Ice Hockey: Everyone is a NHL Prospect

Anyone who has ever waited to take to the ice to play hockey after figure skaters and stood around with their bottom half of their gear on possibly wearing a wicking type of shirt that fits like casing on a sausage and glared through the glass at the girls and that one guy or two, doing the same spins and same jumps over and over again before the Zamboni cleared away any evidence of them, you’ve probably had similar thoughts as I. Very simply I have asked why.
If figure skating would have been my thing, my chances to make the Olympic team for the United States as and a male figure skater, would be roughly one out of one hundred million. I stand a better chance of winning the lottery, being hit by a satellite or lining up four double diamonds at one of the slot machines at the Greektown Casino in Detroit (the Greeks have done better off of me than I of them) than making it to Olympic glory. Some who figure skate might say that they do it because they love it and are passionate about the sport. I understand that very well. As a grown man with grown children, I still play ice hockey four to five times a week because I love it and I am trying to find fun ways of keeping my percentage of body fat down while having a good time. Having scoffed at figure skaters and their Joan Crawford-esque mothers who dedicate hours and hours and dollars upon dollars paying washed up former youth figure skaters who have become coaches who too were once Olympic hopefuls, these coaches go on to run the dog and pony shows at every rink, everywhere in North America. Sadly, ice hockey parents are on a similar track.
If the 2008 stats are correct or even if they are skewed a tad, 768 Americans make their living playing the highest level of professional hockey. I know of a two or three people that have made it to the NHL and hoards of others that went on to play college, juniors and various levels of professional hockey. Not too many make the big game.
When you take into account that there are only 35 million people in Canada, one’s chances of making the NHL are much higher coming from a Canadian youth system as the Canadians still make up 52% of the NHL. Many will say that the European style of play is more current and intelligent than the North American style of play. Canada winning the gold in the men’s and women’s categories was a pretty strong statement for the youth development in Canada. United States posted silver in both which is not bad except that the pool of people from which to draw from in Canada is about 10% of the United States.
The Americans make up roughly 20% of the NHL after Canada’s 52%. The rest of the pie is split among Russians, Czechs, Slovaks, Swedes, Fins with a few from places like Belarus, Ukraine, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Kazakhstan. The Czechs, Swedes and Finns combined are close to the same percentage of Americans currently playing in the NHL. The combined population of those three countries is about 25 million.
During the Olympic telecasting in the United States which was carried on MSNBC, the commentators discussed how in the Czech Republic and Slovakia would be
virtually shut down to watch the Olympic Games. Tiny Slovakia nearly showed up Canada in the semifinals of the Olympics and failed to medal after a loss to Finland. Most people with access to a television in Slovakia watched the final game for the bronze medal between Finland and Slovakia. The United States against Canada game was finally covered on NBC instead of MSNBC and suddenly hockey was of interest as it was in 1980. The final score in overtime showed that the game could have gone either way and either team could have won the gold. Great suspense rather than watching an ass beating without any drama and many Americans may have considered putting their little man or woman in a local park district ice hockey program after that day. That is what most hockey enthusiasts wanted is for the whole country to see that the game is not just morons fighting a la WWF with no thought or strategy. The intensity by all countries that participated was unparalleled except in NHL playoff games. I went to work bleary eyed from watching hockey until four in the morning during the Olympics as did a quite a few other hockey fans that I am acquainted with.
Not to poo poo anyone from ever trying to aspire to something such as the NHL because the odds are so heavily stacked against making it. I believe that anyone and everyone should have a dream and a goal. I still do at my age. The problem I see is that the dream more often than not is adopted by a young player after being prodded by their parents. All things being equal and parents being barred from arenas, many above average players in the United States and Canada, are equipped to make it to the highest level. The missing ingredient is usually drive.
In 1998, in the summer, in Minnesota, my son and his team were invited to a prestigious AAA tournament of pee-wees from Canada and the United States. A team from Duluth was the team to watch out for and so the parents and coaches from my son’s team, watched the Duluth team play a quicker and smarter brand of hockey than our boys were capable of despite the fact that they were on the ice eight hours a week in addition to two or three games on the weekend. The parents all marveled at the Duluth boys until we faced an unknown team from the Ukraine.
The Ukrainian boys came into the rink without a smile on their faces. They didn’t have hand held games nor did they engage in tag or other horse play. Their equipment was shoddy at best and they simulated shooting on their goalie prior to the game because they did not have pucks. The team had one coach who arrogantly went outside to smoke a cigarette while his team warmed up with no pucks. When the game started, it looked as if our boys were walking on the freeway. The speed and accuracy of the passing and positioning was so ahead of what our boys were capable of that they were almost rendered useless for about an entire period. The final score was a double digit loss and our shots on goal were under five. In the third period, the Ukrainian coach once again left the bench to have a cigarette leaving no adult or coach in charge. It didn’t matter. The coach never spoke to his players the entire game and the players changed every thirty seconds like clockwork without one word of direction. The doors to their bench opened and closed like a beehive.
After the game, the parents from our team made various comments to each other on how and why our boys could have been beaten so severely. We did find out that the team was handpicked from Kiev and that hundreds tried out for the Ukrainian team and if a player was chosen he was tutored by a traveling teacher as the team traveled the world in search of elite tournaments to participate in. The coach’s job was dependant on him placing his players in American colleges or North American junior programs. Many of those young players understood that if they were not successful at ice hockey, coming home and slaving away in a factory for the next 45 years would be their future.
Ice rink parking lots are filled with Suburbans or minivans with stickers of colleges from the eastern United States, AAA programs or prep schools. The parents of most hockey players in North America spend thousands a year on ice time and equipment. The sport in the United States and Canada favors the rich over those living check to check. Some will make that sacrifice for the love of the game but if you’re hungry, it’s really hard to eat a puck. Most North American players understand all too well that ice hockey is not their only ticket to a life worth living as was the case with the Ukrainians or is often the case with inner city African Americans who wind up playing professional sports. You’ll be hard pressed to ever poll the parents of any ice hockey player in North American player and find out that their son or daughter has to make it in ice hockey or face a life of drab toiling until retirement. Driving automobiles, dating, drinking, love making, working and then again not working at all are all things that could steer away a high school age ice hockey player from making the decision to put all else aside for a dream and a way of life that means more to them than most anything else without a nagging parent with a whip in their hand. I’m sure there are many things to do in Finland or Slovakia and with money in hand life sure is easier to live.