I found this article from May 2007 saying Philly doesn't produce any NHL talent locally. It is worth the read and it should piss a few people off.
http://www.phanaticmag.com/herpen51807.shtml

ten years ago this article would be correct, but this district has produced some very high end players in the last few years. hockey has grown extraordinarily in this area in this time.

big time atlantic district players
bobby ryan - 2nd overall, anaheim ducks
bobby sanguinetti - 1st round, rangers
nick foligno - 1st round, senators
james vanreimsdyk - 2nd overall, flyers
kevin shattenkirk - 1st round, avalanche
tj brennan - 2nd round, sabres
colby cohen - 2nd round, avalanche
eric tangradi - 2nd round, ducks

john carlson will aslo likely be a 1st or 2nd rounder this coming nhl draft.

this is just off the top of my head. id say the district is doing just fine producing players.

You won't get an argument out of me. The author's argument is the players have to leave the area to reach "NHL caliber." I was just the messenger.

Why no mention of Mike Richter in this article?

Where are "prospects" Chad and Tyler Kolarik in this article?

Why no mention that Staszak's career was shortened by a knee injury?

He mentioned Gundersons 100 point season at HGP and that he didn't "produce" at the college level. Did this writer research or even mention that Gunderson was a forward during his stay at HGP and for the Mercer Cheifs and Volunteered to play defense for UVM when the team had a need for blue liners? He ended up playing all four years a defensman.

Who is this clown that wrote this story anyhow?

quote:

Originally posted by Matt Sacks:

Who is this clown that wrote this story anyhow?

Surely it wasn't Dicky Dunn. If Dicky Dunn wrote it, it's gotta be true.

I agree with you, Matt, but the point is they had to LEAVE the area in order to take it to the next level. I have talked with many former Flyers and they feel the area won't develop into a hockey hotbed until the coaching improves drastically. I think the skill level has grown a great deal since I played over 20 years ago, but the area needs coaches who played junior, Division I and pro hockey to help grow the talent. Keith Primeau is doing a great job by sponsoring an All-Star game and lending his name to the venue. Wouldn't it be a great idea if Ed Snider promoted or sponsored a "Hockey Night in Philadelphia" tournament like they have in Boston? I agree that college hockey in the area moving to a NCAA level will help promote the game. Neumann College is the closest thing we have. I still can't believe Penn doesn't have a D-I team with the facility they have and the multi-billion dollar endowment to support it. Snider and the Flyers need to offer the use of the Spectrum and the Wachovia Center as an "carrot" to help move hockey forward. Just my humble opinion. Oh, by the way, Staszak's career was ended by a shoulder injury.

Judging the local hockey scene from the perspective of how many pro players we've produced always struck me as looking the wrong way through the binoculars. When or if the local level of participation in hockey approaches the levels in Mass. or Minnesota, we'll produce plenty of pro hockey players.

Besides, "going away" is the essence of traditional hockey development. Lucky the player who grows up in metro Montreal or Toronto who doesn't have to leave home for the "next level". How many players have left the farm in Buffalo Squat, Saskatchewan for the "bright lights, big city" of Red Deer, Alberta just to pursue their hockey dream?

We have a huge population pool locally, with a miniscule level of participation. Why? Cost, opportunity, learn to skate, competition from other "money" sports... D-1 (and pro) hockey players are not found or made in PeeWee-AAA. Coaches, clinics, showcases, parents' money may make a player the best he can be, but the reality is that NCAA D1 players (to say nothing of those who go on to professional hockey) are elite) athletes. If less than 5% of the millions that play HS sports go on to D1 college teams, why should hockey have a higher average?

Build the base of the pyramid of player development, don't worry about polishing the tip. Enjoy the sport for its own considerable benefits, pursue your ambitions whereever they can take you, but don't sweat this issue. There are no quick fixes, just years of commitment to building hockey in front of us.

I agree with Carl. Pumping up the numbers from the bottom will result in greater numbers of elite players coming out. I also respectfully disagree with FlyersFan about the "need" for former junior, D1, and former pros as coaches to get the players around here to the next level. I know of several former pro players that coached around here, that were really only average coaches (in my opinion). Just because you played at that level, does not mean you can coach at that level. It does however give you insight as to what may be needed at that level, but coaching is more about communicating information effectively, than it is being able to do it.

Carl and Lemieux66, I agree with you all the way around. However, I didn't say we "need" former Junior, D-I, etc. as coaches. Those players from the area that made it to the professional ranks did it because they loved the game and were exceptional athletes. Hell, Ray Staszak made it when there were fewer rinks in the area and fewer coaches and he didn't start skating until he was 12.

