Mark Gibbons writes:
>If all the D-1 schools in MA. followed the same idea would there be a huge
>increase in HS hockey with its attending improved pool to drwa from?
 
IMO, no.  It isn't going to get much bigger than it is already.  The
schools that can afford HS hockey have it, and those that cannot, have
dropped it or are close to dropping it and I doubt they will pick it
up again.
 
It's also a sad fact that HS hockey in MA and indeed, New England, is
experiencing a massive change wherein the number of "haves" is
decreasing and the number of "have-nots" is probably going to rise.
HS hockey used to be dominated by the publics.  Then the Catholics
took over and as private schools, they were able to funnel more money
into the sport and draw players from surrounding towns as well as the
one the school was located in.  The Catholics started blowing out the
publics and in fact, I believe it has been something like 16 years or
more since a public has won the state title.
 
Now, it seems that more and more kids are going right to private
schools (i.e. prep), which do not compete in the Mass state tourney.
Those schools have even more money than the Catholics and are getting
more and more of the good players.  IMO, only a handful of Mass HS
teams (i.e. Catholic or public) are outstanding any more, while the
number used to be dozens when the state tourney was really
competitive.  It's almost like, if you don't play for CM, you go to
prep school.
 
Public schools are dropping hockey, meaning there are fewer and fewer
opportunities for average kids to play.  Towns have to cut their school
budgets, and when they come to the athletic budget, hockey is one of
the first to go because of the cost - especially if the team isn't
winning anymore.  So then you don't get to play HS hockey unless your
family has the bucks to send you to a $3-4000 a year Catholic school...or
a $15,000 a year prep school.
 
Check the number of MA kids going to play in DivI from a public (i.e.
free) HS...nowhere near as many as there used to be.
 
>Hell
>if I know, but given the pressures on coaches to win, it would be unfair to
>expect any to stick his neck out to find out (Ma already does a good job of
>developing VERY good players, would this make more?  some folks think the
>broad base in Mn lowers the top 10%).
 
Boston College tried this.  It failed miserably once another school
(BU) started attracting good HS players consistently.  For many years
BC had the inside track on the best players in MA.  Once other
programs worked to start taking away some of those players, look what
happened to BC.
 
It has nothing to do with a coach sticking his neck out to find out.
It is the simple fact that because of the extraordinary amount of
colleges all converging upon the area for the same bunch of players,
it is not possible to follow the same policy as Minnesota does unless
you decide you wish to drop your program down.
 
I wonder what would happen if the MA situation could be transplanted
to Minnesota.  Add another dozen or so DivI schools to the state, good
schools with a lot to offer - some more than the U of Minnesota can
offer.  The Gophers go downhill like BC did as these other schools
each steal away a blue-chipper or two.  The Gophers finish 5th in the
WCHA one year, second last the next, third last the next.  How long
would it take before people started saying that the policy was
outdated and wouldn't work anymore?
 
Let's be honest...Gopher fans love the fact that the Gophers are made
up of hometown kids who they watched develop through youth hockey and
HS.  That is great, and they have a right to enjoy that.
 
They also love the fact that the Gophers WIN.  If the Gophers started
losing heavily and consistently while maintaining the in-state policy
(not just a short streak at the start of the year - let's say 3-4 years),
I believe that a significant number of Gopher fans would start to
support a change.
 
>I wish all college sports could
>only recruit from their state(I KNOW THAT IS NOT REASONABLE) only becasue I
>don't like what recruiting does to the kids, coaches & boosters.
 
Well, I believe that it is dishonest people who cause those problems,
not the act of recruiting itself.  There are horror stories and there
are good ones.  The good ones don't get publicized because no one cares.
It doesn't make for good copy.
 
I wonder if there is a fundamental difference in attitude between people
who follow Western teams and those who follow Eastern teams.  Most
Western schools are state universities.  But of the 22 major Eastern DivI
teams (12 ECAC + 9 HE + Army), 17 are private institutions.  5 of the 7
Massachusetts DivI teams are private schools.  People tend to believe
that state schools should help state kids first (admit them, give them
aid, ..., let them play hockey).  That attitude doesn't always exist
with private schools, although as I said, I have heard a few Merrimack
followers complain about the lack of local players.
 
>PROPOSED:
>we make a FAQ which would include many things including: what the heck SKI-U-
>MAH means, who the heck the ogre is/was/can be & long disertations on the pros
>and cons of Mn. only recruiting.  Then everyone on the list has to promise
>never to bring any of those subjects on the list ever again (under threat of
>hockey-l death).  No more woof, no more whine, no more in-your-face (for
>or against)Mn's recruiting practices.
 
Boy, I sure thought some of the posts made during the Maine situation
were a lot more damaging and worse than a silly parody like the one Dave H
wrote.  I guess it is all relative, though.
 
I wish Minnesota folks didn't take all of these comments as seriously
and perhaps wrongly as they did.  I don't believe any of the comments
posted after Pam's "woof" were denigrating to the Gophers nor meant to
be such (nor did I have a problem with the woof either).  It was kind of
ridiculous to read about the replies Dave said he got to his humorous
post, such as "keeping it off the network".  I'll stand behind him 100%.
It was a funny post, it made fun of the same writers and fans I went
after in my post, and that was it.  It seems amusing that to some
Minnesota people, the woof was okay but Dave's post was not.  Oh well.
---                                                                 ---
Mike Machnik                                          [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                  *HMM* 11/13/93