>May I remind you that backyards freeze in Canada - they do not in >most of
 
>the US.
 
Minnesota's are frozen! Every community has a minimum of 2 in-door arenas!
Yet, at this point in time MN is experiencing a decline in player caliber,
despite plentiful ice. No ice doesn't wash! Ryan Murphy of Bowling Green
played with my son in LA when they were mites and squirts. Ice was something
that was expensive and or a 3 hour trip away. They played stick hockey on the
street. Even way back then, though Murph was not a great skater, he had real
finesse and a forward's offensive abilities. Tell me, talent is natural! Of
course, you could say some of that talent was inherited via Dad! There you
have it again: it's in the genes or it's not! Brother, Sean hasn't fared as
well! Both great boys with another Murph coming up in the ranks, maybe!
 
 
>I think this goes without saying ... but once again, the rinks >have to be
 
>there.
 
No, the burning desire has to be there and a stick and a puck and a dream!
 
 
 
>I don't agree a star is a star - they have to been afforded the >opportunity
 
>to develop their skill.  If Wayne Gretzky hadn't laced up skates >until he
 
>was 14, we wouldn't know who he was.
>But those opportunities weren't there - and they still aren't - >though it's
 
>getting better.
 
Of course, it's also fate, luck and all those elusive commodities we don't
understand that combine to make a STAR! But, I believe it's mostly raw
talent....first!
 
 
>You make it sound like a conspiracy - they're bigger, better and >faster ...
 
>If a US player that heads to Europe were as good as Jagr, he >wouldn't go to
 
>Europe. Pretty simple.
 
It's not that simple! It has lots to do with the way the NHL is recruiting
right now; Europeans are shoved into a draft spot and Americans are yanked!
Jagr is the ultimate exception!
 
Certainly, youth hockey is bounding in the USA! Kids in the deep south are
becoming CHL fans and creating their own clubs. NHL expansion in Nashville and
Carolina will spawn Southern interest in ice hockey. Texas, and Oklahoma and
the mid-western states are becoming more involved in ice hockey. In time the
USA, with all its resources should be a real contender.
 
 
Vicki Price
violentcontact.net
Concussion Free Zone
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.