Media Review: USA Today's Kevin Allen

by Jesse Liebman

Editorial. Photos by AP News.

There is a reason why USA Today's Kevin Allen consistently winds up on the Hockey News' "People of Power" list year after year. When you get right down to it, Allen sees the game of hockey with a trained eye that is only rivaled by the general managers and coaches of the National Hockey League.

Last Friday's piece on the burgeoning USA Hockey program is a perfect example of Allen's vision. In the article Allen not only points to the Americans' gold medal-winning performance in the world junior championship as a measuring stick of success, but what the national development program has done to expand the game of hockey here in the states at the grassroots and amateur levels.

Allen uses a variety of statistics in his article, noting that despite the impact of the economy, the membership of USA Hockey has increased from five years ago to 130,000 adults registered in programs across the nation.

Granted, the subject matter is not necessarily as engaging as a game recap or a feature on the rivalry between Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, but because it comes on the heels of the world junior championship victory earlier in January, it serves its purpose as a timely and critical evaluation of just how far the United States has come in being recognized for its ability to ice a competitive team. Not only that, but Allen focuses on the all-encompassing nature of the sport itself -- not just at the professional level -- giving it a much larger context, while not appealing to the lowest common denominator.

The article itself is also not a jingoistic puff piece that lavishes praise on the United States, either. In fact, Allen quotes USA Hockey's executive director, David Ogrean, who acknowledges that despite the recent victories, Canada is still the world's hockey superpower. However, Allen informs the reader that the program has come leaps and bounds from when it was started in 1996.

All of this help to create an informative look at the sport while holding to the standards that have made Allen the de-facto hockey guru at USA Today for the past 24 years, as well one of the foremost experts on the sport.