Month: January 2024

Hockey in Canada: Meh??

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With Canada’s early exit from the World Juniors, the big realization could be coming in that maybe Canada– as a hockey nation– is just okay now. 

Photo: Matt Zambonin/International Ice Hockey Federation

Now– it’s hard to pin the hockey state of the nation on kids who are between 17 and 20 years old, but it details a bigger story in that other countries have been catching up to Canada on hockey, as well as Canada not developing the constant run of talent they’ve been known to do. Sure, prospects like Connor Bedard, and Macklin Celebrini are out there– but they are starting to become the exception and not the rule anymore. The stream of talent that Hockey Canada has been pumping out isn’t at the same pace as it was in the years past. You can call it the ebbs and flows of prospects or what-have-you, but it is hard to escape from the look at NHL rosters and the diversity of nations on those line-up cards and in the scoring race. 

TheScore’s writing staff gave their projected rosters for Canada at the NHL’s farce of a Four Nations Cup for 2025. One of the big things for their rosters is the age of their rosters and, outside of the usual suspects of Connor McDavid and Bedard; there’s not a jump-off-the-page roster anymore that looks like world beaters…or beaters of three other nations. There’s a decent amount of older players in the mix, questionable defense beyond the first pairing, iffy goaltending depths, and plenty of Zach Hyman. 

But that’s okay for hockey as a whole, regardless of what the maple leaf loving fans up north want to believe. Competitive balance is a good thing when it comes to international hockey. Countries like Czechia and Slovakia producing great talent and being competitive is good. The US pumping out solid talent in college, juniors, and the NHL is wonderful for growth of the game in North America. Sweden and Finland will have their ups and downs, but be consistent. But all the countries do have a better shot the more they’re represented and the more they make the move to the NHL for the grand audience to see. 

Yet, it’s okay for Canada to allow this to happen and not be a gatekeeper of the sport. Everyone is going to know that Canada is the country of origin for hockey in North America and there’s still more Canadians in the NHL than any other country. So it’s fine to take a step back and see what other countries are doing to see what needs to be improved on in development. 

Now, does there need to be a summit from Hockey Canada about this loss?? There shouldn’t be, but I’m sure there will be. But it should be to address the decline in registered players from 2014-15 until 2021-22. A simple answer is that the cost of everything from gear to ice time to association fee is outrageous (which isn’t just exclusive to hockey), but is there a way to ease the burden on families so their kids can play, even at a house level, without breaking the bank?? 

It has nothing to do with the kids on the ice. It has everything to do with what’s happening off of it.

Tip of the Cap to Minot State

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Photo via Minot State Athletics

What the Minot State Beavers did this weekend was subjectively pretty damn cool, as they took on Colorado College and University of Denver this past weekend in two exhibition match-ups. Minot State is currently the #1 team in D1 ACHA (non-varsity) hockey; while Colorado College is #20 and Denver is #5 in D1 NCAA (varsity) hockey. Minot State dropped both games– 7-1 to Colorado College and 9-3 to Denver– but for them to go out there and see how they stacked up against the top teams in the nation on the NCAA side is a good litmus test for them.

Denver is no stranger to ACHA teams, as this was their third straight year playing against a team in an exhibition. Denver beat UNLV last year 10-0 and Lindenwood, a year before they made the jump to NCAA, 9-1 to start their 2021-22 campaign. This was Colorado College’s first time against an ACHA team. This season alone, Arizona State took on Arizona and Ferris State took on Grand Valley State, with Arizona State (16-0) and Ferris State (9-0) defeating their ACHA counterparts. 

Arizona State is well-versed in ACHA hockey, as they are one of the three teams recently who made the jump from ACHA to NCAA. Penn State and Lindenwood were the others who have gotten school support to move up to a varsity sport since 2012. 

Non-varsity hockey is college hockey in its fullest form, but there’s also the obvious gaps that remain when it comes to NCAA and ACHA schools. Mainly, the money and support of the school are the main factors and the cause of the effect that they can’t get the top ranked players the NCAA schools can get with scholarships and such. 

That’s not to say the talent, passion, or intensity isn’t there. There are plenty of skilled players in the ACHA ranks, they just went to a school that didn’t have varsity hockey. They can still be found throughout the ranks of the ACHA, but because they aren’t getting full school support; they won’t get the pick of the litter that NCAA schools have. For the passion and intensity, the ACHA players may have more than their NCAA counterpart as they may not have a competitive hockey career after their college days are done, so they are playing to the fullest every game they are out there. Not to mention the fan bases are as intense at some schools as they are in the NCAA with how vocal and supportive they are of their squads. 

The ACHA casts a further net for college hockey than the NCAA with 72 teams having Division 1 status in the ACHA to the NCAA’s 64. Not only that, but the ACHA has teams spanning to the Western US, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern US more than the NCAA has done; though the NCAA has been trying hard to expand their footprint to those areas. On the lower end side, the ACHA has almost 200 teams in Division 2 and close to 150 in Division 3. On the women’s side, they are lacking a little with only 31 in Division 1 to the NCAA’s 43. There are also 67 Division 2 women’s programs in the ACHA. 

At the end of the day, maybe the results of these games for Minot State were obvious to some. While notching four goals in two games while giving up 16 doesn’t seem that great, it has been more than other ACHA teams have gotten against NCAA squads in the past three years. It was a big step for non-varsity hockey and maybe it will get some people to look local to see what schools around them have a team and maybe get out to support college hockey to the teams and players who need the support just a little bit more than varsity teams they go up against.