Robert J Constantine stated in part: >For my $.02 worth, I'd like to mention that I've been watching collegiate >hockey faithfully since 1966 (ho, ho, ho! Older than ol' St. Nick, I >guess!), and in my estimation, the skill levels of players in the >collegiate ranks has skyrocketed since the mid-70's or so. Whether these >players enter school to eventually advance to the NHL, or they just love >hockey and play hard despite being only 145 pounds soaking wet, the >collegiate forum for hockey stands on its own merit. College players >do *not* need NHL imprimaturs to feel that they have accomplished >something positive and rewarding when they don their school colors, and >glide out onto the pond to compete. I agree with this and would like to expand upon it. I have been watching the game since the same era. Beyond a doubt in the ten years that I was at RPI (64-74), the quality of players and play was constantly rising. This increase seems to have continued for more than a decade after I left. However, it seems to me that it either has reached a plateau or slightly decreased over the last few years. Now, part of my statement may be based upon my RPI-bias, as RPI's hockey team clearly reached a zenith in 1985, however I think that it is something more than that. I quoted earlier this week from an article in The Hockey News that stated that college hockey has been going down hill recently. This may or may not be true, and it may or not be important, As has been said, it is not the duty of the colleges to train people for the pros. What I think has happened is that the Major Junior A coaches in Canada finally woke up a a decade ago and realized that they had competition for the best players from Canada. (They always had competition for the best US players, but 30 years ago, this wasn't saying that much.) When they woke up, they started feeding those players who were good enough academically and athletically to consider playing Div-I the perceived negatives of playing in college, things like the fact that less games are played in Div-I than in the Major Junior leagues, the caliber of play is less (this point is debatable), etc. Some prospective student athletes have bought this and have gone the Major Junior A route. Thus perhaps a decrease in talent level. There have been so many changes over the years as to who is eligible to be drafted in the NHL draft that to count the college players that are drafted and say that the fact that the number of players drafted in one year is less than another means that the talent level is going down is ludicrous. Yes, only 6 players in college were drafted last year. This is probably mainly due to increased scouting of high schools, prep schools, the USHL, etc. Also, it seems to me that the incoming freshman has gradually been getting older -- more people are attending Prep School or going to the USHL for a year. Probably the main reason that fewer college players are being drafted is that for many years 18- year old Major Junior players could only be drafted in the first three rounds of the NHL draft. So the remaining rounds were filled with older players and those in or headed to college. In my opinion, to fill out their draft lists very marginal high school players were taken in the latter rounds of the NHL draft for many years. There were players at RPI (the only school that I really paid attention to before I found Hockey-L) who were drafted over the years who had in my opinion absolutely no chance at ever playing in the NHL, but they had been drafted and they added to the college-players-drafted-by-the-NHL total. I am sure that this was also the case for players at other colleges. This has changed. I cannot think of a drafted player at RPI in the last four years who did not have a chance to play in the NHL. Perhaps only an outside chance, but a chance. Ralph Baer RPI '68, '70, '74