With the recent decision by Judge Baum not to make a decision in the Bankrupcy case of the PHX Coyotes, its time to play the waiting game before a decision is made as to whether the NHL or Ballisillie gets to own the team. The NHL has made the claim that due to the development of youth hockey in the State of Arizona will be hampered by the Yotes departing, thus without a team, the kids will loose interest in Hockey. For Hockey’s own good, the NHL claims, the yotes need to continue to rot in Arizona and with solid ownership and a good team, the sinking ship’s hull will be patched and the ship’s course righted. Yet, Ballisillie and all of southern Ontaria, claim the desert will never be interested in Hockey. Its clear that the Yotes are damaged goods, and I do agree they need a fresh start, however, the NHL is correct with its assessment of hockey in the desert. It does appear to be growing; however, that growth is slow. If the NHL cares about hockey in Arizona, then it should pull its bid for the Yotes and take that money and donate it to either of the big Universities in the State.
College sports have helped in some way to help elevate the status of other major leagues. The hype of bird, magic, and jordan in college basketball carried over into the NBA and helped to pull that league out its doldrums. The same can be said for the NFL, as well. The dramatic guarantee of victory by Joe Namath against the already legendary Baltimore Colts helped to make the Super Bowl more than just another bowl game. If College Hockey became more attractive to superstar players, without negatively affecting the Junior leagues in Canada, hockey too, can become more then a blip on the sports radar every five years. And, now time is better than right now for the NHL to directly invest in college hockey.
This past year the NCAA frozen four in DC, during Easter, actually beat out the NHL in ratings this year. Thoses games feature BU, Notre Dame, Bemidjdi State, and Miami of Ohio. Imagine how big the game would’ve been had it featured someone with the talent of John Traveres and Eric Tangradi.
As with the case with the rise of the NBA and NFL, college sports hooked people to the players like Jordan and Bird and made Namath’s guarantee are the more relevant. People follow players who’s dramatics win championships for their alama maters and rivalries in sports are also created during these dramatic moments for players and fan’s a like.
The NHL can start by getting limiting funding for USA hockey and giving it directly to college programs for recruiting and clinics. While USA hockey does do a lot of these already with the large amounts of cash the NHL gives them, the donation mainly feeds the National Developmental Program, whose best players, like Tangradi, end up in the OHL. Even donating directly to each college hockey conference a tenth of what is given to USA Hockey, would be a substantial amount for these schools. Especially schools that are being forced to cut college hockey. The NHL can also follow the lead of the other leagues by raising the age limit of players coming into the NHL from 18 to even 20. This way someone like Steven Stamkos has more time to develop physically and a team like the tampa bay lightning from wasting valuable marketing dollars promoting a player who wasn’t NHL ready when he arrived. Lastly, the NHL could also given a portion of what is given to hockey canada, to Canadian universities with hockey programs that are planning to make a jump in the NCAA. With the status and appeal of College hockey players in the eyes of NHL teams and the growth of some of the US college teams, some of the best players in Canada may consider going to a University to play puck instead of Jr and it gives other players more time to develop.
College hockey, and college sports in general, provide a base for pro sports. While pro sports teams, at times bring interest to a sport in certain areas, like the penguins in pittsburgh, the base of the interest in sport comes from the collegiate level. Someone from Arizona is more likely to follow hockey and have a connection with the sport, when a nonsuperstar player comes from ASU rather than Gatineau. College hockey is the key to hockey in the sun belt
