"Elite" Minor Hockey

[CroCop]

Originally Posted by Pepper2489

My son's 2005 spring team looks like it has two goalies right now but if one drops out I could let you know ASAP. What winter team does your son play on currently?

PMed you some 05 info

[Northendzone]

Just thought I would close the loop on my sons season since his layoffs ended tonight.....

Seemed like a long season bouncing back and fourth between community hockey and quadrant. There were more than a few days with multiple events; however, he managed to get thru. He told me he played just under 40 games in total between both teams.

towarx the end of the quadrant season they healthy scratched one of their regular goalies and played my son. That goalie was subsequently hurt and my boy also got the opportunity to play a playoff game in AA. My son found the pace quick but he played well; however the team lost that game.

I would say my boy now has a game suited to the pace of quadrant hockey, and he struggled in community.

My son posted better numbers than the teams two regular goalies. hopefully someone in the organization noticed his play and ramblers him at next seasons tryouts and maybe he gets the benefit of a doubt if it is between him and a another guy.

Of course my son really wants to push for a spot on the AAA team so we will see.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Tacoman

Hey Derek, I was just in Lethbridge to play your Bantam team. My son is a forward on the AAA Bisons here in Calgary. It looks like those are the top two teams in the province. We beat Lethbridge in that game and tied the game at home but they are really impressive. We'll also be at the St. Albert tourney. Great hockey to watch and like some of the other stories in this thread, it's a really special time in my son's life.

That was a great playoff series (Lethy vs Bisons)and everyone who watched the games agree with your statement. The kids from Lethbridge are now one win away from winning provincials after beating Sherwood Park twice over the weekend, quite the last two weeks for the players, coaches and parents. It has been 20 years since the AAA bantams have made it to Western Canadians, so something really exciting for Lethbridge Minor Hockey. Winning provincials this years has been a goal for this group going back to 2012 when many of the same kids won Atom AA provincials. The time, money and effort put in by the parents, families and coaches, combined with the attitudes, coachability and work ethic of the players is really something to be a part of and has worked out very well over the years.

[Clarkey]

Gag

[CroCop]

Originally Posted by Clarkey

Gag

Not likely to happen. The Lethbridge team is too well prepared and coached to Choke a 2-0 series lead if that's what you are referring to. Unless your calling the Bisons chokers for losing a 2-1 series lead which wouldn't be accurate either as the more deserving team triumphed in that series in the end. Or maybe the "gag" reference means your sick of hearing about Bantam AAA hockey ( the pinnacle of elite minor hockey). In any case nice troll job.

[Northendzone]

so yesterday I took my son tot eh athlete factory and I have to admit it is a pretty cool place.

we are going to set him up with a program for the balance of the summer to hopefully prepare him to take a goalie spot with the quadrant team.

it will be intresting to watch him react to being pushed physically.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

so yesterday I took my son tot eh athlete factory and I have to admit it is a pretty cool place.

we are going to set him up with a program for the balance of the summer to hopefully prepare him to take a goalie spot with the quadrant team.

it will be intresting to watch him react to being pushed physically.

I have a couple of friends, one still involved and one no longer involved with that place.


If the rest of the facility is anything like the 2 people I know, you have made an excellent choice.

Good Luck.

[TimSJ]

Just finished up my sons Spring season. Was a lot of fun for him and me we both made some great new friends along the way.

A few stats we came up with on the drive home from Boston Sunday night.

61 - days of spring hockey
32 - games (28-3-1)
18 - practices
6,500 - km driven
16 - nights in hotels
4 - dinners at 5 guys
7 - rinks
45 - new teammates and friends
1 - junior Bruins golden paw award
4 - tournament wins

Lacrosse and Baseball season in full swing now which im sure will be a blast as well. Next hockey tournament the CCM Boston invite in August

How were your spring seasons

[Northendzone]

my sons spring season ended last weekend, and his team was nowhere near the powerhouse your son's team was, not did we put on anywhere near the miles you did.

however, that being said, I believe my son improved. My son's team was not really strong (which is not a bad thing when you are a goalie); however, in many of the games where my son was playing he held his team in the game. last week I was very happy for him, as his team played a team where half the team was made up of kids who played quadrant hockey and I knew about 10 of the dads - the final score was 5-2 (my sons team lost); however, it was 3-2 going intot eh third. My son stopped three breakways, and a couple of other grade-A scoring chances.

over the course of the spring season, my son received coaching for a few different guys at World PRo and we finally found a guy that he would like to work with - so he will have a two week or so break, and will then start going to world pro and he is also training at the athlete factory.

his goal is to push for a spot ont eh bantam AAA team in September.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Just finished up my sons Spring season. Was a lot of fun for him and me we both made some great new friends along the way.

