Farming and Hockey: It Takes Time

Saturday afternoon. Just finished a little pizza and a big pot of Joe while I attempt to get ready for the evening.

We have the replay of the Dartmouth/Colgate game. Earlier, we had dual screens on the replays of Western Michigan/Michigan game and the Michigan Tech/Denver game (a huge upset by Huskies from Houghton and a very disappointing show on home ice by the Pioneers).

What I noticed here in the Lounge was the nice representation of players from the regions of the United States that draws a lot of scorn from Canadians and Americans in the Northeast. Yes, players from Texas, Arizona and California playing NCAA Division I hockey.

OK, not major junior hockey or the NHL, some might say, but the spread of hockey is showing at the next levels. And that, I would argue, is why any plans to shrink away in shame from the American Southeast, South and Southwest would be mistaken. Granted, I am not picking up the tab for the losses in Atlanta, Phoenix or South Florida, but I do see teams in these areas as paying dividends for hockey as time goes on.

Building up a talent base is much like farming. You keep plowing the same land over and over and over again, and eventually, the land grows tired, not more wheat, corn, soy or cotton.

What the NHL in the warmer climate represents is not a grand payoff now, but an investment down the road in more players. Developing talent is not at the top of the business plan for the NHL, and therefor a priority for NHL fans, but it should be. Look, the KHL is making moves to help the IIHF keep as many talented young Europeans on that side of the Atlantic for as long as possible.

I'm not saying we are going to go back to the days when certain players had to defect to get out of a contract, but I will say that the price of freedom will be what the market dictates. And when governments and international organizations are the capitalists, the cost will be prohibitive.

So build up the domestic market. Clearly Canada has developed the infrastructure for that. And so will the United States, if there is a team nearby to inspire the younger kids to want to take it up. Look, those kids from Paradise Valley, Ariz., Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., and Austin, Tex., didn't come into this world expecting to play hockey.

Everything dictates that they might naturally play baseball, football, golf, soccer, tennis, video games or hooky, but definitely not hockey. And yet they do. If a kid in the Southeast sees the Thrashers and decides the game works for him, great. But if the kid cannot find a local or regional team to watch, the game becomes that much more distant, less likely to inspire. And I enjoy seeing the eyes of inspired children grow into their dream.

Look, you can grow pretty much anything anywhere if you want to. Rice can be grown in the arid Central Valley of California. Flood some land, take a long-term approach toward doing it right and get it done. Same for hockey in the Sun Belt. Flood the rink, plan to be in it for the long haul and get it done.

Time to clean up the Lounge. Be back in a bit. Have to put the Atlanta-Edmonton game on the big screen.