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Interesting article and some very interesting observations from some noted hockey people.

In a truly sorry state

By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Columnist | February 2, 2010

I went to the Beanpot last night and tried to get fired up about the whole thing.
Sorry. Couldn’t do it. The building was flatter than Howie Long’s head when Harvard came out to play Boston College at 5 p.m. and there wasn’t much excitement when the Eagles flattened the Crimson, 6-0. Boston University topped Northeastern, 2-1, in a scintillating nightcap filled with tremendous goaltending and a late third-period score by the Terriers, who seem to own this tournament no matter how they are playing prior to the first two Mondays in February.
Here’s what really killed me. Last night’s Harvard roster had only one guy from Massachusetts (Chris Huxley of Weymouth). Harvard had 11 players from Canada, one from Sweden, and one from Croatia. Boston University, last year’s national champion, featured two kids from Massachusetts (out of 21). Northeastern had four Bay Staters and Boston College a whopping 11.
Not to sound like a WTKK talk show host, but the lack of locals took something out of it for me. What happened to the days of Peabody’s Bobby Carpenter on the cover of Sports Illustrated? The days of Charlestown’s Jackie O’Callahan, Scituate’s Dave Silk, and Winthrop’s Mike Eruzione winning Olympic gold? Jim Craig going from Oliver Ames to Boston University to Lake Placid?
There are no Massachusetts players on this year’s US Olympic men’s hockey team. And not enough in the Beanpot. Not for my money.
Bob Sweeney was honored as a Beanpot Hall of Famer between games last night. Playing for Boston College, Sweeney was MVP of the tournament in 1983. Before that, he played at Acton-Boxboro.
You won’t find any kids from A-B in the Beanpot these days.
“When I played at BC we had one guy on the team from outside of New England,’’ Sweeney said. “Now local hockey is watered down. There’re so many teams. Dave Silk talked about it at the luncheon the other day. He talked about how we grew up around here, wanting to play for BC, BU, or Harvard. It was a big deal to have the opportunity to skate where the Bruins skated. On the spoked-B.’’
“It’s just not the same,’’ said former Penguin/Bruin Kevin Stevens, who starred at Boston College. “There’s no buzz in this building like in the old days when everybody was on top of each other, smoking cigars.’’
Stevens played his high school hockey at Silver Lake Regional in Kingston. That wouldn’t happen today. No kids from Silver Lake in the Beanpot.
“I keep reading that the local game is watered down,’’ said Bruins assistant coach Don Sweeney, who won a national championship at Harvard. “We always had Massachusetts players when I was at Harvard and I still think there are a lot of good players here, but it’s probably not like in the heyday of the Minnesota Super Series.’’
Joe Bertagna, Commissioner of Hockey East, was a goalie at Arlington High (1969), then Harvard (1973). He has seen the decay of local talent first-hand.
“We keep track of the number of players in Division 1,’’ said the former Spy Ponder. “It used to be Minnesota and Massachusetts, ranking 1 and 2. Then Michigan came in and we dropped to third. This year we were just five kids ahead of New York. For whatever reason, Massachusetts is not producing Division 1 players like it used to.
“The rise of junior hockey has hurt public school hockey. Parents are always looking for the next best deal. They go from public schools to Catholic schools, to the preps, to juniors. And there’s no value in social stability. Starting in eighth grade I played nine seasons in high school and college and I only wore two jerseys. And I’m still friends with the same guys. It’s a cultural change.’’
An age change, too. This is the era of the 20-year-old freshman.
Kevin Paul Dupont, the Globe’s estimable hockey scribe, has been hammering at this theme for years and recently relayed this quote from the one and only Mike Milbury.
“What we are doing is just not right,’’ said Milbury, who grew up in Walpole. “We are not developing players. We’ve got a lot of parents out here spending a lot of time and money and it’s obvious that we’re still not getting it right. It should not be a 12-month-a-year sport, and kids shouldn’t be put in a car for a three-hour drive to New Hampshire where they’ll be in a game that has three 12-minute periods and they play, what, 10 minutes each?
“Limit their games. Increase their training. Keep them focused, happy, and having fun.’’
“I think the local game is on the upswing,’’ BC coach Jerry York (Watertown’s finest) said after the Eagles routed the Crimson. “There’s been a dry spell for a long time. Local hockey dropped right off the radar. We went a couple of decades when it was very barren. We always look for the best players, but if they happen to be from Watertown or Winchester, all the better.’’
The late, great House Speaker Tip O’Neill, a BC guy (1936), patented the phrase “All politics is local.’’ There was a time around here when all Beanpot hockey was local, too.
Go Eagles.

All us old-timers lament about the way things have changed. The outdoor rinks are empty and it's too much checkbook, trophies and 12-month AAA than about hockey-passionate kids. It's the same in Mass as here I guess.

But since this is the girls forum, note there's a lot of Minnesota women playing in the women's Beanpot tomorrow night!

You're right about the checkbook and AAA. But you're dead wrong if you don't think there are 'hockey-passionate kids'. My daughter relates everything in her life to hockey 365 days a year. I didn't know anybody like that when I was a kid. She has a couple friends who are the same way. You see an eagle flying up in the sky, she says, 'We played a team named the eagles.'

The issue with Girls/Womens' hockey in Minnesota is much different than this article states about Mass. hockey. We're producing more, bigger, faster, more-skilled girl hockey players than ever before and more than anywhere else in the country. However, the coaching staffs of Minnesota's University system (UofM TC and UMD) aren't interested in stocking their teams with Minnesota girls. Brad Frost has brought in a total of 4 Minnesota girls in his 2 years in charge--Laura Halldorson's last recruiting class was heavy on the local girls (5) who are now sophomores. And Shannon Miller in Duluth--forgetaboutit. She'll always have more Finlanders on her team than Minnesotans.

However, the best opportunity for D1 comes from Minnesota's state universities--the rosters of Bemidji State, St.Cloud and Mankato are full of Minnesota girls. Let's hope Moorhead joins them with another D1 program soon.