Playing for the hometown professional team is a dream that crosses the mind of nearly all young sports fans. At one point or another, almost every eight-year-old fan has imagined hitting a World Series-winning walk-off home run, scoring the game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup Final, or throwing a last-second touchdown pass to win the Super Bowl. These ambitions motivate many to start playing a sport. Surprisingly, this motivation has a name: the Demonstration Effect.
While the Demonstration Effect applies in many fields, in the context of sports, it refers to ordinary people observing elite athletes and wanting to emulate their actions. For example, a kid might watch Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and start hitting with higher, farther-back hands, or see creative hockey players like Trevor Zegras and try to pull off difficult moves like a “Michigan.” Professional players have inspired young athletes for years, but does winning championships drive youth participation in that area?
Between 2010 and 2015, the Blackhawks won an impressive three Stanley Cups. Led by future Hall of Famers Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Duncan Keith. Those teams were some of the best and most exciting in NHL history, and based on USA Hockey’s registration numbers, the dynasty actually did inspire young kids in Illinois to play hockey.
Data on USA Hockey registrations for Illinois hockey players aged six to ten years old between 2005 and 2024 make this clear. During that period, the Blackhawks won Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013, and 2015. The stats show significant growth in Illinois hockey registration in the years after the Blackhawks won Stanley Cups, particularly in the six, eight, and 10-and-under divisions.
The most interesting age group in this data is 6 and under. The average yearly registration increase in the age group was just over 4%, which is dwarfed by a 36% increase in 2010 and 35% in 2013, the years that the Blackhawks won their first two Stanley Cups.
However, the final championship of the Blackhawks dynasty, 2015, was followed by one of the few declines in registration. The three age groups went down by an average of 6.77%.
There are multiple possible explanations for this. One is the simple supply and demand, making hockey less accessible. After the two biggest spikes in Illinois hockey registration since records are available, there were many players, and a limited number of rinks. This resulted in higher prices, and teams practicing and playing games very early in the morning or late at night. Some kids might have also started playing hockey during one of the first two waves, and ended up quitting for other sports.
Even with the 2015 dip, the data still shows local kids seeing the Blackhawks being successful and wanting to try it themselves.
“When the Blackhawks are doing well, have a winning record and some exciting star players, I notice families and kids are more interested in signing up for hockey,” said Zach Wotherspoon, director of hockey operations at Evanston’s local travel team, Mammoth Hockey Club.
He also mentioned that being near a big city is an advantage for smaller sports like hockey.
“It’s not like you have to drive an hour and 30 minutes just to play for your local team. For some people, it’s only five or ten minutes,” said Wotherspoon.
One way the Blackhawks make hockey more accessible is the Little Blackhawks program. The program offers a full set of hockey gear and several weeks of professional instruction for a fraction of what those two would normally cost.
The Blackhawks created this program to make starting hockey less expensive. The Little Blackhawks programs, along with their dynasty and simply being in Chicago, are ways the Hawks inspire more local kids to sign up for and stick with hockey.
