Minor Hockey and its affect on kids and parents

[Northendzone]

i enjoyed reading that article about the GTHL.

Seems to me that the GTHL is stuctured very differently than hockey here within Calgary.

while I have yet to see any real craziness at any of my sons games - lately I have been finding myself being sucked into beleiving that he might be good enough to play some level of quadrant hockey becasue I have had several people tell me that he is. Personally I have no reference, becasue i have not seen a Bantam quadrant game for years.

i should also ntoe, my son is a goalie, and it is my understanding that it is not uncommon to have 30 or more goalie trying out for a handful of spots.

in some ways i hope he makes a quad team next year, but given my wife and i work managing practices would be a logistical nightmare......

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

i enjoyed reading that article about the GTHL.

Seems to me that the GTHL is stuctured very differently than hockey here within Calgary.

while I have yet to see any real craziness at any of my sons games - lately I have been finding myself being sucked into beleiving that he might be good enough to play some level of quadrant hockey becasue I have had several people tell me that he is. Personally I have no reference, becasue i have not seen a Bantam quadrant game for years.

i should also ntoe, my son is a goalie, and it is my understanding that it is not uncommon to have 30 or more goalie trying out for a handful of spots.

in some ways i hope he makes a quad team next year, but given my wife and i work managing practices would be a logistical nightmare......

At Bantam quadrant tryouts (NW), we would have 12-16 (maybe get up to 20, but never seen as high as 30) goalies to disperse across 4 Bantam teams (1 AAA, 3 AA). There may be more that go to the goalie camps, which are prior to tryouts, and I'm honestly not sure if they cut kids there, or if the kids and parents take themselves out of it after seeing the competition. A lot of times players that could be in quadrant don't try out (a lot of our call-ups would end up playing on the second or even third teams in their communities, telling that there is a pretty sizable portion of talented kids that don't tryout for higher levels).

Goalie is tough as there are only two spots per team and the differences between the kids that are close can be difficult to determine, especially over the course of the week tryouts. Generally, each team will draft 3 goalies and cut 1 (one AA team will get a cut from AAA).

Is your kid PeeWee going into Bantam, or 2nd year Bantam? I would say if he played Div 3 or higher, no harm in trying out. We've had goalies that played Bantam 6 the previous year, but to be honest they (obviously) weren't ready for the velocity of shots they faced in quadrant. But this goes back to the point about the subtle differences for goalies. Because there is only two spots, a lot of times you get goalies on low-level teams that rightfully could be playing higher. We once cut a goalie from Springbank completely (too many goalies, not enough teams), he ended up going to Glenlake and making the Div 1 team there.

Goalie is a tough road, but if others are saying he could make a case, no harm in trying out. At worst, its a highly competitive camp to get them ready for the season.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by MattyC

At Bantam quadrant tryouts (NW), we would have 12-16 (maybe get up to 20, but never seen as high as 30) goalies to disperse across 4 Bantam teams (1 AAA, 3 AA). There may be more that go to the goalie camps, which are prior to tryouts, and I'm honestly not sure if they cut kids there, or if the kids and parents take themselves out of it after seeing the competition. A lot of times players that could be in quadrant don't try out (a lot of our call-ups would end up playing on the second or even third teams in their communities, telling that there is a pretty sizable portion of talented kids that don't tryout for higher levels).

Goalie is tough as there are only two spots per team and the differences between the kids that are close can be difficult to determine, especially over the course of the week tryouts. Generally, each team will draft 3 goalies and cut 1 (one AA team will get a cut from AAA).

Is your kid PeeWee going into Bantam? I would say if he played Div 3 or higher, no harm in trying out. We've had goalies that played Bantam 6 the previous year, but to be honest they (obviously) weren't ready for the velocity of shots they faced in quadrant. But this goes back to the point about the subtle differences for goalies. Because there is only two spots, a lot of times you get goalies on low-level teams that rightfully could be playing higher. We once cut a goalie from Springbank completely (too many goalies, not enough teams), he ended up going to Glenlake and making the Div 1 team there.

Goalie is a tough road, but if others are saying he could make a case, no harm in trying out. At worst, its a highly competitive camp to get them ready for the season.

Goalies are odd, for so many reasons.

