Editors note: I wasn't going to write at all during the summer break between seasons but that ended when I came across something today that I felt compelled to write a few words about it

So today I came across a piece on MapleLeafs.com written by Mike Ulmer. He wrote:

The biggest deal maker or deal breaker for the feasibility of a hockey career is not genetics.

It’s not competitiveness, off-ice training, affluence or bloodlines.

Turns out it’s when the kid’s parents decided to get busy. That was one of the revealing truths to come out of the World Hockey Summit at the Air Canada Centre

A study showed children born in the first half of the year routinely make up 70 per cent of the players on Canada’s World Junior Hockey Championship team.

Now the study showing that children born in the first half of the year making up a large percentage of children playing at elite levels of hockey is, well, nothing new. In fact when I read about this phenomena it was first introduced to me in Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers: The Story of Success a few years ago when I got the book for Christmas. In it, Gladwell examines the factors that contribute to high levels of measured success.

Now as a hockey fan, there was a chapter in the book where Gladwell that stuck out in my memory because of the hockey example he used. He explained that since the youth hockey league determines eligibility by calendar year birth date, players with early birthdays tend to mature and grow faster, and would then be looked at as better athletes. Because they were thought of as being a 'better athlete' they also got the best coaching and training, thus increasing the likelihood that they would make an elite team. He used the Vancouver Giants roster list as an example to explain his theory. I think there was also mention of the Medicine Hat Tigers as well.

So is this really a reavealing truth that no one has talked about until this years World Hockey Summit?

No not really. In fact, it was at the top of the Globe and Mail best seller list at #1 for weeks when it first came out, so I'm willing to bet that a few people may have read the book. This is not a slight at Ulmer's writing, since I don't assume everyone has read the book. And I'm sure someone before Gladwell has also written about this phenomena; But since I've come across a few articles in the past week about giving credit where credit is due (you know the ones I'm talking about), well I feel like credit for this "revealing truth" should be given to Mr. Gladwell since he already discussed his observation a few years ago.

I do like though that the issue was addressed at the World Hockey Summit, with proposed ideas of how to reduce the selection advantage that kids with early birthdays have over kids with later birthdays in the calendar year. It will be interesting to see what, if any measures get implemented to give all kids a fair shot at playing at an elite level.