High School Hockey vs. AAA-Wisconsin Prep Hockey Forum Debate Rages

It seems that my comments regarding 4 Wisconsin high school players being drafted in the USHL vs. no full-time Wisconsin AAA players sparked a bit of an uproar on the Wisconsin Prep Hockey message board. Lots of interesting points were made by all involved. Since that post I went back and took a look at the 2005 USHL draft out of curiosity to see how many players were drafted from both Wisconsin high schools and Wisconsin AAA teams. The count was Wisconsin high school teams 6, Wisconsin AAA teams 2 in that draft (1 of the Wisconsin AAA team players drafted in 2005 is from Florida, graduated from Culver and then played AAA 1 year before being drafted from what I can tell).

There obviously are many more high school players than AAA players in Wisconsin, and the USHL certainly isn't the only Junior league in the country (although it is the best). What I'm trying to say is my "digging up of numbers of draftees" is hardly scientific but does seem to point to the fact that kids can stay with their high school hockey teams, represent their friends, family, community and high school on the ice during the regular season, and play with a Before and After team and get all the exposure they need.

In the spirit of keeping things positive I have chosen to present what is right about high school hockey rather than attacking or questioning AAA hockey. As I have stated before, and will likely state again in the future-I believe that the growth of Before and After Teams in Wisconsin will keep more talented players at home than ever before, which will help the talent level in high school hockey rise even further.