Comments on: The Importance of Being a January Baby

By: pucksandbooks

pucksandbooks — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:50:17 +0000

Julian,
The calendar year registration is one that has long been used both by hockey and more broadly by international sports competitions. No doubt there are variations, over time and in select cultures, but in my opinion Dryden raised the discussion in his book because of its general applicability to hockey. Indeed, the NHL Entry Draft eligibility cutoff date is an explicit acknowlegment of the streaming in hockey, IMO. Note that it applies not just to Canadians but to all nationals.

By: Julian

Julian — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:37:04 +0000

Where and when the players were born is important when you’re talking about birthdays leading to NHL careers. If a player wasn’t born into a hockey system that had the cutoff/dividing line of January 1st, then being born in January is useless. Some systems go by Sept 1st (the school year), for those systems, being born in September and October would provide the advantage.
You list Ovetchkin and Federov as players born outside the Jan-March window, but they were born and raised and trained in Russia/the USSR, when they were born doesn’t matter unless the USSR followed the exact same streaming system as Canadian hockey did/does. Same with Gordie Howe, he was born in 1928, and from what I understand, didn’t play much heavily organized minor hockey, his family being dirt poor and from an incredibly small town. His birthdate probably has very little to do with his future hockey sucess.

By: SovSport

SovSport — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:01:30 +0000

“Alexander Ovechkin, for instance, is a September baby. Mario Lemieux was born in October. One of the greatest skaters the game has even seen, Gilbert Perreault, was born in November. Sergei Fedorov arrived as an early delivery from Santa‚Äôs sleigh (December).”
Alexander Semin was born in March. He is a great player!

By: Flying Cloud

Flying Cloud — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:08:45 +0000

Birth month has a lot to do with success of racehorses, too. They must be born not a minute too late or they will have to race against older, better developed equine athletes according to the rules. I enjoyed these insights very much, thanks.

By: pucksandbooks

pucksandbooks — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:38:15 +0000

I did delve in ever so cursory a fashion into the birth months of prominent goaltenders. From a very cursory gleaning, it seemed many were born late in the year. How do you feel about raising a goalie?

By: keydet

keydet — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:34:34 +0000

My son was born December 30th. Talk about getting the short end of the stick.
Way to kill one father’s dream!