I know one of the Bantam AAA in Dead Rear (maybe not the best example as they had a tuff season) was playing rec. hockey 3-4 yrs ago.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Goalies are odd, for so many reasons.

I know one of the Bantam AAA in Dead Rear (maybe not the best example as they had a tuff season) was playing rec. hockey 3-4 yrs ago.

If there's one thing I've learned in the years of coaching Bantam, it's that even a few months can make a vast difference for a kid. 3-4 years can see a lot of improvement for kids at that age. We've had quadrant players that had only started skating for a few years prior.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by MattyC

If there's one thing I've learned in the years of coaching Bantam, it's that even a few months can make a vast difference for a kid. 3-4 years can see a lot of improvement for kids at that age. We've had quadrant players that had only started skating for a few years prior.

Yeah that was my point, only poorly worded.........

[Bagor]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa...game-1.2964537

Happenings from around here a couple of weeks back. The trainer was subsequently suspended until May 2016.

Personally, I think he should have got life with the message being one of zero tolerance. You can't have adults running around assaulting teenage refs. The rink is part of society and you have to control your emotions.

[Northendzone]

Matty my son is currently playing finishing his second year of Pee-Wee on our associations Team 3 - and from what I have seen over the course of this season he has closed the gap between himself and the 4 goalies above him in our association.

I want him to to go to the North Stars tryouts to at least see what it is all about. to prepare him this year, he is playing spring hockey and will be going to a world pro camp. my initioal hope is that he is not cut on the first dayand to see what the other goalies look like. i have been told the northstars tend to favour tall golaies, and in our association he is currently the tallest among his peer group of goalies.

as a complete aside he has the good fortune of playing for his team (the goalies have roated games all season) this sunday as they start the city finals - my dream for the last few season is for him to have an opportunity to play in a meaningful game - so the dream is realized. i'd imagine that whatever happens on sunday, I'll shed a tear or two at the final buzzer......

i also promised him new pads, blocker and catcher in time for spring hockey - and to start the seaosn he needed new skates and pants and then grew out of his chest protector and helmet around christmas - painful year expense wise.....i'll also be sheeding some tears over this as well.....

[Coach]

Northendzone,

I can't speak to the NE process, but the tryouts for NW give everyone at least 4 icetimes of full game tryouts. Basically, you pay for the ice when you register to tryout, and then we do cuts about halfway through the week, the remaining kids will all end up on a team's tryout roster which they cut to 20 (12 F, 6 D, 2 G) over the course of a couple weeks.

As I mentioned, there is a goalie camp/tryout before the main camp, but I think that is run by World Pro (or something like that) who just rank the kids and certain skill sets so the coaches have a better picture going in. I don't think they cut kids from that (or I should hope not).

So even if he's the weakest tender, he should still get decent play time and it will, at the very least, give him a level to aspire to. Being cut from your Quadrant as a first year is definitely not do or die (our own Joe Colborne was cut from his first year Bantam in favour of your's truly, and well, we can all see the results of that....). Sometimes goalies can be at an advantage as a first year, as many teams like to carry a 1st and 2nd year goalie, especially AAA teams.

As far as being a tall goalie, yeah that's an advantage, especially if he shows to be as athletic as the smaller kids.

Good luck to your son!

PS: Yeah, I asked my Dad if I could be a goalie as a kid. His answer was laughter and "No." I feel bad for all parents in regards to cost of hockey, but especially those with growing goalies. Not nice.

[Northendzone]

On Sunday my sons team (Blackfoot Chiefs Pee-Wee 3) played for the Div 5 city championships and my minor hockey dream for my child was realized I got to see him play at his best in a meaningful game.

When I now think of joy I will now close my eyes and think of the picture below

As an aside, I had no idea he could jump so high on skates

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

On Sunday my sons team (Blackfoot Chiefs Pee-Wee 3) played for the Div 5 city championships and my minor hockey dream for my child was realized I got to see him play at his best in a meaningful game.

If I was to paint a picture of joy - it would Be exactly like the above.

As an aside, I had no idea he could jump so high on skates

Awesome, My daughter's team played and won their league championship on the weekend.

She has been walking on air since. It good to see them enjoy themselves.

[Northendzone]

Thanks UCBro - it was my sons first time being on a team that won.

the boys went on a 9 or 10 game winning streak to finish the season.