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Did a goggle search and found a number breakdown by age group and state. Of the larger hockey states Minnesota was the only one to increase numbers every year since the 2005-06 season in the age groups copied here. I started with the 13-14 year age group and went down to the 6 and Under age group.One of these years I will be able to keep the spaces the totals for these 5 age groups will be at the end.

USA HOCKEYPLAYERS BY STATE AGE 13-14
STATE 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
MINN - 7094, 7016, 7129, 7137, 6942, 6747
MASS- 6341, 6456, 6387, 6589, 6785, 6664
NEW YORK 5428, 5456, 5677, 5832, 5822, 5953
MICH- 5134, 5298, 5724, 6088, 6492, 6974
E.PAW.PA 3260, 3305, 3816, 3549, 3594, 3839
ILL-- 2731, 2697, 2737, 2762, 2867, 2916
NEW JER- 2284, 2329, 2080, 2568, 2537, 2440
WISC- 2189, 2202, 2255, 2383, 2396, 2499
CONN- 1737, 1737, 1714, 1767, 1744, 1891

USA HOCKEYPLAYERS BY STATE AGE 11-12
STATE 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
MINN, 8560, 8679, 8455, 8326, 8474, 8299
MASS 7066, 7169, 7103, 7326, 7492, 7582
NEW YORK 6023, 5823, 5967, 5891, 5912, 6096
MICH, 5219, 5260, 5612, 6034, 6513, 6974
E.PW.PA 3224, 2970, 3479, 2971, 3073, 3331
ILL, 3134, 2754, 2645, 2848, 2927, 2981
NEW JERS 2291, 2201, 1719, 2370, 2440, 2482
WISC, 2501, 2485, 2562, 2562, 2671, 2732
CONN 1916, 1900, 1995, 2041, 2005, 2103


USA HOCKEYPLAYERS BY STATE AGE 9-10
STATE 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
MINN 8587, 8668, 8811, 9000, 8695, 8578
MASS 7035, 7136, 7088, 7377, 7551, 7789
NEW YORK 5861, 5086, 5833, 5638, 5467, 5274
MICH, 5041, 4976, 5201, 5517, 5979, 6392
E.PAW.PA 3066, 2749, 3013, 2427, 2398, 2510
ILL, 3335, 2781, 2670, 2655, 2752, 2941
NEW JERS 2096, 1983, 1288, 1923, 2078, 2098
WISC, 2600, 2553, 2573, 2628, 2741, 2667
CONN 1850, 1870, 1812, 1897, 1962, 1960

USA HOCKEYPLAYERS BY STATE AGE 7-8
STATE 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
MINN, 8407, 8367, 8440, 8228, 8259, 8223
MASS 4520, 6367, 6395, 6613, 7029, 7808
NEW YORK 5350, 5086, 5164, 4993, 4700, 4608
MICH, 4520, 4320, 4421, 4656, 4982, 5485
E.PAW.PA 2553, 2217, 2497, 1810, 1682, 1790
ILL, 3338 , 2781, 2271, 2340, 2360, 2386
NEW JERS 1579, 1389, 1001, 1448, 1406, 1378
WISC, 2427, 2338, 2349, 2525, 2569, 2550
CONN 1850, 1638, 1600, 1639, 1715, 1682

USA HOCKEYPLAYERS BY STATE AGE 6U
2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
MINN, 8500, 8256, 7835, 7412, 7171, 6785
MASS 6824, 6316, 5767, 5628, 6457, 7035
NEW YORK 5490, 5072, 4755, 4561, 4305, 3793
MICH, 4537, 4217, 4088, 3970, 4017, 4278
E.PAW.PA 2464, 1948, 1609, 1140, 1009, 965
ILL, 2792. 2055. 1595. 1855. 1520. 1661
NEW JERS 965, 645, 445, 698, 777, 538
WISC, 2925, 2666, 2596, 2648, 2853, 2682
CONN 1793, 1631, 1540, 1331, 1506, 1412

TOTAL BY YEAR
2010-112009-102008-092007-08,2006-07,2005-06
MINN, 41148, 40986, 40670, 40103, 39541, 38632
MASS 31786, 33444, 32740, 33533, 35314, 36878
NEW YORK 28152, 26523, 27396, 26915, 26206, 25724
MICH, 24451, 24071, 25046, 26265, 27983, 30103
E.PAW.PA 14567, 13189, 14414, 11897, 11756, 12435
ILL 15330, 13068, 11918, 12460, 12426, 12885
NEW JERS 9215, 8547, 6533, 9007, 9238, 8936
WISC, 12642, 12244, 12335, 12746, 13230, 13130
CONN 9146, 8776, 8661, 8675, 8932, 9048

Wow, Michigan has had a huge decrease. I would bet it's their economy. How expensive are their non-Tier 1 options? $1-2k/year is more recession proof than $15-20k/year.

These numbers ignore the players registered with the AAU.

