Stephen Bernhardt wrote: > The bottom line is if you try and attack the Gopher recruiting strategy > based on winning national titles you have NOTHING! My claim has never been that the Gophers would win more titles by dropping their recruiting policy. In fact, I think that, in the long run, it is at best a break even proposition in terms of wins and losses. My point is very simple: the underlying purpose of colleges and universities is to broaden horizons and promote cosmopolitanism (well, one of the main purposes). A philosophy of recruiting from a limited locale flies directly in the face of this. Spending several years with a few teammates from Massachusettes, or Alaska, or Ontario or (god forbid) Russia can only serve to provide a fuller educational experience than only dealing with people from no farther away than Warroad. > In closing, for those of you that are bothered by the Gophers ALL MINESOTA > recruiting policy get over it! Us fans of the program really, really, > really like it! Speak for yourself. I, and most of those I spend time with outside the list, are slightly embarrassed to be associated with a program that has such a narrow-minded, chauvanistic idea of its mission. >I follow all of the boys through youth and high school > hockey and LOVE to see their dreams come true when they slip on the Maroon > & Gold. Maybe it's time to open up and spend some time rooting for players from outside your own geographic area. J. Michael Neal HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.