Boston Globe Boys' high school hockey is ‘having an existential crisis.’ It starts with the rinks.

[Fenway]

High school hockey as we knew it is dying.


Seventy-eight cities and towns have dropped boys’ hockey since 2001-02, according to MIAA records. Fifteen new co-op programs were created. In the last eight years, 240 fewer boys and 237 fewer girls signed up.
By Matt Porter Globe Staff, Updated March 5, 2025, 5:00 a.m.

Boys' high school hockey is ‘having an existential crisis.’ It starts with the rinks. - The Boston Globe

The MIAA was once where future pros developed. Now, prep schools and club programs have shifted the balance of talent. “Massachusetts is having an existential crisis,” one expert said.

www.bostonglobe.com

I have saved the entire article as a PDF so you can download it.

Some of those in Massachusetts who coach, parent, and play hockey at the amateur level say something is broken in the way we develop players. At the grassroots level, they say, the sport has lost its way.

Clearly, the last 25 years, the ground here has shifted.

Gone are the simple days of playing town hockey, then for the local high school, then heading off to play in college. We are now the wild west of the east.
Private money has taken over the game, charging exorbitant prices for spots on exclusive teams with the promise of making it big. Families dump thousands of dollars into a sport where a bottleneck at the top — so few spots, so many players — has made playing in college a rare feat.

---

Taking a shoulder-to-chest hit in all of this is the MIAA, once the place where future pros developed. The club teams that grow our best players shrug, saying they’re just serving parents and kids who want more, more, more.

Click to read more...

 

[DarrenBanks56]

such an expensive sport

 

[JCRO]

Its happening in NH as well.

I dont have explicit details as Matt does here. But I know of several schools (both who I played for and who I played against) 15 years ago now that either dont have a team or have combined schools. I think there was even a three school combination into one team.

Hockey is bleeding popularity. Its sad.

I talked to a Dad at work today whose daughter is approaching high school and he said its all about the private schools collecting the talent in the area.

 

[Deal Law]

This is absolutely the case in PA. When we lived in MA, my son (8, 9, 10 years old at the time) played for the Brookline town "travel" team. He loved hockey, went to hockey camp at Dexter on the side, wanted to continue to play in Jr. High and High School (I went to/played at Lawrence Academy and all he wanted to do was follow me).

We moved to PA (for numerous reasons; I hate this place) and I tried to get him signed up for hockey and I immediately realized the system here is broken AF. Everything is private and tied to specific rinks. You have to pay exorbitant rink fees and team fees to even try out for the team and then you may not make it or play. There is no option for kids who just want to play hockey without the goal of trying to play beyond high school, just because they love hockey. Everything is ultra competitive.

I had a guy at my house looking at my gas line and he had a son (10-11 yo) who played on a "select" travel team and he was trying to explain to me how it works. He explained his son made this team but plays fourth line minutes or is routinely benched because the coach doesn't like his family and because some of the other players on the team needed the exposure more because they were legacies at some shitty catholic schools down here that have "good" hockey programs.

The entire systems is f***ed. Sounds like my home state is falling into the same trap.

 

[Morris Wanchuk]

I grew up near Springfield MA in the 1990s

Within the "GSL" which was just a local non-select league. We had (off of memory)

Ludlow
WTM
Holy Name
Tri City
Springfield Capitals
Nanotuck
Amherst

Most divisions had a A, B, and C team. Tons of kids playing.

All within 20 mins of each other. Two games a weekend, 2 practices a week. By the end of my career we added Brattleboro, Greenfield, North Adams, and Pittsfield.

Now that I am in the Upper Valley of VT/NH there are only two teams and the rest are travel to southern NH every week.

IMO, the breaking point for me was when they made the stick, the entry level piece of equipment, a $100+ piece of equipment. You could get used equipment but not sticks. That plus the CTE risks, my kids will not be hockey players.

Also, I just spent too much of my life playing hockey. September-April being the standard season meant I never played a fall sport. I never did much on weekends but hockey. I look at all the fun stuff we do on the weekends now and wish I had that opportunity as a kid.

Moving to VT I thought hockey would be big here but it is way behind basketball at VT's #1 winter sport. Basketball is huge here in the winter. Cheap, indoor, brings a lot of small towns together. Hockey is a niche rich kid sport.

This reinforces why I am happy to leave MA. The lack of opportunities here in VT is a good thing for kids. Our HS has Soccer/Cross Country, Basketball/Skiing, Softball/Baseball/Track. All your friends play rec, practice time is an extension of social time.

Leave it to adults to ruin everything for kids.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

Its happening in NH as well.

I dont have explicit details as Matt does here. But I know of several schools (both who I played for and who I played against) 15 years ago now that either dont have a team or have combined schools. I think there was even a three school combination into one team.

Hockey is bleeding popularity. Its sad.

I talked to a Dad at work today whose daughter is approaching high school and he said its all about the private schools collecting the talent in the area.

It’s really not bleeding popularity. It’s just going to different places.

I have two kids in club hockey. The 2015s have 48 teams just in the Fed alone, and that will be more next year. Plus the E9/PHL have a bunch too.

