text: Yes, about five years ago for the first time ever in Canada the number of kids registered in soccer programs exceeded the number registered in hockey programs.
  
  True the changing ethnic and cultural mix in Canada is a major factor in hockey's decline.
  
  The other major factor is the extraordinarily high cost of hockey equipment and programs - especially for goalies - that can run $10,000 a year or more per player and that puts the game out of financial reach for a majority of parents to finance even one let alone more than one child in hockey.
  
  For those of us who grew up with and played hockey, this is very sad.  Perhaps a partial answer is for the NHL in self preservation to  subsidize hockey for youngsters.