The Minor Hockey Thread

[8sPOT]

What are hockey parents thoughts on spring hockey etc?

There are a lot of options around the city, I've had my son in a few (Havoc Hockey, Conroy Hockey) and both had their pros and cons.

Those 2 were heavily focused on skill development, I'm curious about the various 3 on 3 type of spring hockey programs that seem to be gaining popularity.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by 8sPOT

What are hockey parents thoughts on spring hockey etc?

There are a lot of options around the city, I've had my son in a few (Havoc Hockey, Conroy Hockey) and both had their pros and cons.

Those 2 were heavily focused on skill development, I'm curious about the various 3 on 3 type of spring hockey programs that seem to be gaining popularity.

Philosophically I'm in favor of kids changing up sports with the seasons, I think that is better overall for their development. So based on that I am not a fan of spring hockey in general. However I did have my daughter involved with a very informal 3v3 in her later years of minor hockey but it was more of a glorified shinny than a registered group. She knew all the girls and it was more about getting out and playing than having coaches, doing drills etc.

But if I was going to pick between anything and 3v3 I would choose 3v3 every time. I believe the skill development they will get here is superior to other environments. They get more touches, more chances to do things, and their is no traditional forward and defence so they learn about transitioning and are forced to play F and D by default because of this. It forces them out of their comfort zone and encourages creativity.

[Strange Brew]

The best spring hockey decision we ever made was getting our son into baseball.

[Northendzone]

Baseball in calagry is a roll of the dice, as very rarely is the spring good.

[Nancy]

Well, so much for both spring hockey and baseball... and probably the fall hockey season? But, say there is a 2020-21 season, will you let your child play?

[Northendzone]

^ i would let my child play. the reality is if there is school, then the kids should be participating in their regular sports schedule.

[habernac]

there will be a season. I doubt it starts on time.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Nancy

Well, so much for both spring hockey and baseball... and probably the fall hockey season? But, say there is a 2020-21 season, will you let your child play?

I still have my son's spring hockey league which hasn't cancelled and is holding our fees.

And High School baseball has yet to officially can their season.

And summer baseball hasn't cancelled anything.

So while some of this is delaying the inevitable, I'm not too worried about fall sports yet. It is only April 14th after all.

But we might have some chubby kids rolling around a few months from now!

[Northendzone]

i was thinking the other day that it will be interesting to see how this break in sports and training impacts some of the higher end players. some kids who are ranked and lazy may fall quickly - while others who are more motivated and able to train on their own may jump onto someone's radar.

[Lubicon]

Well there are many who say year round sports (of any kind but let's use hockey in this case) are not good for athletic development. Kids are better off varying what they do in the off season so maybe it will all wash out evenly at the end of the day. Provided they are disciplined enough to train independently it might be okay but I agree it will be tougher for those that are less motivated. It might be tough to find a training regimen that works or is effective to do by yourself but it's possible. People can still train, and can still train outdoors - just not together. I'm picturing stories of the old days when farm kids trained for football by throwing bales and lifting tractor tires. But modified for today's world.

What will be interesting to see is what happens to the Elite streams that basically start up in mid August, they may have to delay tryouts which will push community evaluations back further as well.

[Nancy]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

What will be interesting to see is what happens to the Elite streams that basically start up in mid August, they may have to delay tryouts which will push community evaluations back further as well.

I think pushing the Elite start date back could actually be a good thing. Elite tryouts are usually done by the last week of September, if it were the last week of October instead, that would be a better time for a checkpoint to see if/how the winter Covid season is shaping up.

FYI, Hockey Calgary circulated the following bulletin as of 2 weeks ago:

Hockey Calgary understands and shares the disappointment that every hockey player, family, fan, and volunteer is feeling right now. As a passionate hockey community we need to stay positive during this time of challenge, and help lift each other up. Over the past couple of years Hockey Calgary has focused on developing the leadership skills of our youth. We are proud of these initiatives and we’re hopeful that some of these skills are benefitting them now. At times like this we truly see the value of this and having strong leadership to guide us through the challenges we face.