Town programs are mostly falling way behind. The system could be fixed for sure but it’s too far gone to expect it now.

 

[Fenway]

Moving to VT I thought hockey would be big here but it is way behind basketball at VT's #1 winter sport. Basketball is huge here in the winter. Cheap, indoor, brings a lot of small towns together.

Same applies to Maine.

 

[JAD]

High school hockey as we knew it is dying.


Seventy-eight cities and towns have dropped boys’ hockey since 2001-02, according to MIAA records. Fifteen new co-op programs were created. In the last eight years, 240 fewer boys and 237 fewer girls signed up.
By Matt Porter Globe Staff, Updated March 5, 2025, 5:00 a.m.

Boys' high school hockey is ‘having an existential crisis.’ It starts with the rinks. - The Boston Globe

The MIAA was once where future pros developed. Now, prep schools and club programs have shifted the balance of talent. “Massachusetts is having an existential crisis,” one expert said.

www.bostonglobe.com

I have saved the entire article as a PDF so you can download it.

Some of those in Massachusetts who coach, parent, and play hockey at the amateur level say something is broken in the way we develop players. At the grassroots level, they say, the sport has lost its way.

Clearly, the last 25 years, the ground here has shifted.

Gone are the simple days of playing town hockey, then for the local high school, then heading off to play in college. We are now the wild west of the east.
Private money has taken over the game, charging exorbitant prices for spots on exclusive teams with the promise of making it big. Families dump thousands of dollars into a sport where a bottleneck at the top — so few spots, so many players — has made playing in college a rare feat.

---

Taking a shoulder-to-chest hit in all of this is the MIAA, once the place where future pros developed. The club teams that grow our best players shrug, saying they’re just serving parents and kids who want more, more, more.

It really is sad ... and frustrating. The cost to play ice hockey when I was kid is one of the reasons I played so much street hockey when I was young. Blacktop, tennis courts, parking lots ... no cost to play. Town leagues weren't cheap back then and one never knew if the lakes and ponds would freeze over or for how long. I miss those days. How I always wished they had a professional street hockey league when I was a kid, lol.

 

[Morris Wanchuk]

Same applies to Maine.

The VT state championship is played in the 1930s Barre Auditorium. Its one of the best sporting events I have been to. 1500 people cheering on kids who will never be in front of that many people again. Just an awesome experience, will be there this weekend.

 

[LouJersey]

Our town leagues have all shrunk except for soccer and lacrosse.. NJ has HS teams but everyone plays club

 

[dafoomie]

It sucked 25 years ago too. Too many barriers to entry and too many stakeholders who want it that way.

 

[PlayMakers]

It's an interesting article but I don't really agree with a lot of his statements...

First off, hockey participation is not shrinking. There are 100,000 more people who play now than 20 years ago, according to USA Hockey.

"AAA hockey is no longer for elite players it's for elite players who can afford it..."
Rubbish. Every elite team typically has a handful of players who pay less. You can bet your ass if there is someone good enough there is an elite team that will let him play for free.

"Every parent I talk to is stressed about it. They want kids to just be kids..."
That's a load of bull. Parents are 10x worse than the kids. The kids aren't asking to play for the "elite team." The parents push it. When a kid gets cut from the Kings, his parents drive an hour so he can go play for the Bandits just to stay in the "Elite League." Parents are also completely blind to their own son's limitations and determined to push their kids to play on the best teams. The stories I could tell of kids pulled off teams where they were good players, had friends, liked the coach, and the parent pulled them off to "move them up."

Parents are also one of the reasons high schools are dropping their teams. Parents are drinking in the parking lots, screaming at coaches about little Timmy's ice time. Accosting referees in the hallways. And that lady is the school nurse. A lot of Athletic Directors are flipping coaches every other year just to keep the parents at bay. It's easier to fire the coach than deal with the parents (and a new coach typically has a 2 year window before the parents start complaining.) For a lot of towns, it's just not worth it.

So yeah, high school hockey is nothing like it used to be. The best players in high school hockey are the freshmen who are leaving next year to repeat 9th grade at Nobles or the American Hockey Academy. The same goes for the coaches. High school coaches are constantly abused and paid like crap ($5-8k per season, after the season has completed). So schools lose good coaches to 'real programs' willing to pay for quality coaching.

I think, blaming club teams and junior programs because high school hockey is bad and losing players is like when newspapers blamed the internet for losing subscribers. If you want players to stay in town hockey or in their high school, give them a reason. Keep the good coaches by paying them fairly for their time. Defend them against the parents. Educate the parents and hold them accountable for their horrible behavior.

What's also missing from this article is that there is a path from high school to college hockey, it's called the ACHA. The ACHA does recruit high school players, but a lot of them have given up on playing in college because articles like this say they have no hope of being a college athlete.

The one 'truth' I think is fair from this article is the cost of ice time. It costs over $400 an hour now to rent ice. The budget for hockey at a high school is more than all of the other sports combined.

