Is the USA catching up to Canada?

It doesn't get old watching that video, for me it’s something special, especially as an American hockey fan. It had been too long since the last USA title in the World Junior Hockey Championship. There is no doubt about it, team USA’s win in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada was big,no matter how you spin it Team USA was the underdog.

I also don’t know if the has USA caught up to Canada in hockey, this argment might be a bit premature. Hockey is Canada’s game and they have enough talent to field two or three WJC teams. I do think team USA has closed the gap between the two countries, there is still a ways to go.

This also makes one wonder what USA hockey could be like in the future. The Canadians are still the king of international hockey but USA has had some big win in hockey as of late, Fargo U-18, Saskatoon U-20…

On the heels of Canada's loss to the U.S. at the world juniors and Al Maki's story today on the development of hockey in both countries, I wanted to chime in on the topic a little.

My own theory as to why there’s a shift is that there are simply a lot more Americans playing hockey these days than a decade or two ago. USA Hockey is just a far bigger organization than it used to be.

All of those American juniors in the tournament were born around 1991 and would have entered the system five or six years later, right as participation in hockey in the U.S. was beginning to catch up with Canada (in terms of overall numbers).

I'm just using the data provided by Hockey Canada and USA Hockey on their websites, but it does make sense that with so many American youngsters now playing in places like California (and going on to the WHL for junior hockey) that the number of total players in the U.S. is up significantly.

It's a trend that's been evident in the NHL for a while, too. Ten years ago, Canadian players made up roughly 60 per cent of the NHL, a number that was down to around 52 per cent last season. American born players, however, are up from about 16 per cent of the NHL to close to 20.
[Globe and Mail]