Pat Hickey wrote an article in The Gazette, a Montreal newspaper, that was critical of Hockey Canada's Parent Information Manual.
Hickey's concerns were pretty similar to mine, with a few interesting points added in, including:
There are approximately 250 major junior graduates in the NHL, which is impressive until you figure out that means an average of four players from each of the 60 CHL teams and, when you spread that number over the lifespan of an NHL player, it means that each team will produce one NHL player every two or three years.
Another interesting thing that was pointed out to me was how Hockey Canada hasn't hesitated to promote Jonathan Toews after he won two World Junior gold medals and a gold medal with Canada at the World Championships this spring, despite not really recognizing the development route that he took.
9 comments:
fuck them
It goes both ways. Mike Emerick and Ed Olcyzk kept promoting Mike Comrie as the graduate of the University of Michigan when technically he graduated from the Kootenay Ice of the WHL. After 35 games with the Ice, he signed his pro contract.
Did Comrie even graduate from Michigan? I thought he left early...
And anon 8:46 - "technically" he graduated from the Ice? Really? That's a school, the Kootenay Ice? Learn something new every day, I suppose.
how many ncaa hockey players that go on to play pro hockey have actually graduated on time from their respective schools? it would appear that the numbers are getting smaller & smaller.
Anon 8:58 Sorry I confused you. Of course Kootenay is not a school but since you want to be anal about this I will reword my comments. Mike Emerick and Ed Olcyzk kept promoting Mike Comrie as the graduate of the University of Michigan when he actually came from the Kootenay Ice of the WHL. The same league that produced Scott and Rob Niedermeyer, Ryan Getzlaf and Travis Moen of Anaheim and Chris Phillips, Wade Redden, Andrej Meszaros, Dean Mcammond, Peter Schaefer and Oleg Saprykin of Ottawa. That is only the WHL. We haven't even talked about the OHL and QMJHL. Hope that clears things up for you.
Canadians are such an ornery lot...just mad at the world...
anon 12:47 am - Just to be anal about it, I wouldn't be too enthused about Travis Moen. Like Stephane Veillieux, his game really hasn't prospered in the NHL in my opinion. Of course, I thought they were scoring talent in MJ, but I could be wrong. They certainly aren't now in the NHL.
As for ornary Canadians, that's only the French Canadians. The rest are just a prideful lot, like DI fans are of the NCAA. To each their own, I'd guess, if either side would allow each other to peacefully coexist.
Devilsrawesome,
I don't think anyone will confuse Moen as a high end player. But when you look at his playoffs it proves his value to the team. After a 21 point regular season he contibutes 12 points in the playoffs which included 7 goals placing him second on the team in that category. Hopefully he is not another Fernando Pisani who had a strong playoff run for Edmonton, cashes in on a big contract and is nowhere to be found the following year. I saw Moen play quite a bit in Kelowna and no one ever thought he would be a regular in the NHL.
"Mike Emerick and Ed Olcyzk kept promoting Mike Comrie as the graduate of the University of Michigan when he actually came from the Kootenay Ice of the WHL"
I never heard them say "graduate", but I did hear them say he "played" at Michigan. Which he did for two years compared to one for the Ice. And the only reason he did go to the WHL was to regain free agency, like what Van Ryn did.
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