A lot of good points, there.
Access is probably a much bigger issue for a lot of Americans not in Minnesota. I have 23 rinks within a very easy 30 minute drive. Not 23 pads, 23 stand alone rinks lol. Costs for entry in to hockey here are incredibly low, and even if you flat out don't have the resources to put your kid through hockey, we'll do it for you. From my time on the board of our org, of the 225ish kids in the program, there's always a couple we're paying for. It's all good.
So, I can't really speak to much of the US. I can only assume from what I see in the NHL, that in much of the US hockey is a upper middle class sport, there.
I also agree that they'll all end up in the same place, but there are exceptions akin to winning the lottery. Our neighbors kid is a u15 that is 100% going to be drafted, likely in the 1st round, of the OHL priority draft *if* he continues his development curve for one more year. That will be, by far, the highest OHL pick from my town of 8,000, ever. We've never had a NHL player from our town. Never. 125 years. (We do have a recent Yale captain to our name fuck yeah).
What people over look, or don't care to acknowledge, are the lessons playing sport at a high-ish youth level teach you, the bonds it forges, and the arms length opportunities it will present you later in life. I don't know many local guys that played PJHL or OJHL here that didn't get a step up at age 20 over others. *wink wink nudge nudge*
Anyways, my reasons for pushing this kid are both selfish and benevolent. I have a 15 yo that wanted to play House League, and was only good enough to play House League. Cool. It's fun. Not my thing, but sure, lol.
Now, I have a kid that is very good, but also very young. He will get run down by much better athletes (Sorry, son, my bad) very quickly unless he outworks them. He gets that, and he wants it. Wants it bad. Until that changes, I gotta support that shit.