WCHA Recruiting Paying Dividends.
(Left) Engelstad Arena
Grand Forks, ND
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Adam Woton from College Hockey News.com has a few theories on WCHA recruiting domination ranging from new arenas to Global Warming. He mentioned perhaps the brightest star in the WCHA constellation, the abundance of great young coaches at every program.
"Last week, we talked about the fact that only Boston College was a lock in Hockey East to make the NCAAs, which is hard to believe since we're only seven years removed from HEA having three teams in the Frozen Four. There's a lot of talk about the reasons for this, most of which come down to the WCHA improving its facilities and coaching in the last 10 years or so.
Adam Woton from College Hockey News.com has a few theories on WCHA recruiting domination ranging from new arenas to Global Warming. He mentioned perhaps the brightest star in the WCHA constellation, the abundance of great young coaches at every program.
"Last week, we talked about the fact that only Boston College was a lock in Hockey East to make the NCAAs, which is hard to believe since we're only seven years removed from HEA having three teams in the Frozen Four. There's a lot of talk about the reasons for this, most of which come down to the WCHA improving its facilities and coaching in the last 10 years or so.
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But one thing that is overlooked is the quality of youth players. According to a couple of Hockey East coaches, for some reason, New England is simply not producing as many blue chip kids anymore. This will take some more investigating to determine whether this is valid, and if so, why. But note, for example, that Wisconsin now has 13 players on its roster from the state of Wisconsin. And we all know about Minnesota. Plus Colorado is booming in production. The Western schools have an advantage in geography.
But one thing that is overlooked is the quality of youth players. According to a couple of Hockey East coaches, for some reason, New England is simply not producing as many blue chip kids anymore. This will take some more investigating to determine whether this is valid, and if so, why. But note, for example, that Wisconsin now has 13 players on its roster from the state of Wisconsin. And we all know about Minnesota. Plus Colorado is booming in production. The Western schools have an advantage in geography.
Perhaps we can blame it on Global Warming. I'm fond of blaming that for a lot of things. You got warts? "Global Warming." The Red Sox win the World Series? "Must be Global Warming." ... But in this case, the warmer temps in New England over the last 20 years means less pond hockey. It could be a factor."
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