Hockey Industry's Health Declining

Mike Caples

A decrease in child participation because of rising costs has Michigan’s hockey industry in a decline, according to business leaders within the industry.

According to USA Hockey, the number of registered Michigan members has decreased by 7,000 in the last five years.  After climbing to an all-time high of 69,111 in 2002, membership totals dropped to 62,559 in 2006.  The high expenses of the sport are driving parents away from signing their children up for teams, said JR Boucicaut, category buyer of hockey equipment and store manager for Summit Sports.

“I see it everyday when I have somebody come in; kid expresses interest in playing hockey, and then when they start going around and buying equipment and skates, they’re usually floored,” said Boucicaut, who is also the administrator of modsquadhockey.com, the world’s largest hockey message board.  “It has become an elitist sport.  You’ve got to have money to play it.”

Equipment costs continue to rise; the first model of the Easton Synergy hockey stick cost $150 in 2001, while the 2007 model costs $220.  Art Trost, store manager of Perani’s Hockey World in East Lansing, said that a quality helmet, pants, shoulder pads, and gloves cost around $100 apiece.  Sticks cost average around $170, with the highest at $250, and skates can cost up to $589.

“If you want to get fit up and everything, you’re probably looking at $1500 to $2000, if you want all top of the line stuff,” Trost said.  “Actual ice bills can get pretty pricey, depending on what time you play for and where you play.  When I was growing up it was always around $250 a month, some places you actually have to give them a credit card, $10,000 limit, right in the beginning of the year, and then they go from that.”

There is a correlation between the number of children playing and the success of the Detroit Red Wings, according to Boucicaut.  Michigan’s highest number of registered USA hockey members was in 2002, the same year the Red Wings won their last Stanley Cup.

“I wasn’t in Michigan at the time, but I’ve been told that when the Red Wings were winning Stanley Cups, there were a bunch of kids in the street playing street hockey, and interest was at an all-time high,” Boucicaut said.  “Hockey was one of the top four sports in the U.S., and now its not.”

Craig O'Neill, general manager and vice president of Arctic Edge in Canton, said that children entering the sport is what keeps him in business. 

“That’s the biggest problem you got right now, the young kids,” O’Neill said.  “They are the lifeblood of any organization, or any rink.  Travel is travel, they’re always going to be there.  But house players, those are the ones that take a lot of your ice time, most of your ice time.  You have them at 5 years old, and they’re still with you at 13 or 14 playing bantam or midget house, that’s what you need.”

O’Neill said that his rink is selling all of its ice time, but that they benefit from the many organizations using their facilities.  Arctic Edge is the home rink of Olympians Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, along with the Victory Honda AAA hockey club, four high school teams, and the Canton Hockey Association.  However, Arctic Edge chose not to implement their yearly 10 dollar rate increase this season.  O’Neill said that if present conditions continue, the industry will soon take a hit.

“If the economy in Michigan doesn’t turn around I think its going to get worse before it gets better, and that’s the scary part,” O’Neill said.  “I think that we’re going to be OK for one more year.”

The NHL, USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, the NHLPA and major companies and retailers have joined to form the OneGoal program, designed to help underprivileged children pick up the sport, and to spread the game to new areas.  The program is hosting a show at the Cobo Center the weekend of Nov. 9.

“They’re donating to inner cities and donating to local rinks,” said Boucicaut, who will represent his company at the OneGoal show.  “They have certain equipment allocated, and kids come in there, they size them up and so on, and then the kids get to play, and they get hooked.  That’s the whole point of it.”