Why would a public school (for example, Sidney MT) consent to a more costly coop just to play in a league (NDHSAA) where they have no chance to thrive and no flexibility of scheduling (no more games against Canadians, for example)??
the Junior gold league at its peak was a highly competitive league among peers where every year even the smallest of the small could win.
the hockey proficiency of Junior gold is not as high but it has offered a more competitive league than NDHSAA.
but, the culture at large has decided that the collective whole and individual achievement cannot coexist and this makes it even more difficult to sustain small town hockey (and the biggest towns don’t care if it sustains).
there is nothing that will slow this down, even my contrarian observations.