They would have said he had a 'career year' if college hockey was a player.

Consider calendar year 2010: the captain's honor of raising the Stanley Cup went to a former college player for the second time, the MVP, Best Goaltender, Best Forward and Best Defenseman at the Vancouver Olympics were all college alums, the NHL Awards in Las Vegas saw ex-collegians claim the Vezina, Norris, Lady Byng and Conn Smythe trophies, while nearly 250,000 fans will
have attended just four big stage events, including the NCAA Men's Frozen Four in Detroit and the Dec. 11 Big Chill at the Big House at Michigan Stadium.

When USA won the gold medal at the World Junior Championships last winter, there were 11 college players on the roster, plus Jason Zucker, who is now playing college hockey at Denver.

"To me the growth of college hockey parallels the growth of hockey in the United States," said St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong. "In places like Texas, California and Missouri
players are now growing up thinking about NCAA hockey. That's how they think. I think college hockey is only going to grow from here."

Today, there are 11 top NHL executives with college hockey backgrounds: Toronto's Brian Burke (Providence), New Jersey's Lou Lamoriello (Providence), Atlanta's Don Waddell (Northern
Michigan), Pittsburgh's Ray Shero (St. Lawrence), New York Islanders' Garth Snow (Maine), Nashville's David Poile (Northeastern), Washington's George McPhee (Bowling Green), Philadelphia's Paul Holmgren (Minnesota), Boston's Peter Chiarelli (Harvard), Los Angeles'
Dean Lombardi (New Haven) and Dallas' Joe Nieuwendyk (Cornell).

"What we have (in that group) are some former players who put the business side at the forefront," Waddell said. "Today hockey has become such a big business, that helps."

According to NHL statistics, 27.5 percent of all NHL players today have college hockey backgrounds. By the end of the season that number could be closer to 30 percent
because college players will join NHL teams after their seasons.

"I think what this means is that college hockey has become a more realistic option for playing in the NHL," said defenseman Jack Johnson, a key player on a Los Angeles Kings team that is enjoying its best start in 20 years. Johnson was coveted by junior programs, but always had his mind made up that he would be a college player.

"Just in case hockey didn't work out, I wanted a plan B," Johnson said. "It is important in anything you do in life to have a Plan B, and a degree is a good Plan B."

Of course, Plan A also turned out just fine for former college players who were front and center on stage at the 2010 NHL Awards in Las Vegas. The Vezina (Ryan Miller/Michigan State),
Conn Smythe (Jonathan Toews/North Dakota), Norris (Duncan Keith/Michigan State) and Lady Byng (Martin St. Louis/Vermont) were all won by college players.

Toews also won Olympic gold with Canada and captained the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.

"For me (college hockey) was the stepping stone to the NHL," Toews said. "That was the ultimate goal, to find a place I could play and eventually become a professional hockey player. It worked
out that North Dakota was a good place for that. I had a lot of fun playing in some big games - the Frozen Four, the World Juniors for Team Canada. It was a good two years there that really helped me to develop and get ready for this level."

This story originally appeared in the Dec. 6, 2010, issue of The Hockey News.