I was along for the ride until i read something thats blatantly untrue. It makes me wonder what else in the article isn’t true.
... ice hockey is a varsity sport mostly at elite northern institutions.
This is blatantly untrue. Almost every high school in cold weather, hockey hotbed areas have hockey programs. A lot of hockey players come from very blue collar backgrounds. The top players/college prospects may be recruited to Catholic and private schools on scholarship. Some of the most elite are recruited to juniors programs.
Charlie McAvoy (Bruins) was a U18 Team USA teammate of Matthews. He attended a public high school before being recruited to a juniors team. He moved to Michigan to play for the team while living with a host family and attending high school there. One of McAvoy’s Bruin’s defense teammates, Matt Grzelcyk grew up in a very tough, blue collar neighborhood (think The Town). His father works the floor crew at TD Garden. Grzelcyk played high school at a local Catholic school.