--- [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Well, there is a third level of amateur hockey: high school. At least
> in Minnesota, there is so big as to not allow any junior hockey to
> survive (no USHL team in Minnesota except Rochester, and their demise
> has been repeatedly predicted). and what is called junior hockey in
> the US is nothing more than high school or prep school level of
> hockey. From junior hockey, every participant is hoping to go on to
> college hockey.

Interesting point.  I think that one of the problems in Massachusetts
is that many high schools either don't have hockey or don't have it at
a level to challenge the best players.  The result is that, in the
past, the better players have gravitated to the prep schools and to a
few powerhouse parochial schools.  The emergence of juniors has allowed
another outlet for the more skilled players who don't want to, or
aren't able to, attend a prep school or one of the high powered
parochial schools.  The problem, of course, is that now even more of
the more highly skilled players are siphoned away from the high
schools.

>
> In the US, only baseball with its triple A to single A structure and
> business-community support can be compared to junior hockey in
> Canada.

Interesting parallel, especially up until the '50s maybe, minor league
baseball teams in the US served a quite similar role in small US towns,
as hockey serves in small towns in Canada.  Baseball also lacks the
college dominance of say, American football and basketball.  US hockey
is kind of a unique situation; American football and basketball have no
real equivalent to juniors.

Clay

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