Having children of my own, my wife and I believe that it is our job to expose our kids to as many sports as possible. Then they can decide which sport or sports they like best and wish to continue playing. I have exposed them to hockey, but it is their decision if they want to play.

I loved playing hockey because it was fun. With that being said, I think many parents push their children to play a particular sport "year round" hockey included. I read a story on kids getting "burned out" from playing too much during the year.
8 days a week

I think the adults should focus on practice and developing their players' skills and keeping the game fun.

Wishing all of you the best.

I think the Hockey World is starting to take notice of the Mid Atlantic area. There is a new Semi-Pro league forming, The Mid Atlantic Hockey League, for this season there will be 5 teams 2 out near Pittsburgh, 1 in Valley Forge, 1 in Jamestown, NY. and 1 in Wooster, OH., with more to follow next seasopn. This will be an excellent opportuniy for the local kids to stay in the area and play at a high quality level where there talents will be noticed. The NHL is adding this league to it's NHL Network and will
brodcasting their games over it. The initial season will consist of a 50 game schedule.

If HS hockey was a public school sanctioned sport in the Delaware Valley, like it is in the other 'hockey hot beds' I'm sure the sport would grow expodentially. 12 year-old kids know the name of their high school's star runningback, but don't even realize theres a hockey team. The only way schools accepting hockey as a sport would ever happen is if a big time congressman steped in, but thats another arguement for another day.

Talk with Congressman Patrick Murphy. He graduated from Archbishop Ryan in 1991 and he was the team captain for the hockey team. He knows first hand about trying to get high school hockey into the mainstream.

I'm not sure there is room for HS hockey to grow "exponentially" in the Delaware Valley. Last I checked, over 90% of the PIAA District I HS students had HS hockey available to them. Percentages are similar in south Jersey, obviously lower in District XII (the city) except for some of the strong Catholic League schools. Schools without HS hockey are typically 1) small, or 2) "poor".

There were 129 HS eligible for the Flyers Cup last year. Many of those programs are struggling, but they do exist and we should be working to bolster them.

There's lots of strategies that would strengthen local HS hockey without major additional funding:

1. adopt a winter sports season--stop competing for athletes (and paying fans) during the fall sports season.
2. adopt a split Midget/HS season--stop forcing hockey players to choose between Club and HS. No other sport pulls players away from HS "in season".
3. Develop split-season Midget as a complement to HS hockey rather than "Junior" hockey (in all its forms locally) as its competitor--see Minnesota's Mid-West Prep League for the right way to do it for high-level players.
4. Increase the practice/game ratio in that shortened Winter sports season--practice 3-4 times/week, play 2 times/week.
5. Develop a community-based hockey program as a feeder to the HS program; involve your HS players on the ice with the younger players in the community.
6. Put your middle school age teams in the DVHL--Pennsbury does this, and I think its a great idea.
7. Invest that public money in "learn to skate" programs, used equipment exchanges, etc., to expose kids to the sport, rather than subsidizing players after they get to HS.
8. Work to present HS hockey like all the other HS sports that receive extensive local media coverage and community attention. That gets into things like: who you play, how you play, when you play, where you play that fit the existing HS athletic model.

I bet there are lots of other good ideas out there to build support, funding, participation. Some would work better for one program, others for other programs.

It is interesting that we all think that strengthening HS hockey will improve the overall health of the sport locally. (But then this IS the HS forum). I think the message traffic on this Board shows how important HS hockey is to the sport locally:
HS, 2297 posts on 203 subjects;
everything else, 190 posts on 28 subjects...

I think you have some great ideas. I would add that the season is too long and requires a huge commitment by all parties involved. Hockey season doesn't start in Minnesota until the last week of October/first week of November.

I agree that there should be more practice to game ratio.

Why doesn't someone start a petition to the PIAA to sponsor hockey? Hell, they sponsoring rifle competition and I can't think of anything more dangerous than that.

If you check out most of the NHL team web sites you will see that there is active participation and sponsorship by NHL teams. I think the Flyers have done a good promotion of that, but I think they need to do more. Hence, the building of the Flyers' Skate Zones and the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. The reason I suggest this is that Texas is producing some quality talent and has a large group of scouts recruiting there. How is that possible? I think things such as Keith Primeau's All Star game is exposing major hockey operations (OHL, NCAA, WHL) to the quality of players that are in the area. I think once recruiters and scouts see there is some great talent here they will continue to come to the area.

One last thought would be to have one governing body to oversee hockey in Pennsylvania. It will provide much needed uniformity. I don't know if that can or will happen because there can be a lot of egos involved.

I read a statistic from the Bucks County Courier Times a few years ago that said there were more high school hockey teams in Pennsylvania than there are in Minnesota and Michigan.