The best kept secret in sports: Why everyone should watch the Frozen Four

[Blakey_Blue]

So I'm going to assume that unless you go to or are an alumni of a school
that's sending a team, most of you probably have no idea that the NCAA Hockey
playoffs start this weekend. College hockey has got to be the best kept secret
in all of sports. You really have no idea what you're...
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[JGAC]

Apparently it is a greatly kept secret, never really though of it.

When I think "college sports" I think football, and basketball.

Its sort of the lesser of college sports, like baseball is since its not really in too great of a focus.

[Blakey_Blue]

There are a comparitively small number of schools with D1 hockey programs. You have your Big Ten contingent (Michigan, MSU, OSU, UW, Minnesota) plus Notre Dame. You have the Northeast schools (BC, BU, Vermont, UNH, U-Mass, etc), the Ivies all have teams. Then there's the lesser known schools in the midwest (Minne-Duluth, North Dakota, St Cloud, Lake Superior, etc.) Plus a handful of MAAC schools, some super tiny liberal arts schools (mostly in the northeast like Niagara and Quinippiac) the two in Colorado (Colorado College and Denver U), and then the 4 randoms Alaska-Anchorage, Alaska-Fairbanks, Alabama-Huntsville, and Nebraska-Omaha...

So basically if you don't go to a school with a strong program or you didn't grow up with it, you probably wouldn't know it exists...

[Mike]

It really depends on what part of the country you live in. I mean in Hawaii, ice hockey is not at all important as much as Waves. In Texas it is beer and chewing tobbaco. BUT in places up north like where Blakey goes to school, well that is different. It is about the weather and the area guys!!!!!!!

[Blakey_Blue]

This is true, maybe it's the closer proximity to Canada (well except for the CO schools, but CO is just, well, awesome...can't quite figure out the teams in Nebraska and Huntsville...yes there is a team at Alabama-Huntsville)

[nyallsports]

Once again, this proves my point!! Hockey sucks

[Blakey_Blue]

Originally Posted by nyallsports

Once again, this proves my point!! Hockey sucks

What the hell do you know...jerk

[Ishkur]

I'd check it out, but this weekend I'm much more ecstatic that our local WHL squad (the Giants) handily defeated the legendary Kamloops Blazers 4 games to 1 to advance to the next round of the Memorial Cup, which is..........I'm sorry to say....vastly superior hockey.

It's strange....it's hard to explain really.......but hockey has always taken a slightly different route than the other major sports. Much like baseball, it isn't relegated to strictly educational institutions, and instead is fostered through community programs and organized minor leagues, starting as early as the age of 4. College hockey in Canada has always been seen as maybe single or double-AA calibre, mostly made up of players who are castoffs and cuts from AAA clubs riding a hockey scholarship, or players really determined to get an education and make it a higher priority than making it as a professional hockey player.

I imagine the sentiment in the States is the same. Getting into the College circuit is fine, but if you're serious about hockey you'd bolt from any University at the drop of a hat to play for the Portland Winterhawks or Tri-cities Americans.

Not to say it's bad hockey. It's probably a fun, exciting game, and there's nothing that comes close to the fervent rivalry between American Colleges in all competitions. But it simply does not compare to the might and calibre of the Canadian Junior Hockey system.

[Blakey_Blue]

I think you'd be suprised . For sure it's different and not taken as seriously as in Canada (at least by the general public). You get your fair share of guys who wouldn't make the junior system squads. But the upper echelon of players are every bit as good in my opinion. Keep in mind that the USA Junior Team that won the WJC's this year were almost entirely from the US college system (save maybe 3 or 4 guys including Ryan Kesler, who did play a year of NCAA for Ohio State, Patrick O'Sullivan who plays junior, and Wisniewski who I believe plays Junior as well, and Danny Richmond who bolted after his freshman year at Michigan to play for an OHL club). Jeff Tambellini (Steve Tambellini's son) was offered just this year the opportunity to play junior after his rights were acquired by Kelowna. He turned it down without hesitation to stay here at Michigan. Just for reference, some guys to come up through the college ranks: Marty Turco, Mike Knuble, Mike Comrie, Anson Carter, Rob Blake (did play at least 1 season for Bowling Green), Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards, Steve Sheilds, Brian Gionta, Chris Drury, Dany Heatly (played at Wisconsin before leaving early for the NHL), Brett Hull, Curtis Joseph, Brendan Morrison (played all 4 years I believe), Mike Komisarek, John Madden, Brian Rafalski, Steve Reinprecht...I could go on. Sure there's more history and more enthusiasm surrounding the Canadian Juniors, but I really think you'd be suprised at the quality of the college ranks.

