Jump to content

The lack of good local D1 hockey in WPA


Recommended Posts

As an offshoot of my thread about college hockey getting cancelled in the fall...

I would like to bring up the topic of the lack of D1 hockey in WPA and specifically RMU.

As a long time hockey parent of both a female and male player, I can tell you it is a big turnoff when we go to Robert Morris Neville Island and see the team pics of their D1 teams... and 99% of the players on both teams are 1) players out of the area and 2) mostly players from Canada. 

It's not very exciting to say to your player "look at the RMU teams, Johnny!  Maybe someday you can play there"...  when the reality is unless you're literally the BEST local player, you don't have a shot at the RMU teams.  

I find it a big turnoff to see all the Canadians on the RMU roster.  And I am an RMU grad.

It's not much of a boost to local hockey when basically nobody on the only D1 team around is from WPA. 

An no, I am not an Anti-Canadian racist.  I just don't care to see the entire mens & womens RMU rosters as Canadians when there are a lot of good local hockey players.  It really seems like RMU doesn't bother even looking at local talent.

 

Edited by Scooby Doo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't guess they are taking Canadians over Pittsburghers for any reason other than that they are taking the best players, and there a MANY more Canadians than there are Pittsburghers. One has to think they are selecting their players on the basis of scouting and performance in showcases.

Come to think of it, you don't see too much scouting in Pittsburgh. It's possible that Canadians are over-represented because that's where the scouts are.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do other D1 programs have local kids on the roster? I've always been told that statistically your kids' chance of playing D1 is slim because you are competing with the world of hockey players for a spot. Wouldn't make much sense for RMU to do that only to get slaughtered by all the other D1 teams who recruit from the world's pool and don't limit themselves to local players. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Scooby Doo said:

As an offshoot of my thread about college hockey getting cancelled in the fall...

I would like to bring up the topic of the lack of D1 hockey in WPA and specifically RMU.

As a long time hockey parent of both a female and male player, I can tell you it is a big turnoff when we go to Robert Morris Neville Island and see the team pics of their D1 teams... and 99% of the players on both teams are 1) players out of the area and 2) mostly players from Canada. 

It's not very exciting to say to your player "look at the RMU teams, Johnny!  Maybe someday you can play there"...  when the reality is unless you're literally the BEST local player, you don't have a shot at the RMU teams.  

I find it a big turnoff to see all the Canadians on the RMU roster.  And I am an RMU grad.

It's not much of a boost to local hockey when basically nobody on the only D1 team around is from WPA. 

An no, I am not an Anti-Canadian racist.  I just don't care to see the entire mens & womens RMU rosters as Canadians when there are a lot of good local hockey players.  It really seems like RMU doesn't bother even looking at local talent.

 

there are only 1,600 ncca d1 hockey players in the WORLD. Those few don’t necessarily get to choose what school they play for to boot! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4/28 are from Pittsburgh and 10/28 are from Canada.

I get what you're saying, and it is somewhat off putting, however even D1 programs like Boston College and North Dakota have a good amount of Canadian players as well as players from other parts of the country. 

As a side note, Interestingly to note, I know two of the local RMU kids personally and both of their paths to D1 were the same (PPE>NAHL>RMU) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Saucey said:

Do other D1 programs have local kids on the roster? I've always been told that statistically your kids' chance of playing D1 is slim because you are competing with the world of hockey players for a spot. Wouldn't make much sense for RMU to do that only to get slaughtered by all the other D1 teams who recruit from the world's pool and don't limit themselves to local players. 

I get what you're saying but to have a roster of 99% foreigners doesn't do anything for local hockey - or hockey in the USA - at all.

Why would fans turn out for RMU hockey if none of the players are local?  Why is why I've never, ever gone to an RMU game despite being an Alum.

I didn't say totally limit to local players but maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the team to be from the USA (and some local) would be nice.  At least most of the other RMU sports have a blend of mostly kids from the USA and a good mix of local players.

Why even have a sport if the entire team is going to be foreigners?  I am not sure who that is helping other than those kids from other countries.  That means scholarship money is going to those kids when those kids otherwise couldn't care less about RMU or Pittsburgh, and there are good players in PA/WV/OH/NY who would LOVE to play local but will never get a shot at RMU other than club hockey. 

If they wanted to find REALLY GOOD local talent, they would.  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When you are a D-1 program Coach and your job depends on how much you win your goal is always to get the best available players. I'm sure Robert Morris would love to have a home grown team as I'm sure it would create a lot more interest in their program. But the reality is that maybe they can get  1 or 2 kids from the area a year. If it's a good year.

All D-1 sports are like that. How many Pitt Basketball players are from SWPA? Football players?  Certainly a few at best.  Just the reality of big time College Athletics.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, forbin said:

4/28 are from Pittsburgh and 10/28 are from Canada.

I get what you're saying, and it is somewhat off putting, however even D1 programs like Boston College and North Dakota have a good amount of Canadian players as well as players from other parts of the country. 

As a side note, Interestingly to note, I know two of the local RMU kids personally and both of their paths to D1 were the same (PPE>NAHL>RMU) 

RMU Mens?  

The RMU women's are far worse in terms of numbers...  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, hockeyisgreat said:

When you are a D-1 program Coach and your job depends on how much you win your goal is always to get the best available players. I'm sure Robert Morris would love to have a home grown team as I'm sure it would create a lot more interest in their program. But the reality is that maybe they can get  1 or 2 kids from the area a year. If it's a good year.

