Quote:
Originally posted by Dan_ref
Only 22 percent of the players in the N.H.L. attended college. Yet there is never an outcry over youthful debuts in hockey, soccer, tennis, golf and baseball. Why not? Here's my guess: those sports are dominated by whites, while 78 percent of N.B.A. players and 65 percent of N.F.L. players are black.
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It's a bit of a stretch, but he also fails to acknowledge a very important point:
The route to the NHL for the majority of players is major junior hockey. In Canada (and remember, the majority of NHL'ers are still Canadian), once a player enters major junior, he forfeits his U.S. college eligibility. It is very much a one-way, all-or-nothing shot. The reason only 22 percent of NHL'ers graduate college is because only 22 percent (probably less, actually) of NHL players actually even go to college on their way to the NHL.
Also, when Wayne Gretzky debuted in Pro Hockey (with the old WHA) he was actually 17, not 18.