Paul Gentile wrote:
 
> A recent study shows that out of all the players making the NHL, the skill
> set of the college player( and the European )  is greater than the junior
> player. The statistics show that the college players are playing more
> games than ever and the juniors are at an all-time low (only 55%). It also
> shows the college players score more pts per game on the average and
> accrue significantly less penalty minutes.
 
Now who's making a mistake in analysis!  I, too, read the CCHA release,
but did NOT come away with the conclusion that the skill set of the
college player is greater then the junior player.  I exchanged some
e-mail with CCHA Assistant Commissioner Jeff Weiss about the study, and
never got good answers to some of my questions.  How were these numbers
calculated?  Were goalies included in the scoring averages?  I can think
of some potent former collegian forwards (i.e., Tkachuk, Kariya, Hull,
LeClair) who would inflate the average scoring numbers when you're
working with a relatively small pool of total players.
 
Even with these questions, the collegians only "outscored" the juniors
by a miniscule .04 points per game.  I thought the more interesting stat
was how far ahead of everybody in PPG the European players were at .51
-- a full tenth of a point higher than the collegians!
 
I agree that the college game is a purer form of the sport than the
hockey played in either the NHL or the juniors, but I always hesitate to
read too much into stats like these.  I did a story on the CCHA release
for my own site -- you can read the whole thing at
http://colicehockey.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa070297.htm if you're
not already tired of my rambling!
 
Steve Harbula
Mining Company College Ice Hockey Guide
http://colicehockey.miningco.com
 
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