December 19, 2006
2006-07 States of the Game
Our annual look at where college hockey players come from

 Special Report:
States of the Game

Breakdown of all players by state, province and country
Breakdowns by conference: AHA | CCHA | CHA | ECACHL | HEA | WCHA

This is Inside College Hockey's fourth look at where college hockey players are coming from. Past reports:
2004-05 | 2003-04 | 2002-03

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.