Blog: Mites Up 30% in Illinois

The United States of Hockey blog, a CAYH favorite, has a new series titled "Raw Numbers" where Chris Peters parses USA Hockey registration numbers. Mr. Peters has tackled this project to determine the impact of the presence of an NHL club on overall hockey participation, and is inspired by the impending departure of the Thrashers from Atlanta.

The latest installment in the series, Raw Numbers: Hockey’s Growth in the United States — 1990-2010, has this bit on Illinois:

In addition to simply having the NHL team, if the local club is doing well and building excitement, the same can be said for hockey as a whole. For a quick example, the state of Illinois saw record growth at the 8 & Under age level in 2010-11. The number of boys and girls under eight playing hockey in Illinois increased by 30.1% in the season following the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup.

As we know from previous posts, hockey participation in Illinois grew only 7.3% in the decade leading up to the first Stanley Cup in quite literally forever for the Blackhawks. Doing some quick math, that means that when the final tallies are in the number of registered 8 and under players in Illinois was over 6,000 last season!

Let's hope that the new ADM program leads to better retention than hockey has experienced in the past at this age.

The flip side is this:

What if your club didn't grow last season?




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