At this point of the Pandemic there are still more questions than answers, I have been in touch with the leaders of Hockey Alberta to understand the go forward position for the 20-21 season, but to date there are still no firm decisions. The tentative direction is as follows:

- Continue to prepare to open the season as planned in September
- Plans are to open registration as per usual, but this is a fluid process and may be delayed as more decisions are made by government, municipalities and governing bodies
- Consideration should be made for a reduction in enrollment
- Payment plans and options may be more important in this difficult economic time
- Reduction in program offering may need to be considered

This is very topline information, but hopefully provides a little guidance, I will continue to update each of you as I find out more. If you have any specific questions please feel to give me a call and I will do my best to answer. I thank you for your support and understanding as we
navigate this unprecedented time.

We will ‘Drop the Puck’ again!!

Stay Healthy,
Kevin Kobelka
Executive Director

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Nancy

I think pushing the Elite start date back could actually be a good thing. Elite tryouts are usually done by the last week of September, if it were the last week of October instead, that would be a better time for a checkpoint to see if/how the winter Covid season is shaping up.

Pushing back the start date for Elite wouldn't be a bad thing in my opinion, it drove me nuts the were asking families to give up the last two weeks of summer just for tryouts. And they still dragged out until near the end of September.

The only issue with pushing back the end dates to late October is you are pushing back community evaluations for bantam and midget which essentially do not start until elite is finished. That makes for a very late start for community. Of course you could get around this by starting community evals while elite is still going on as it doesn't affect the lower levels at all. They could also shorten the evaluation timeline for elite down from a month to a couple of weeks if they wanted in order to keep community from having to push their schedules back.

[hixxes]

Saw a tweet exchange yesterday regarding a boundary change vote. Hockey Calgary said no comment but that "a formal announcement will be released in the coming days".

Anyone have any insight? I assume they went back to last years failed attempt and worked behind the scenes with the associations.

(sorry, I don't know how to embed a tweet)

[Suave]

I am assuming part of it is folding the Saints again. Their timbits/novice enrolment was down, plus a number of players got releases at the older levels. Rumours were that they blew their reserve fund on legal fees fighting the change last year.

Will be interesting what happens, do the Warriors agree to dissolve this time? As they were the other main association fighting changes last time. Seems things are a lot more quiet this time, so maybe nothing major?

[Nancy]

Well, this was not very well publicized, but here it is:

https://www.hockeycalgary.ca/assets/...t_-_Apr_30.pdf

There is a lot of stuff in there, boundary changes, plus stuff about changes to U11 (Atom), shortening seeding round, etc..

[Nancy]

1. NE Zone – Saints, Simons Valley, McKnight, Blackfoot:
For the 2020-21 season, the Saints Association will only operate U18 Midget) and House League programs. Remaining Saints players will be distributed across the Associations of Simons Valley, McKnight and Blackfoot

2. NW Zone – Bow River, Crowfoot, NW Warriors
The implementation of the merger from 3 Associations to 2 in the NW Zone will be delayed until the 2021-22 season

3. Southeast – Blackfoot, Bow Valley
The Douglasdale Community will move to the Blackfoot Association

4. Southwest – Glenlake, Southwest
The CKE Communities will move to the Southwest Association

[Nancy]

Apparently, Quebec is working on an "Extreme" plan for a return to minor hockey, which might include:

- No travel hockey at any level,
- Community based hockey only
- Teams of 6-8 in a 3on3 or 4on4 format.
- No body checking at any level
- Full visors required
- Applies at all levels, Midget AAA on down

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/sports/1...e-plan-extreme

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Nancy

Apparently, Quebec is working on an "Extreme" plan for a return to minor hockey, which might include:

- No travel hockey at any level,
- Community based hockey only
- Teams of 6-8 in a 3on3 or 4on4 format.
- No body checking at any level
- Full visors required
- Applies at all levels, Midget AAA on down

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/sports/1...e-plan-extreme

Would be interested to see how that would be implemented in rural settings.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Nancy

Apparently, Quebec is working on an "Extreme" plan for a return to minor hockey, which might include:

- No travel hockey at any level,
- Community based hockey only
- Teams of 6-8 in a 3on3 or 4on4 format.
- No body checking at any level
- Full visors required
- Applies at all levels, Midget AAA on down

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/sports/1...e-plan-extreme

Full visors for everyone? Does that mean no cages anymore? If true, it will be extremely difficult for parents to find full visors for their kids.

[TimSJ]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Full visors for everyone? Does that mean no cages anymore? If true, it will be extremely difficult for parents to find full visors for their kids.

Really are visors going to make that much of a difference? they still all are cage like at the bottom. I don't see the point.