A few stats we came up with on the drive home from Boston Sunday night.

61 - days of spring hockey
32 - games (28-3-1)
18 - practices
6,500 - km driven
16 - nights in hotels
4 - dinners at 5 guys
7 - rinks
45 - new teammates and friends
1 - junior Bruins golden paw award
4 - tournament wins

Lacrosse and Baseball season in full swing now which im sure will be a blast as well. Next hockey tournament the CCM Boston invite in August

How were your spring seasons

I realize spring hockey is all about playing games but for player development those numbers are completely backwards and should be reversed. Practice to game ratios should be 2-1 give or take. I know the kids like it (games) but it does make me question how much they are actually developing by playing spring hockey.

[pacde]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

I realize spring hockey is all about playing games but for player development those numbers are completely backwards and should be reversed. Practice to game ratios should be 2-1 give or take. I know the kids like it (games) but it does make me question how much they are actually developing by playing spring hockey.

My son is moving to Atom this year and I just wanted to add to a thought Lubicon is expressing here. So far for my boy we are following the Hockey Canada player development model as closely as we can - so in spring time we put him in multisport spring 'skills' camps and even now, he is attending the Hockey Canada Atom prep camp.
I cant speak to progress, he seems really happy on the ice, enthusiastic and I can see he is working hard, he comes off the ice soaked in sweat which is basically my meter of how much he likes what he is doing.

I believe in this model and I realize not a lot of parents may have seen the resources that Hockey Canada puts out so I thought I would share some of them

Player development definitions
Player development pyramid

The thinking is that a kid needs a balanced approach to achieve their potential both in skills and development but also in their appreciation and enjoyment of the game.

Anyway, hope this benefits someone

[pacde]

Another thing I would like to add
Basically if one of the following is not true:
your kid is not a goalie
you aren't the coach
the team is not coached by a professional
your kid isn't an entire level above everyone else

spring hockey is waste of time and money for your kid
They will be put in situations with the least opportunity by parents who are coaching for their own childs' sake (regardless of how well intentioned they are) and they will not be given the room they need to develop and learn from mistakes.
My experience of community hockey and most of the spring teams Ive seen is a strong bias toward coaches kids primarily and winning secondarily - this is not a player development model for anyone else. It just doesn't work for regular kids because in our society its very rare to find a human being that cares for what they can do for the kid... its all about what your kid can do for the coach.

Just my experience. If your kid wants to really play hockey and develop, find a team with a coach that wants the kids to bloom as a group and wants the kids to have the best experience. Its way rarer than you might imagine even though I know the intention is there

[Northendzone]

I was thinking of providing an update on my boy as he gets ready for quadrant tryouts that start for the goalies next Saturday.

my son (an aspiring goalie) is now 14, 6 feet tall and close to 160. since june we have had him working out at athlete factory and during this time he gained 11 lbs (of what appears to be mostly muscle). He was also on the ice on a regular basis since spring hockey ended in mid-june to both play and go for sessions at world pro. Today he finishes a goalie camp and next week he will be on the ice for conditioning camp.

I would like to think that he has a good shot at making at least the AA team - but who knows. He deserves it as he has worked out pretty hard this summer and I would hate to see how he would react to being cut again.

He made a choice in the spring to go all in for hockey - we chatted about the dangers, but he had his mind made up.

Not very often in life that you hope for a bill for $5k - but sometimes.....

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by pacde

Another thing I would like to add
Basically if one of the following is not true:
your kid is not a goalie
you aren't the coach
the team is not coached by a professional
your kid isn't an entire level above everyone else

spring hockey is waste of time and money for your kid
They will be put in situations with the least opportunity by parents who are coaching for their own childs' sake (regardless of how well intentioned they are) and they will not be given the room they need to develop and learn from mistakes.
My experience of community hockey and most of the spring teams Ive seen is a strong bias toward coaches kids primarily and winning secondarily - this is not a player development model for anyone else. It just doesn't work for regular kids because in our society its very rare to find a human being that cares for what they can do for the kid... its all about what your kid can do for the coach.

Just my experience. If your kid wants to really play hockey and develop, find a team with a coach that wants the kids to bloom as a group and wants the kids to have the best experience. Its way rarer than you might imagine even though I know the intention is there

The more I read posts like this, the more I appreciate the coach for my sons spring hockey team. He really has done an excellent job of keeping ice time fair and balanced for every player on the team. Some people who read this thread have a hard time believing it, but it is in fact the truth. Did we win every game? No. But out of the five tournaments we played in this past spring, the team made the final in every one earning two golds and three silver. Not bad for a team that rotates it's starting lineup for every single game, and has no PP or PK units.