All D-1 sports are like that. How many Pitt Basketball players are from SWPA? Football players?  Certainly a few at best.  Just the reality of big time College Athletics.

I get what you're saying but 1 kid a year from the PGH area on the mens team?  and about 0.5 girls a year locally on the Women's team is ridiculous.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Scooby Doo said:

RMU Mens?  

The RMU women's are far worse in terms of numbers...  

 

Yes the mens team has 4 local kids, 3 or 4 from Ohio, and 10 from Canada. The women's team is much more lopsided.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's very simple. WPA DOES NOT develop hockey players. They take the money. Play lots of games and leave a bunch of kids wanting. I go to a lot of games. The fundamentals that are lacking in our kids is obvious. They can skate and shoot with the best of any one. It's how they play the game that leaves them behind. Maybe instead of kids under the age of 16 playing 60 games and having 40+ on ice practices. They should have 100 practices and 30 games. The NCAA has that sort of schedule and it doesn't seem to hurt the development of their players.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are we talking about their D1 NCAA Team or their D1 ACHA Team.  If you are talking about their ACHA Team, then I agree with you.  If you are talking about NCAA then sorry, I have to disagree.  Anyone who knows how NCAA hockey works knows that if you are offered an NCAA D1 position you are the best of the best, the top 1 or 2%, and chances are you may have already been drafted by the NHL before you start playing NCAA hockey.  For most players this means you were an absolute stud in AAA as a Peewee, bantam and first year of 16U.  You then got offered a spot in one of the very top Junior Leagues in US or Canada at the age of 16 or maybe 17.  You were then a top performer there as well, leading your team and league in stats.  Got drafted around the age of 19 or 20 (probably 4th round or later) and also got an offer from a top NCAA D1 program for when you turn 21.  That is a tall order!  and sorry, just not that many players in western pa that fit that bill.  The good local players wind up in ACHA D1 or D2, where as we said in the other post, no one cares about them anymore.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Denis Lemiuex said:

It's very simple. WPA DOES NOT develop hockey players. They take the money. Play lots of games and leave a bunch of kids wanting. I go to a lot of games. The fundamentals that are lacking in our kids is obvious. They can skate and shoot with the best of any one. It's how they play the game that leaves them behind. Maybe instead of kids under the age of 16 playing 60 games and having 40+ on ice practices. They should have 100 practices and 30 games. The NCAA has that sort of schedule and it doesn't seem to hurt the development of their players.

I could not agree with this more. Could a solution that could help fix this be make room for PAHL teams to practice 3x a week? Although it may not be logistically possible with the amount of ice available.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, forbin said:

I could not agree with this more. Could a solution that could help fix this be make room for PAHL teams to practice 3x a week? Although it may not be logistically possible with the amount of ice available.

There isn't enough ice. Teams could choose not to play all those games, however. Chasing My Hockey rankings with Ws is not the same as development.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is simply the law of large numbers.  X% of kids will be from Pittsburgh.  I agree that NCAA Div 1 Hockey is for the best of the best.  With only 1600 spots across the country that doesn't leave much of an opportunity.  Maybe it is only the best kid from this area every year or maybe even every other year.  

I share the Canadian frustration though.  The CFL limits the number of Americans a team can roster, personally I would love to see something like this in Hockey.  Is there a limit to the number of Americans that can play in the Canadian Junior league?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, HSFBLJ said:

This is simply the law of large numbers.  X% of kids will be from Pittsburgh.  I agree that NCAA Div 1 Hockey is for the best of the best.  With only 1600 spots across the country that doesn't leave much of an opportunity.  Maybe it is only the best kid from this area every year or maybe even every other year.  

I share the Canadian frustration though.  The CFL limits the number of Americans a team can roster, personally I would love to see something like this in Hockey.  Is there a limit to the number of Americans that can play in the Canadian Junior league?

Canadians have been taking the ncca route more and more. The competition in the ohl, whl & qmjhl are higher than ever.  90% of the kids in those top leagues don’t end up pro and don’t have much to show for it. The Canadian players have got wise to the NCAA path and the pros have been getting more involved with ncaa. Now kids good enough for the ohl are deciding to play in the ushl & bchl and try to get half their college education payed for while still keep the pro dream alive. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

RMU has a nice pipeline of Canadian students in several sports (M hockey, W hockey, M lacrosse).  Other sports I checked have significant non-US rosters.

I don't think that is coincidence.  I think it is a planned approach to meeting their enrollment needs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, HSFBLJ said:

I share the Canadian frustration though.  The CFL limits the number of Americans a team can roster, personally I would love to see something like this in Hockey.  Is there a limit to the number of Americans that can play in the Canadian Junior league?

100% agreed

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, HSFBLJ said:

This is simply the law of large numbers.  X% of kids will be from Pittsburgh.  I agree that NCAA Div 1 Hockey is for the best of the best.  With only 1600 spots across the country that doesn't leave much of an opportunity.  Maybe it is only the best kid from this area every year or maybe even every other year.  

I share the Canadian frustration though.  The CFL limits the number of Americans a team can roster, personally I would love to see something like this in Hockey.  Is there a limit to the number of Americans that can play in the Canadian Junior league?

CFL limits roster to 20 Americans. OHL doesn't have any limits - like the NCAA, the bottom line is that teams want to recruit the best kids they can so they can win. At the end of the day, having a couple of WPa kids on the roster can help with goodwill in the community, but having a roster full likely means the team isn't going to be able to compete against the top dogs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...