one2gamble
Registered User
- Dec 24, 2007
- 17,706
- 9,102
This argument is much different than the one made earlier and would make sense for Macklin and his family. "There isnt enough high end talent or competition" is different than "actively harmed his development".You are right about most development happening outside of the actual game itself, but what these families are in it for is A) the higher level of competition that the So. Cal market can produce, and B) the practices and ice time they get outside of games.
If you join a club, you don't just play games, you get on ice practice with the club, off ice practice with the club etc.
The big advantage of the So. Cal teams, is that their NHL counterparts have invested heavily into youth hockey. The amount of rinks that both the Kings and the Ducks have in So. Cal compared to the Sharks is staggering. San Jose has 3 facilities, and only one of them produces the higher end teams that compete with the So. Cal teams.
They also have a MUCH larger population of kids to pull from, so the talent level is automatically going to be better. Not to mention former NHL players who retire and move to So. Cal. There isn't a ton of ex NHL'ers who decide to retire to the Bay Area.
Also, it makes much more sense to hop on a Southwest flight to Orange County a few times a month than travel across the country to Boston for your Childs youth hockey, so this is why a lot of parents do this.
It's a legitimate gripe that the Sharks have not done more to foster hockey growth in northern California, the front office has been inept and without a clear vision since inception. Southern California hockey though is not exactly a historical development area either. The Kings didn't do a whole lot for most of their existence. The Sharks are behind but hockey on the west coast has only started getting serious over the last 10-15 years at most. The state hasn't even gotten their universities serious about Hockey.
That said, you could probably add 10 sheets of ice around San Jose/Sout Bay/Central Coast tomorrow and they would be full.