Is high school hockey skating on thin ice?

Byline: Rich Garven

The more things change the more they stay the same is a phrase that applies to many things, one of them not being public high school hockey in Central Massachusetts.

Like Cape Cod, rude drivers and the Kennedys, hockey helps define this state. But just as shifting sands have transformed the landscape of the outer Cape, so, too, have the winds of change irreversibly altered the scholastic ice scene in the interior of the state.

By all accounts, there are currently more schools involved with public high school hockey in Central Mass. than ever before. The sport is expensive, ice time hard to come by and the prospects of playing in college bleak. None of that seems to matter to an athletic community affectionately described by Auburn athletic director Bill Garneau as being "kind of off on an island by its own."

But bigger doesn't always translate to better because the island has been overrun by others. Private schools - both prep and Catholic - have been joined (overtaken?) in the last 10 years by junior leagues in the grab for talent. Parents are doling out upward of $6,000 a year so their son - in some cases as young as 14 - can spend seven months a year practicing and playing hockey for these college feeder programs.

The junior movement, as one might suspect, has been received by the region's beleaguered public school coaches with the same enthusiasm as soft ice.

"I'm not saying these junior teams are bad," Nashoba coach Steve Kendall said, "but in general it hasn't been a good thing for high school hockey."

Wooden sticks, fiberglass masks and wool sweaters aren't coming back. And the junior leagues clearly aren't going away. So what are the public schools left with? The answer would be an expanding and competitive scene, but one with an ever-shrinking pool of talent.

"The Central Mass. kids, sincerely, most of them are playing public high school hockey around here because they can't play juniors," said one coach willing to exchange honesty for anonymity.

Yet, Hudson Catholic, Northbridge and Oakmont are among the schools that have either started a program or resurrected one in the last decade, bolstering the area total to 24 teams.

All signs point toward Nipmuc hitting the ice for the first time in 2008. Eleven teams operate under cooperative agreements involving another 16 schools, meaning 40 schools have a hand in hockey.

That's far less than the 59 public schools that field boys' basketball teams, but a remarkable figure considering hockey was, if you'll pardon the expression, skating on thin ice some 20 years ago due to fallout from Proposition 2-1/2.

"Hockey about fell off the face of the earth," said Pete Richards, the former Nashoba Regional AD whose involvement with the sport spans four decades.

In regard to growth then, consider this to be a renaissance after the dark ages.

Fourteen teams have qualified for this year's Central Mass. Tournament, which begins Wednesday and will conclude March 10 with the championship game at the DCU Center in Worcester. That's about the norm, but what's different is the number of teams with a legitimate chance at actually making it onto the ice in Worcester.

Four schools - North Middlesex (5), Marlboro (4), Shrewsbury (2) and Leominster (1) - have combined to win the last 12 titles. The majority of those years you could pencil in the finalists before a puck was dropped in December.

Parity was on full display last season as sixth-seeded North Middlesex defeated surprising Fitchburg in the final. There appear to be eight teams with a legitimate shot at winning it all this season. They range from old-guard members Auburn and Hudson to emerging power Westboro to rejuvenated Grafton.

"It's going to be great," longtime Shrewsbury coach Phil Irving said. "There shouldn't be any blowouts in the tournament."

The team that ultimately wins this year's championship will undoubtedly have much to be proud of. But the overall feeling is the 2007 champion wouldn't be good enough to sharpen the skates of the best teams from 10 to 15 years ago.

Mike Nanartowich played hockey at Hudson, graduating in 1983. He was an assistant for one season at his alma mater before being named coach in 1990.

In 1993, the Hawks finished 20-2-1 after losing in the Central Mass. final to Oakmont. How would that team fair today?

"Bottom line, they'd run roughshod over anybody playing today - anybody," Nanartowich confidently said.

Four years later, Leominster lost to Hanover in the state final. Kendall was behind the bench as a Blue Devil assistant and obviously liked what he saw. Time hasn't altered that view.

"I don't see a team in Central Mass. that could touch that team," Kendall said. "The skill we had every day in practice; the depth, I just don't see it anymore. Maybe those Marlboro High teams the last few years (2002-05), but there were three or four teams back then like that."

That isn't to say that schools in the '80s and '90s were overflowing with Division 1 collegiate talent. The elite players - with the rare exceptions of a Hal Gill at Nashoba or a Steve Tepper at Westboro, for example - weren't skating for their local high school back then either. They were playing for the likes of St. John's and Cushing Academy and, to some degree, junior teams that were nowhere near as structured and competitive as they are today.

The lack of depth that has diluted today's product is more a result of the solid - but not spectacular - players who are seeking to elevate their game and further their career by going the non-public route. John Butler, Marlboro's coach since 1985, thinks the majority of today's first-line players would have been third- and fourth-liners not so long ago.

"Every team has one or two guys, and you still have to watch them, but they're not dominant," Butler said.

Holy Cross coach Paul Pearl doesn't see the increased exodus as an indictment against public schools, just part of the course being charted (read: specialization) in nearly every sport these days.

"A lot of guys aren't playing for their town team in squirts," Pearl noted. "There is a real push to these programs. It's just a different world now. Parents are getting their kids into the best possible scenario at a young age."

An increasing number of parents believe that's junior hockey.

"Right now, fortunately or unfortunately - depending on how you look at it - juniors is the way to go," Worcester State coach John Guiney said.

That being said, Guiney has a reputation for taking chances on players coming straight out of high school. At least a half-dozen current Lancers have no junior experience, including senior forward Chris Krawczyk of Marlboro.

Fitchburg State has long been known for recruiting local talent during Dean Fuller's 23 seasons as coach. Eight of his 26 players are from the area. There are five public schoolers, including former Hudson standout Chris Brecken, two junior products and one Catholic schooler.

Exactly half the players are from in-state. "Not long ago 75 percent of the roster was Massachusetts kids," Fuller noted.

Now, close to two-thirds of his roster is comprised of junior players. They come from as far away as Alaska, Missouri and Washington to pay and play at Fitchburg State, which, like all Division 3 schools, offers no scholarships.

And if you're a parent with dreams of your son landing a Division 1 scholarship and he's playing for a public school, well, wake up. Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern and UMass have just two players total who were developed in high school (that's Catholic, not public) and able to make the jump to directly to college.

"It's almost impossible to play in college without playing in juniors - even in the lower levels," said Craig Boutilier, the current Northstar Youth Forum manager whose resume includes both playing and coaching in college.

That's a factual opinion, and one begrudgingly acknowledged by most public school coaches. Yet, those same people wonder aloud why players must be forced to choose between giving up the high school experience for the hope of playing in college.

Ryan Howe, a T&G Super Teamer who led Fitchburg to the Central Mass. final last season, is a definite college prospect. He's also one of the handful of players with that kind of ability still skating for a public school, having decided to return for his senior year because he wanted to finish where he started.

Howe is one of the few swimming against a powerful tide that isn't going to recede. He may be one of the last.

"About five years down the road, it's going to be like that," Howe said of a complete junior takeover. "There won't be a lot of good players left that are still playing (high school hockey)."

Times change and so, too, has public high school hockey in Central Massachusetts.

The game isn't necessarily the better for it, but thanks to an upswing in school and community support it is bigger.

That, like a shot at an empty net, should never be taken for granted.

Jim Wilson of the Telegram & Gazette staff contributed to this report.

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: Ryan Howe, Fitchburg High Senior