Originally Posted by
Brandon
Playing time is just as much an issue for the WHL. Look at a kid as a 16 year old playing 36 games, he is missing just as many as the kid watching the entire NCAA season (this also seems anecdotal and probably is rare), I would suspect many freshman play a very small amount but so do most rookie WHLers. Even in the 36 games that rookie gets into a large percentage of them he is going to spend in the middle of the bench playing odds and evens with the other rookie in the lineup.
As for Arthur's top 10-15 schools only having good facilities, I think probably a good number of the facilities are at the very least competitive with most Jr A rinks and some are much better. Come on Moose Jaw's arena is outdoing any NCAA facility? I don't think so. There are pits in every league but from the people I have talked to who played NCAA hockey (for the most part definitely not at a top 10 or 15 school) they loved the facilities and life and felt it was a huge upgrade on their WHL lives.
The biggest problem with the NCAA is Paul Kelly's group and the poor way they have handled it. The fighting and insulting is terrible from that side and they need to learn to sell their league. The NCAA is a great league and probably is the best route for a large percentage of young players. Yes it takes hard work to study and play, but the truth is many of the CHL players who could have played NCAA will do the same when they leave the CHL for CIS schools.
The WHL wins in pro prep, visibility and prospect pool right now. The WHL is the perfect place for a player who is going to be a high end prospect with good pro potential or a player who may not want to go to university and would prefer a technical school, college or other training institution. The WHL's versatile education program trumps the NCAA be a mile. It all depends on what type of player you are and where you see yourself in the future.