State of U.S. Hockey Opinions Wanted

[Project824 0]

During the course of a year I deal with hockey players at nearly every level of today's game: Youth hockey players, both beginner and elite; true junior hockey players in legitimate leagues; college players NCAA DI through club; and professionals from the SPHL all the way up through first round draft picks.

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with your haves and have nots argument, but the title of the thread asks for opinions on the State of U.S. Hockey, so this is mine.

Aside from the very upper tier of amateur player (those kids playing college, Major Jr., USHL & NTDP), I believe U.S. hockey is extremely down in talent. Yes, there are a few more Americans going in the first round of the draft, and a few more kids taking NCAA roster spots from Canadians, but when it comes down to it, they are the very top 1% of American players. Regardless of seeing 15 more US born players in the draft, and 100 more playing Major Jr., that remains about 1% of all American hockey players.

Now take a look beyond what the headlines in USA Hockey Magazine show you:

The traditional hockey areas like Minnesota, Michigan, ND, New England are still producing the same amount of talents they used to. However, prep school hockey is not nearly what it used to be, with the emergence of dozens of junior leagues. The talent has been diluted, as has the talent at Midget AAA, Bantam AAA, and so on. Kids are now playing Jr. B, Jr. C, etc. at 14 and 15, cutting out an entire phase of development that Midget AAA would have offered. Kids that should have been playing Midget AA, or A, or even Bantam are now moved prematurely to AAA, because the team needs to fill a roster spot. It's a terrible spiral, because regardless of the label, the hockey is no better than it was before, most of the time it's worse, including Junior B and C. Even the second tier Junior A leagues, such as the NAHL, EJHL, and some of the provincial leagues in Canada have been watered down. The amount of true usable talent hasn't changed.

Somewhere along the way about 5-10 years ago, someone told parents and kids that you had to play junior hockey to make it to college or pro hockey. The problem with that was when those parents and kids realized that you don't just sign up for junior hockey like you do travel hockey. You had to actually be talented enough to play. The idea behind junior hockey of old was that you would play at 17-20, with the truly exceptional players able to play at 16; and NOT EVERYONE WAS SUPPOSED TO MAKE IT. When little Johnny didn't make team after team, Mommy and Daddy Moneybags decided to just make his own junior team and league. Repeat this cycle in about 30 states, with dozens and dozens of marginally talented kids, and you have the current mess of Junior B and C teams.

Even with hundreds of American kids now able to say they play "junior", the number of kids who will actually advance beyond will not change. What has changed is the actual talent level of the kid who has come up through amateur and possibly junior hockey in the US. Kids are behind their counterparts of 10 years ago in talent, skill, and understanding of the game.

I can't explain the exact reason for this, but I feel it has something to do with growth - USA Hockey's numbers have grown in the last few years, especially in nontraditional areas, but the number of qualified coaches has not. You can only learn what you are taught.

Another issue goes along with expansion - there are just too many teams, which amplifies the problem of not having enough talented coaches. USA Hockey needs to stop granting Junior hockey league charters.

*I will state that another problem is that the average kid as a whole is a lot less motivated than they have been in the past. They seem to feel entitled instead of feeling the motivation to earn something. This seems to be a problem that is not limited to hockey players.

It's great that numbers are growing in the nontraditional areas of the country, but until something is done about those two issues, we will advance only the top 1% of our players, while the average player will continue to become worse and worse.

[indaslot 0]

Very astute and informative analysis.We in Quebec live in a totally different hockey world, full of restrictions and beaurocracy.Even if some daddies could afford to create a rogue team(as some have tried)it would never take off.There is a growing interest in U.S.Prep hockey(largely among the anglophone population)but for most francophones,it is QMJHL or your hockey "career" is finished after Midget.

[mxihockey 0]

No Sullivan is at Cardigan.. Hid dad is still our coach though. Pretty much everyone on our team is new except me. Im #4 on d Blue helmet.

[Langenbrunner15 0]

Off topic a bit..Drisco, you aren't a goalie on the warriors are you?

[Fixxer 0]

Top 10% are you kidding me?

On a different note,If you are any good, the good teams will come to you.

There is nothing wrong with playing pick up and rec league hockey.