they don't have quite as strong a cultural
imperative to "get your degree" before trying for the pros.
 
BTW:  we haven't seen the "moralizing for college hockey" because
it's a regional rather than national sport, and it does not
involve the kinds of $$ (for both colleges and the pros) that
football/basketball do.
 
Steve Roth
Canisius College
ROTH@CANISIUS