Does this number include girls? If if does Minnesota is losing boys at a decent rate because the girls went from essentially a non existant entity to a viable league in the past 5 years while total numbers have remained the same.
At least localy we never registered mites and supermites with USA Hockey until the last year or so, I don't think we were alone in that.

Goldy,
I think the numbers include girls,but they also list the girls seperately and here they are. If anyone would like the pdf files by year the complete numbers,just send me a pm with an e-mail address. The numbers USA Hockey have for 2005 and earlier are mostly by USA Hockey District and Minnesota was part of the Minnkota District then.

GIRLS BY STATE AGE 13-14
STATE 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
GIRLS
MINN, 1564, 1544, 1490, 1404, 1293, 1296
MASS, 1147, 1088, 1125, 1084, 1045, 946
NEW YORK, 600, 611, 637, 640, 598, 530
MICH, 457, 430, 463, 517, 535, 493
WISC, 415, 453, 474, 483, 432, 471,

GIRLS BY STATE AGE 11-12
STATE 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
GIRLS
MINN, 2328, 2308, 2172, 2131, 2127, 1959
MASS, 1313, 1354, 1247, 1209, 1217, 1203
NEW YORK, 770, 700, 664, 666, 655, 632
MICH, 485, 439, 456, 499, 545, 582
WISC, 458, 452, 470, 494, 539, 491

GIRLS BY STATE AGE 9-10
STATE 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
MINN, 2229, 2277, 2278, 2281, 2108, 2009
MASS, 1373, 1300, 1233, 1235, 1192, 1130
NEW YORK, 725, 709, 737, 633, 624, 564
MICH, 543, 485, 450, 463, 387, 531
WISC, 473, 470, 445, 434, 481, 468

GIRLS BY STATE AGE 7-8
STATE 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
MINN, 1959, 1881, 1888, 1895, 1840, 1714
MASS, 1220, 1139, 1160, 1001, 1145, 1160
NEW YORK, 709, 634, 619, 592, 546, 465
MICH, 419, 365, 404, 409, 387, 399
WISC, 473, 395, 390, 439, 418, 407

GIRLS BY STATE AGE 6U
STATE 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
MINN, 1816, 1674, 1538, 1390, 1355, 1225
MASS, 1417, 1233, 1151, 1027, 1172, 1332
NEW YORK, 776, 724, 659, 604, 577, 466
MICH, 491, 414, 483, 337, 360, 350
WISC, 516, 490, 498, 489, 499, 455

TOTAL BY YEAR
STATE 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
MINN, 9896, 9684, 9366, 9101, 8723, 8203
MASS, 6470, 6114, 5916, 5556, 5771, 5771
NEW YORK, 3580, 3378, 3316, 3135, 3000, 2657
MICH, 2395, 2133, 2256, 2225, 2214, 2355
WISC, 2335, 2260, 2277, 2339, 2369, 2292

If you take it a step further and compare state population (kids under 18) versus participation, the numbers look like this. These numbers were adjusted by adding 18-15 year olds to the total numbers. By this calculation, Minnesota has 4.15% of kids under 18 playing hockey.

Minn-4.15%
Mass-2.70%
NY-0.78%
Michigan-1.38%
Penn-0.69%
Illinois-0.65%
NJ-0.60%
Wis-1.12%
Conn-1.49%

Only Massachusetts comes closest to matching Minnesota in percentage of participation. I will bet the constraining factor in these other states is a lack of ice in the winter and until that is solved the numbers will never get larger. I will also bet that North Dakota’s participation numbers (percentage) is higher than Minnesota’s.

A second factor is the following statistics showing population density per square mile for each of the states above.

Minn-62 people per square mile
Mass-809 people
NY-402 people
Michigan-175 people
Penn-274 people
Illinois-223 people
NJ-1,134 people
Wisc-99 people
Conn-703 people

That should give a person a feel for what is truly happening in each state. Minnesota has a population density 1/6 of New York and has 6 times the participation. Massachusetts has 13 times the population density of Minnesota and has a participation that is 65% of the Minnesota kids.

To me, these numbers indicate interest within the state in the sport.
North Dakota has 9 people per square mile (1/7 of Minnesota’s population density) and I suspect has a better participation percentage thus showing stronger interest in the sport then Minnesota.

These statistics make me continue to question why USA Hockey seems to be aiming policy decisions at Minnesota. They should be trying to concentrate on getting the participation numbers up in the high population density states to the 1-3% levels. That would really strengthen youth hockey in the country. Instead they pass rules that I see weakening Minnesota hockey participation numbers.

Over the years Minnesota has had the most playing Div I and when you look at the NHL history again Minn is number 1 in the United states. If you add Div III then Mass gets real close and Mich drops. These numbers I am talking about are on other threads.

USA Hockey would like nothing better than to prove they are right about everything and if Minn would fall n line then they would be very happy. If Minn started doing everything like the other areas with Tier I all star teams pretty soon we would be also matching their numbers. A good example was the Chicago showcase for Seniors, every state would send their top players who already had scholarships and Minn would only send players who did not already have a scholarship. Every year Minn was in the Championship game and only a couple of years came in 2nd.