December
19, 2006
2006-07 States of the Game
Our annual look at where college hockey
players come from
Odds and ends gleaned during our
research:
• In each of our four States of
the Game reports, more players have come from Minnesota
than any other state. This year 214 college hockey
players come from Minnesota, followed by Michigan
(150), Massachusetts (124) and New York (103). Ninety-six
of the 214 Minnesotans play in the WCHA.
• Massachusetts' representation
in Division I hockey has dropped 33 percent since
our first States of the Game study, in 2002-03. The
Bay State now accounts for 124 Division I players,
down from 185 that year. This is the first year of
our report in which Michigan had more players (150)
than Massachusetts.
• Minnesota, with 214 players,
overtook Ontario (193) as the largest provider of
Division I hockey talent for the first time in our
study. Ontario's contribution to Division I teams
has dropped nearly 15 percent since 2002-03 (226 players).
• Count California and Missouri
as the big recent gainers in production of collegehockey
talent. Each has 12 more players than it did in 2002-03;
California has moved from 20 players to 32, while
Missouri has gone from just seven players to 19.
• There are only 15 Europeans
playing college hockey today, less than half the number
that there were in 2002-03 (39).
• Thirty-eight states are represented
in college hockey, the same as two years ago. The
CCHA and ECACHL, with 27 states represented each,
have the most American geographic diversity; the CHA,
with 16, and WCHA, with 19, have the least.
• U.S. participation in college
hockey has edged up slightly since 2002-03, from 63.04
percent of all players to 64.64 percent. Canada has
remained fairly steady, with only five fewer players
than it had four years ago.
• Ten states – Alaska, California,
Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
New York, Pennsylvania and Washington – have
at least one player in each of the six Division I
conferences.
• Five Canadian provinces –
Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan
– have at least one player in each of the six
Division I conferences.
• Quebec has seen its representation
rise from 23 players in 2002-03 to 34 players this
season, a 48 percent increase.
• The ECACHL has the most Canadians
represented, with 156. The CHA is the only conference
with more Canadians than Americans (69 to 67).
NOTE:
All statistics based on players' hometowns listed
on rosters supplied by schools to collegehockeystats.com,
as of Nov. 1, 2006. Research compiled by Nate Ewell,
Inside College Hockey, Inc.