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The Miracle OFF Ice


hf101

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This is an good read on the history of  how the USA has developed their program into a hockey power.

http://grantland.com/features/miracle-off-ice/

 

The NHL expanded in recent decades to build a broadcast footprint that would cover most of the U.S. In ways that have often been hard to see, the NHL has also created an appetite for hockey among a seemingly modest number of kids. The result is startling.
 
More kids in Canada play hockey than in any other country in the world. More kids in the U.S. play hockey than in all the other countries in the world — Russia, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, etc. — combined. There are more indoor arenas in Canada than anywhere else. There are more indoor arenas in the U.S. than in Russia, Sweden, Finland, and the Czech Republic combined.
 
Just a few years ago, more kids were playing hockey in Ontario than in any other province or state, by far.7 Quebec was next. But in the U.S., more kids were playing in New York than in Massachusetts; almost as many were playing in Michigan as in Minnesota; and more played in each of these four states than in British Columbia. More kids were playing hockey in Pennsylvania than in Saskatchewan or Manitoba; in California or New Jersey than in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. More kids were playing in Texas than in Newfoundland.
 
The changes in hockey in the past 40 years have been immense. The number of teams, the money, the off-ice, year-round training. But no change has been greater than in the rise of U.S. hockey.

 

 

 

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@hf101  That raw data is impressive. It may be a tad oversimplified, but lot's of kids interested and playing most certainly translates into championships. The infrastructure was already in place, but John Carlson's rocket of a World Jr winner did a LOT for the USA's world standing, and will continue to do so. I believe the US started to make real strides when the U.S Developmental League took hold and really took off. This gave them a avenue to hone the skills of the top 1% of the elite kids and brought the skill level on par with Canada.

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@hf101

 

 I kind of lol'ed at more people playing in Texas than Newfoundland. If you've ever been there you'd get the joke...largest city is about 130,000 followed by 30,000. Not much money there other than in St. Johns...since the fisheries closed there's a whole lot of outpost fishing villages that are quickly turning to ghost towns. And fishing villages are what The Rock is made up of. The next generation is getting out of Dodge.

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@hf101

 

 I kind of lol'ed at more people playing in Texas than Newfoundland. If you've ever been there you'd get the joke...largest city is about 130,000 followed by 30,000. Not much money there other than in St. Johns...since the fisheries closed there's a whole lot of outpost fishing villages that are quickly turning to ghost towns. And fishing villages are what The Rock is made up of. The next generation is getting out of Dodge.

Same with NB and NS. Here is NB we have about 750,000 people in the entire province. Biggest city is about 165,000. So, yeah, to compare New Jersey and California to NB and NS is some serious cherry picking.

In a surprising bit of trivia, the median income in St. John's is $75,000.

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