Trump’s Trade War Ignites Hockey Debate Between United States and Canada

By Tony Farina

The trade war between the U. S. and Canada, ignited by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, is already big news as the two long-time allies and trading partners are trading verbal shots and the new Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, seeks alliances with Europe as he deals with Trump’s tariff attacks.

As the new Canadian leader was sworn in last week, he said Canada is fundamentally different from America and will “never, ever, in any way, shape, or form, be part of the United States.”

So there you have it. The U. S. and Canada are in a bit of a rough patch in their relationship even as the Frozen Four men’s and women’s hockey championships march forward with the women’s semifinal including Wisconsin after defeating Clarkson, 4 – 1, who will play Minnesota Friday, March 21, their sixth matchup of the season.

But while the Frozen Four hockey plays out on the ice, covered by ESPN, this story is more about the competition, if you will, between U. S. and Canadian born hockey players which has long been unbalanced in favor of Canada but were noting here in the interests of fairness that U. S. born players are slowly catching up to the Canadian born players in the NHL. Reports indicate Canada has 41 percent of the players with the Americans about 29 percent. The gap has been steadily narrowing.

But looking now at the college hockey numbers, it is a very interesting comparison and decidedly, until now, mostly favoring Canada, according to local experts who have studied the matter.

Our team of experts says Canadian universities take a significant number of Division 1 scholarships away from U.S. born players both in men’s and women’s programs. Maybe, as the new Canadian prime minister said, “In trade and in hockey, Canada will win.” The trade war is in doubt but Canadian hockey players have a big edge now although as we noted earlier, in the NHL the gap is narrowing. Colleges must change policies to make it a fair fight.

Our experts say Canadians make up a large part of ice hockey rosters, taking away scholarships from U.S. players seeing that only 22 players can dress for a game. Here in New York, St. Lawrence has 14 Canadian women listed on their current roster and rival Clarkson has 18 Canadian women listed.

Those unbalanced numbers are much the same for the men. Rochester Institute of Technology lists 18 Canadians as Canadian ice hockey players flock to the U.S., gain access to top universities, and get most of the Division I scholarships.

Much different picture north of the border. McGill University has zero born U.S. players on its men’s roster and also zero on the women’s roster. Likewise, Brock University has zero U.S. born players on their men’s and women’s rosters. Some would say that Canadian universities do not look for diversity or acceptance in that regard when it comes to U.S. born players.

Let’s look at it this way to see the imbalance. Canadian players take over 70 percent of the roster spots and scholarships in U. S. hockey while Canadians universities give U.S. players the cold shoulder. For the record, approximately 28 percent of NCAA Division 1 men’s hockey players are Canadian, with roughly 519 players representing the country while 63 percent are from the United States, totaling 1,132 players. Similarly, 32 percent of NCAA Division 1 women’s players are Canadian, and the number of Europeans steadily increasing annually, doubling since 2010.

Our team says maybe it is time U. S. universities limit roster spots for non-U. S. born players that participate in college athletics and perhaps limit scholarships to U.S. born players. If the Canadians want to play in the U.S., limit the free rides if Canadian universities continue the cold-shoulder policy on American players.

Why does a country like Canada, about the size of California in population, get to dominate NCAA college sports like hockey when few U.S. born players get their chance in Canada?

It is true that Canadian coaching staffs in the U.S. have catered to Canadians, recruited north of the border, and then go back to Canada during the off season to work with Canadian players. It is slowly changing at last, but USA hockey and the government should take a look at this unequal balance of having Canadian hockey players dominate college programs in the U.S.

Maybe it is time for the U.S. to limit the number of roster spots that go to international players in all U.S. college sports. If that were to happen, with all universities given equal allotments of international players, the level of participation in U.S. in USA Hockey would increase and the opportunities for Americans would double and triple. You would see more U.S. players in the NHL, a league with 70 percent of the teams based in the United States. Some would even say NCAA hockey should only allow 4 international players on a single team, making a fair pathway for U.S. born players.

Maybe Trump’s tariffs will light a fire on some of these arguments about hockey imbalance and, as one expert put it to me, have America change the rules and stop the practice of fleecing America on the ice.

All of this is food for thought as the Frozen Four hockey matches approach over the next several weeks. Check the schedule and figure out what to watch. Carney may be right this year, but maybe if the U. S. changes some of the rules, Canada won’t always win.