I sent the following article to rec.sport.hockey in reply to a comment
about the future of hockey in the US.  I thought it might interest some
people here.  Please don't hold me to details about the Mass. hockey
tourney that I talk about, it was all off the top of my head.  I'm sure it's
pretty accurate, though, and besides the message is what's important.
It would be interesting to hear about what is going on in other areas of
the country, and if some people from here have different views of Mass/NE
hockey, please jump in as well.
 
 
- mike
--posted article follows--
Subject: The future of hockey in the US
 
In article <[log in to unmask]>
 [log in to unmask] (Gerald Olchowy) writes:
>   Really, nobody before Lindros made much money from endorsements
>   in junior hockey either...that didn't stop Lindros.  You're
>   also forgetting the state of hockey in the U.S....it is conceivable,
>   if the NHL would ever gets its act together, that hockey could
>   experience a major breakthrough in the U.S. in the nineties.
 
Agreed.  Several key factors that could also play a part are:
 
o If USA wins the Canada Cup
o If USA wins the gold in Albertville
o Possible Cups by strong teams in Pittsburgh, LA, St Louis, Chicago
 
A Stanley Tour throughout these cities and others in the US just might
serve to make hockey more of a national sport here.  But unfortunately,
I'm about to paint a pretty bleak picture of hockey's future in the US.
 
The skyrocketing costs of playing the game in the US is a
significant problem that may prevent a breakthrough from ever happening.
I'm not sure how this is affecting things in Canada, but it is a serious
problem in New England as towns shut down their high school programs due to
budget deficits.  These are the places that have produced the Olympic and
college stars of the past decade.  Boston University coach Jack Parker,
who clearly knows a lot about NE hockey from recruiting, was quoted in the
Sporting News' Hockey Yearbook as saying that hockey is more and more of an
elite game now, even in Massachusetts.  The top players now come out of
prep/private/Catholic school programs instead of public high schools.
 
While the elite players are better now than they were ten years ago, there
are fewer kids overall playing hockey because of the costs of equipment and
ice time, and because not everyone can afford ~$15,000 a year to play at
Avon Old Farms.  AOF is in Connecticut, it produced Leetch & Janney who
went on to Boston College.  BC, as always, accepts only American players,
but it used to take *only* Massachusetts players and almost entirely public
school players.  Now BC recruits from other states and is about 95% prep
school players.  That's partly because more Division I schools are competing
with BC for players and because there are almost no public school players
to compete for.
 
In Massachusetts, a public school has not won the state Division I tourney
for almost *15* years.  Top players who can afford it pay their way to
Catholic or prep schools where the coaching is better, the competition is
better, and college/pro scouts concentrate their efforts.  Top players who
can't afford it, are in a tough situation, especially if their town
suddenly decides it can't/doesn't want to fund the high school hockey program
anymore!  This has happened in numerous Massachusetts suburbs this year
alone.
 
The disparity between the Catholics and publics in Mass. has reached a
point where the MIAA (Mass. Interscholastic Athletic Association) has been
trying for several years to find a way to improve the publics' chances of
winning the state title, but still keep the Catholics in it.  They've tried
reorganizing the schools based on enrollment (which knocked some Catholics,
most notably perennial powerhouse Matignon, down to Division II; Matignon
had won something like six straight Division I titles); then, reorganizing
the state tourney into two brackets and putting all Catholics into one
bracket, ensuring a public school would at least make the final (the publics
got hammered); then, keeping the brackets but splitting up the Catholics
among the brackets - and seeding them against each other so as to hope
they'd knock each other out (resulting in several years of all-Catholic
finals).
 
During this time, Division II Matignon, led by stars like current US Olympian
Shawn McEachern, was going undefeated for several years at a time and
winning state title after title.
 
Finally, the MIAA gave in and virtually recognized (without saying so much)
that the private schools have taken over hockey in Massachusetts.  1991 was
the first year of the "Super Eight" tournament - also known as "Division IA".
The top four Catholic and top four public schools in the state - regardless
of division - were named to this special double-elimination tourney
(regular tourney is single elimination).  The result?  The first day, the
four Catholics crushed the four publics, sending all four publics into the
losers' bracket and letting the Catholics fight it out amongst themselves.
Again, there was an all-Catholic final and again, a Catholic state champ.
 
Matignon was the only Division II team named and while it had its long
winning streak snapped in the tourney and didn't win it all, Matignon still
knocked off the public schools it did face along the way.
 
Lest you think I am sounding anti-Catholic, I was a member of a Catholic
high school team in the mid-80s.
 
The point is, while Massachusetts is still producing many of the top
American players today, even here hockey is not a game that the average
kid can pick up on and get involved in.  It is just not like baseball,
basketball, or football.  I don't see any reason to expect that this will
happen in any other areas of the country where hockey is not nearly as
popular, if it can't even happen here.
--
 == Mike Machnik                     Bull HN Information Systems Inc. ==
 == 508-294-2177                     300 Concord Road   MA30-819A     ==
 == [log in to unmask]        Billerica, MA 01821              ==