I do understand this post though, as I see some coaches on other teams that are a complete embarrassment.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by pacde

They will be put in situations with the least opportunity by parents who are coaching for their own childs' sake (regardless of how well intentioned they are) and they will not be given the room they need to develop and learn from mistakes.
My experience of community hockey and most of the spring teams Ive seen is a strong bias toward coaches kids primarily and winning secondarily

I would say this is very fair,

If your kid really wants to play and you have the time/money i'm not going to bemoan anyone for going into any of these programs. And at the end of the day time on ice is the most important part of development. Because of all of the problems above it's expensive time on ice, and you have to make sure your kid understands the situations and is enjoying himself. But if that's how you both want to spend your time and money, why not.

(from what I have seen I would probably be more partial to 2 or 3 weeks of hockey camp as a development tool, I think the prices would be fairly comparable).

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

I realize spring hockey is all about playing games but for player development those numbers are completely backwards and should be reversed. Practice to game ratios should be 2-1 give or take. I know the kids like it (games) but it does make me question how much they are actually developing by playing spring hockey.

I think there is a lot of development in spring hockey. Depends on the program and situation I guess, as spring hockey continues to step away from being "elite" to whoever wants to spend the money.

The boys on my sons spring hockey team are all the best players on each of their minor hockey teams. When they lace up for tryouts and evaluations they always seem to be that much better than the kids who haven't skated since march. There are exceptions, but the added experience shows. The spring kids seem to be more disciplined and mature on the ice during practice as well. They listen to the coach and run drills as instructed. Where as the kids who haven't played as much can really seem to struggle during practice.

Just my observations.

[Lubicon]

Bump to see how it's going for some of you guys who have been posting. Bantam and Midget teams have been drafted by now or should be close (?) I follow some of the teams a little as I coached some of the kids when they were younger and it's nice to see where some of them end up.

My daughter did not try out this year due to how early everything started (mid August). We were still on vacation and to be honest she was probably borderline to make it anyhow and is happy to play in community. Some pretty significant changes to the female elite model this year, mostly for the good in my opinion.

[Northendzone]

my son (a 2002 - 2nd yr bantam) was drafted to a bantam AA team and he is one of three goalies fighting for 1 roster spot as they will also be getting a goalie that is cut from the AAA team.

His team played Saturday however, my son was scratched from the line up - given the first cuts will be tonight after practice, I am assuming this is a good thing. final custs for his team are on the 19th.

so far thru about 5 practices, my son has been the most steady goalie by a wide margin. working out this summer at the athlete factory has really helped him a lot both physically and mentally.

He can now easily move right across the net with one push, compared to many of his peers who need two pushes.

personally, I find very little positives in the other goalies, one kid is small and plays small (most of the game moving around on his knees) and he also flinches on anything that looks like a slapshot. the other goalie is just wild, expends too much energy overslidng and needs some huge recoveries - he also took one really needless penalty in his part fo the game Saturday. He was also late for the game and missed the team warmup. it will be interesting to see if the coach cuts any goalies tonight or runs the next week of practices with 4 goalies. my son is now also 6 feet tall and skipped that awkward growth phase

my son will be devastated if he is once again cut this year

[Yoho]

/\ I think you will as well.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

my son (a 2002 - 2nd yr bantam) was drafted to a bantam AA team and he is one of three goalies fighting for 1 roster spot as they will also be getting a goalie that is cut from the AAA team.

His team played Saturday however, my son was scratched from the line up - given the first cuts will be tonight after practice, I am assuming this is a good thing. final custs for his team are on the 19th.

so far thru about 5 practices, my son has been the most steady goalie by a wide margin. working out this summer at the athlete factory has really helped him a lot both physically and mentally.

He can now easily move right across the net with one push, compared to many of his peers who need two pushes.

personally, I find very little positives in the other goalies, one kid is small and plays small (most of the game moving around on his knees) and he also flinches on anything that looks like a slapshot. the other goalie is just wild, expends too much energy overslidng and needs some huge recoveries - he also took one really needless penalty in his part fo the game Saturday. He was also late for the game and missed the team warmup. it will be interesting to see if the coach cuts any goalies tonight or runs the next week of practices with 4 goalies. my son is now also 6 feet tall and skipped that awkward growth phase

my son will be devastated if he is once again cut this year

Sounds like your boy has a pretty good shot. Not coaching this year, but that sounds like something we would do if we had pretty well already made up our minds on the goalies from the tryouts. You make it seem like he's standing out among the guys not in the AAA camp. Good luck!