[Blakey_Blue]

Ah! more plugs for NCAA

25-30% of the players in the NHL came out of college programs

1/3 of the starting lineup at this year's allstar game came out of the college system (Turco, Blake, St Louis, and Guerin)

Keith Tkachuck played on a line at Boston U with Tony Amonte and Sean McEchearn (sp?)...

In this year's young stars game there were 3 from the college ranks (Paul Martin, Minnesota...Ryan Malone, Minnesota-Duluth, and Brooks Orpik, Boston College)

And of course, don't forget the 1980 US Olympic Team...a whole bunch of college boys

Frozen Four at the Fleet April 8-10
Semi-Final games: Minnesota-Duluth vs Denver University and Maine vs Boston College...GO PIOS!!!

[Ishkur]

oh, by no means am I entirely discrediting the NCAA program. It's made some leaps and strides, especially in the last ten years, and especially with the construction of that Super School in Ann Arbor (you should know the place. Ironically, Herb Brooks hated the idea....it's essentially like the old centralized Soviet model: put all your talent in one location and train them exclusively, rather than train everyone uniformly at their own pace). This year's Junior team came from that place.

But still: most of the players you mentioned are Canadian and grew up in Canada, and while they attended University in the states and played in the NCAA, they are still very much products of the canadian minor hockey system. Your argument is suffering from sample bias here. A handful of names can't compare to the wealth and breadth of non-NCAA talent that fills up the entire league.

I'm not sure where you got this "25-30% of the NHL are from US colleges" stat from, considering 55% of the league is still canadian, and 1/3 of the league is from overseas. Sure, I'm interested to see what Zack Parise and Ryan Kesler are capable of, but more than that I'm interested in what Alexander Ovechkin (Moscow Dynamo) and Sidney Crosby (Rimouski Oceanic) can do. When NHL scouts look at the up n comers, the #1 league with a bullet is the OHL. Then the WHL, and then the LHJMQ (QMJHL). And then, after that, Division 1 European systems like Modo/Ornskoldsvik or Jokerit. The NCAA is good as a supporting role, but the level is still not as competitive as the feisty canadian system. A dozen of competitive schools in the midwest can not be compared to the nearly 200 AAA junior franchises that dot the canadian landscape.

[Blakey_Blue]

Excuse my mistake on the 25-30% stat, here's the link to the story I actually read it in, the way it's worded is kind of weird. Looking at it now, what I think it was trying to say was that 25-30% of teams in the NHL carry a college player. Which makes much more sense.

I understand your argument completely, and honestly I do agree. I know that depth wise, the Canadian leagues are much more competitive, talented, etc. Of course they are, that's what they do. Here in the States, as I believe you mentioned in your first comment, College Hockey isn't even second fiddle to other D1 sports, it's more like 3rd fiddle (behind football and basketball).

All I'm trying to get across is that I still think that for the level of talent that it has produced, it doesn't get enough respect. It may not have the history or size of the Canadian system, but it's damn good.

Just as a side note, the USNTDP program, though it did produce most of the guys who played on this year's Junior squad, I don't believe all of them were NTDP alums (there was at least one guy that selected to play for the US over Canada, ie. Brady Murray, probably because he wasn't going to make the cut, but look how that worked out...). That program though, as you stated has really ended up benefiting USA Hockey. A few of my friends played there, billeted with families in A2 and gone to one of the local high schools. All of them have said that it was a great experience, getting to play internationally as well as in the NAHL...of course that's totally irrelevant to my argument, but yeah...