What no one is talking about with hockey is that it has all the same problems that football is facing (concussions, hits to the head, checking from behind, etc). On top of that, it's terrifically expensive. A friend has a couple of sons in mites, and the cost of ice time alone is more than his mortgage. When the Edina youth hockey organization is worried about cost of entry, you know there's a cost issue.
Even in Minnesota, the supposed state of hockey, it's a niche sport. For the 15-16 school year in Minnesota, boys ice hockey is a badly beaten 8th in number of kids participating (FB, T&F, basketball, baseball, soccer, wrestling, XC, hockey in that order).
Lacrosse is indeed growing like a weed around here. Or at least it is based on the number of emails I get from the MSHSL begging for officials.