 

[DarrenBanks56]

It really is sad ... and frustrating. The cost to play ice hockey when I was kid is one of the reasons I played so much street hockey when I was young. Blacktop, tennis courts, parking lots ... no cost to play. Town leagues weren't cheap back then and one never knew if the lakes and ponds would freeze over or for how long. I miss those days. How I always wished they had a professional street hockey league when I was a kid, lol.

yup.
wish i had money.wish my parents hsd money.
same thing. i played street hockey because it was cheaper as a kid.
i play mens hockey now. but thank you credit card.
also. i play the cheap version of golf now too. which is disc golf.lol

 

[Fenway]

Sadly, too many parents spend a fortune hoping for that elusive scholarship.

 

[sarge88]

There would be no way to do it because of logistics and the egos that many parents, program owners (and some players) have, but if you could take any town/area that is a strong hockey market and only let the top 40% of kids play "select" or whatever they play that isn't the "town league", and in essence force the remaining 60% to play town, it would be a much stronger program/area.

My guess is that the 20% of kids below the top 40% (who would be playing select in my plan) are better than then 40% below them, but are really just roster filler, cash cows for the programs.

Sure this would mean less "select" teams, as they would be going from having 60% of kids in a town/area, to 40%, but it would strengthen the town teams, and an argument could be made that the 20% who were left off the select teams may develop better, as they will become the top players in the town league, getting more ice time, pp, pk, etc.

 

[Gee Wally]

Go Arlington Go!

 

[sarge88]

Go Arlington Go!

No offense to my SJP friends --- but it's always good to see a public beat a private this late in the tourney!

 

[BigGoalBrad]

Mind boggling that the NHL does so well with attendance at insane prices despite non existent youth participation.

 

[bigbadbruins1]

It's a shame. This sport has gotten so out of hand with costs the average family can't afford a child to play hockey.
To buy a full set of equipment costs nearly a thousand dollars if you buy brand new for a CHILD. a high school/ junior player that cost jumps closer to two thousand just buying middle of the road gear. Add league costs ( not sure what those run anymore, but I remember my parents paying 2-3k for Bridgewater bandits back in the early 2000s), and you need a solid 5k + disposable income for ONE kid to play hockey.

I mean heck, the new sticks cost 300-400$. that is absolutely asinine.

 

[Number8]

High school hockey as we knew it is dying.


Seventy-eight cities and towns have dropped boys’ hockey since 2001-02, according to MIAA records. Fifteen new co-op programs were created. In the last eight years, 240 fewer boys and 237 fewer girls signed up.
By Matt Porter Globe Staff, Updated March 5, 2025, 5:00 a.m.

Boys' high school hockey is ‘having an existential crisis.’ It starts with the rinks. - The Boston Globe

The MIAA was once where future pros developed. Now, prep schools and club programs have shifted the balance of talent. “Massachusetts is having an existential crisis,” one expert said.

www.bostonglobe.com

I have saved the entire article as a PDF so you can download it.

Some of those in Massachusetts who coach, parent, and play hockey at the amateur level say something is broken in the way we develop players. At the grassroots level, they say, the sport has lost its way.

Clearly, the last 25 years, the ground here has shifted.

Gone are the simple days of playing town hockey, then for the local high school, then heading off to play in college. We are now the wild west of the east.
Private money has taken over the game, charging exorbitant prices for spots on exclusive teams with the promise of making it big. Families dump thousands of dollars into a sport where a bottleneck at the top — so few spots, so many players — has made playing in college a rare feat.

---

Taking a shoulder-to-chest hit in all of this is the MIAA, once the place where future pros developed. The club teams that grow our best players shrug, saying they’re just serving parents and kids who want more, more, more.

Club sports are the worst in my book. My son is (was) a very good soccer player. However, the pressure to play on club teams was intense and ultimately was the only way for him to be able to play against kids with similar or better abilities. Traditional town teams were decimated and club became the only option. Expensive and exclusive. We come from an area with a huge Brazilian community -- hugely talented pool of players, many of whom could never dream of paying club fees or affording the travel necessary for same. They play pick-up games (the way it should be and how we lived as kids) while the sport as a whole dies on the vine.

I know it's different for hockey due to the ice and the equipment but the end result will be the same. Fewer kids playing. But you know, little Johnny Dad is convinced he's gonna get a full ride. Yes, he's only 7, but he's special. Club owners/coaches/consultants tap into that mentality like a vein of gold running through rocks.

-- "Yes, yes. We see great potential in your Johnny. He's a special player. Please don't tell anyone we said that though. Don't want to cause division."

-- "Yes, yes. We see great potential in your Mary. She's a special player. Please don't tell anyone we said that though. Don't want to cause division."

-- "Yes, yes. We see great potential in your Davey. He's a special player. Please don't tell anyone we said that though. Don't want to cause division."

- "Yes, yes. We see great potential in your Penelope. She's a special player. Please don't tell anyone we said that though. Don't want to cause division."

 

[mjhfb]

Frustrated people create solutions to their problems, and then sell it as a solution to others problems as well.
But it rarely is.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

People keep saying participation is down but it's not. Even Minnesota and Mass have been flat (discounting the COVID drop). And a lot more girls playing. This is just inaccurate.

I have two kids in club hockey, one on the lower end and one who is pretty good. Great experiences with both, and the thought of being in our town program instead gives me the willies. It's a disaster.