The Wisconsin men's hockey team picked up another quality in-state recruit last week when defensman Matt Berkovitz (Ashwaubenon, Wis.) gave a verbal commitment to the Badgers via his twitter account.
Berkovitz joins fellow defenseman Keegan Ford (Waunakee, Wis.) as the second home grown prospect to commit to Wisconsin in the last month.
There is no doubt that, in most circumstances, a geographical pipeline will always exist, especially in states like Wisconsin that only feature a single Division I program.
There will always be a handful of kids like Ford who, for a variety of reasons, have always wanted to play for the hometown team. Besides, being able to regularly play in front of family and friends is always an attractive option, especially for those in the younger lot who make commitments early in their playing career.
"Obviously since I was a little kid, with my dad coaching and stuff, I have always wanted to be a Badger," Ford said. "One of the biggest parts is that it's 20 minutes from my house and my parents and my family and all of my friends get to see me play.
But, successful programs are built upon much more than a handful of players who possess a natural affinity toward a particular school.
Nothing wrong with taking care of your own, so long as they are talented enough to be part of a winning tradition. In order for that system to work, local high schools must be able to produce the type of high-end prospects that the Badgers desire.
While, it is true that much can be said for the importance of junior hockey in the developmental equation, young athletes still need to develop skills to even make it that far.
Recent commitments such as Berkovitz and Ford suggest that teams around the state are answering the bell. It has been a combined effort between WIAA sanctioned teams and club opportunities like the Team Wisconsin program.
"We've taken a lot of steps forward in the past four or five years. The addition of WIAA hockey in the Green Bay area certainly helped," Section Wisconsin Hockey Coaches Association board member Cory McCracken said. "With this team Wisconsin program, kids get a chance to play 25 or 30 games against top-end Tier I programs in the fall."
Ford is one of many players who have taken advantage of the extra opportunities.
"I started playing summer tournaments," Ford said "I was lucky enough to go to Toronto and Winnipeg to play with some select teams and obviously that helped out, playing against some of the top kids from Canada and some of the top kids from your own age group."
When it comes to seeing how the state's best measure up, McCracken echoed Ford's message.
"Our elite players are getting the chance to be compared to other elite players in their age group," McCracken said. "Then they get a chance to go back and play high school hockey and enjoy that experience and it just offers them a complete package of development.
It may seem surprising to some that young standouts need any experience in addition to playing club hockey on the national (and sometimes international) levels. But, Ford pointed to his days playing with his high school team as a crucial part of his development.
"I think the biggest change was me coming in as a freshman and playing with guys who are 17, 18-years-old and having to mature a little bit earlier," Ford said. "It just made me realize that I could get so much better and playing with those older guys really helped me out."
Experiences like Ford's epitomize the well-rounded experience that they tandem of WIAA and club hockey hope to provide.
"What people don't see on the outside, is that they get to be normal high school students and focus on the grades and the academics and getting into the gym and working out," McCracken said. "Doing stuff as a high school student-athlete in order to be a college player eventually.".
According to McCracken, the positive changes are happening slowly, but surely. Right now, the focus appears to be on the upper echelon players in Wisconsin.
"The depth of what we have in our state may not have changed a whole bunch in the past couple years,McCracken said. "But the high-end players that we have, now we have more of those kids in our state"
"I think high school hockey, in general, has taken a step forward," McCracken said. "UW has, certainly, taken notice of that."
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