1. Maine
2. At least one of the teams playing the game I'm watching
3. College Hockey

Tid bits...

* Hockey-L was originally known as "College_Hockey".  It was created by
  Mike Machnik and an energized crew of 30 or so college hockey super
fans that wanted to know more about other teams and other leagues.
There was no USCHO.com and little or no national college hockey media.

* In April of 1990, the group moved to Hockey-L.  Bill Fenwick and I
each offered the facilities to host the list, and I lost out. ;-)  I
still own the list and, for some time now, Bill Fenwick has managed the
day to day operations.

There was an incredible push from the core group to get "representation"
from all D-I teams, to encourage a love affair with college hockey, not
just team allegiance, and to write, write, write. It was an
entreprenurial experience, with excellent results.

* Over the next several years Hockey-L readership grew to 2000+.  We'd
have 50, 75 or even 100 posts per day.  The huge volume caused
significant stress, as it became difficult to attract the casual fan and
keep the busy college hockey hobbyists and professionals from overload.
  Although most SIDs, ADs and coaches came to know of Hockey-L, very few
contributed, as electronic information was really in its infancy.

Hockey-L was and is a fan group, but over the years has been read by a
number of people (NCAA, coaches, administrators, player parents and to a
lesser extent media and players) that might surprise you.  I don't know
how many times I've winced as I read some idiot's diatribe, knowing the
object of the rant, or their parents, would be reading the garbage. :-(

* During this time, we adjusted, not always smoothly, from the small
family of college hockey die hards with everyone contributing to a more
typical group with about 10% doing most of the work.  Many excellent new
contributors came on board, but also a number of idiots made their
presence known.  But if you're reading this, I'm happy to report you
out-lasted the idiots (no small feat)!

* As many of our better writers moved on to other opportunities (often
getting paid for their work!), Hockey-L lost some of its luster, IMHO. I
was spending 2 hours per day operating/promoting Hockey-L, and others
were spending more time.  USCHO.com was formed and gave us a national
look in a most professional manner.  We were scared that the economics
would force USCHO.com soon out of business, but were happily proven
wrong.  I hope one of more of the USCHO principals will soon write about
those early years!

* With the excellent news, standings, etc., on USCHO.com, much of the
need of Hockey-L dissappated.  The mindless rants left their unwelcome
home of Hockey-L for the USCHO.com Message Board, and Hockey-L became
much less important to most college hockey fans.  Local team message
board and mailing lists have also contributed to the decline of Hockey-L
readership and participation.

* (I'm leaving out many, many things from this "history".  A few that
come to mind are Info-Hockey-L, Hockey3, Hockey-L dinners and buttons
and clothing, and the many friendships and acquaintances made over the
years).  Maybe others would care to contribute?

> How about if someone analyzes the percentages? e.g if everything were
> equal, we would expect 12/58 or about 20% of the folks from the ECAC...

In the very early years we asked people to make a team allegiance
statement, but dropped it fairly early on.  Our emphasis would be on the
national level, good will and cooperation.  College_Hockey and Hockey-L
early years representation was clearly dominated by several computer
literate and well networked schools such as RPI, Minnesota, Cornell and
Maine.  These and several other schools (BU, UNH, MSU, Michigan come to
mind) with significant Hockey-L participation also had a large fan base.

As it's been many years since we've actively recruited participants to
Hockey-L, I'm not sure what any characterization by team or league or
region would be or mean.

Anyway, thanks for participating!  It's good to hear from so many folks.

cheers, wayne
--
Wayne T Smith -- [log in to unmask] -- Owner, [log in to unmask]