Patrick Tabb of the Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield, MA called my
attention to a recent article in the New York Times, "College Hockey Has a
Talent Glut, but Nowhere to Grow" by Gary Santaniello, March 23, 2017. It is
time to lay the problem on the table in regard to college hockey. According to
USA Hockey the number of players in the United States has increased by a
whopping 24% over the past 15 years, to about 543,000 players! Yet NCAA Research
has indicated that there are only 4,102 participants in Men's College Hockey.
Whereas other major sports have grown, what this shows is that colleges are not
offering enough opportunities for the fast growing sport of hockey in the United States. Santaniello likened it to musical chairs, where the number of players have
increased, but the chairs have not. This is a MAJOR problem in college sports.
There is high demand, but not opportunity.
Not Enough "Chairs" in College Hockey
What makes the problem even greater is that players from Canada and Europe
flock to the United States to play college hockey. The recent NHL Draft was
interesting and great to watch, but one should ask...Why so many players from
Europe in the NHL Draft? Oh, there are some great young players in Europe, but
nobody can tell me that they are that much better than those from North America
who deserve a chance to play in the NHL.
The net result of all this is shattered dreams. Shattered dreams since
those young players who are good enough and deserve to play college hockey in
the United States are NOT getting the opportunity to do so...not enough
"chairs". The way the current system works is that there are the real
outstanding players, the super stars, who are noticed and scouted from a very
early age. Then there are the thousands of very good young hockey
players who, it seems, are left to chance to get an opportunity to play college
hockey with not enough teams or open roster spots to do so. It is like a
roulette wheel for these players and their families, and we are talking about
very good players here. Junior Hockey is big in the United States and Canada,
and they seem to keep re-organizing themselves for greater opportunity and
positioning. Yet the end result of the problem is still the same...not enough
"chairs" to play college hockey.
It is time for the NCAA and for colleges to wake up to the reality of
HOCKEY in the United States. It is an extremely popular sport, with some very
good athletes waiting at the door. But when the music stops, there are no
"chairs"...only shattered dreams. Fix it!
Alfredo DiLascia
Image News Service
Sports News
Springfield / Chicopee MA
