"Elite" Minor Hockey

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by MattyC

^^ Atom AA?

Yes

[Madman]

Great reading, thanks for all the good posts. Being a fellow goalie parent, it's a great look into a potential future path.

My son is a second year Atom goalie and this will be the first year he tries out for travel. It sure is a different world in terms of evals and such, but it'll be exciting to see how he matches up with the rest of the kids in a couple weeks.

[Angelamc]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

Thanks Angelamc - will likely shoot you a PM in the enxt week or so.

Life gets crazy starting tonihgt, as out community association starts thier evaluation process - so tonight he is on the ice twice.......and then he is on every day until monday

I agree with puffnstuff, I would definitely check into whether or not he should be attending his community tryouts. I have always just emailed the coordinator at the community level, informing them that my son is still with the Northstars in tryouts, he makes the team, I email them informing them of such and they send a refund cheque of my the registration fees. Maybe you won't get the community registration refund if he attends any tryouts? I would look into it for sure, maybe email the bantam coordinator of your community org?

[Northendzone]

i would not miss community tryouts, because if he is ultimately cut, he needs to play on as high as a div in community as possible.

he may have to miss an eval session of two depending on how the NStars sched goes.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by Madman

Great reading, thanks for all the good posts. Being a fellow goalie parent, it's a great look into a potential future path.

My son is a second year Atom goalie and this will be the first year he tries out for travel. It sure is a different world in terms of evals and such, but it'll be exciting to see how he matches up with the rest of the kids in a couple weeks.

There are Atom travel teams?

[Madman]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

There are Atom travel teams?

Central Alberta Hockey League (CAHL)

[puffnstuff]

So, I would do what angelamc suggests. Talk to the age group coordinator about where your son is at. It was a job I had for four years. I always knew how many I still had that could possibly come back from quadrant tryouts and would always leave room. We also had a goalie coordinator that I would work with that had a better idea where goalies would land. Goalies are a little different because each team can only have two, but I still accounted for them. I dont think I had a late release goalie ever play lower than 2, even as a first year. Think about how many of the other goalies still in quadrant are coming back to your association as well.
I know I never had a player at tryouts in community that was still with a team in quadrants.
PM if you want to ask anything specific.

[Northendzone]

So my sons team plays thier first exhibition game on Saturday and today my son was told he is not going to play.

The skaters that are not playing seem to be locks to make the team.

Not sure if this a good sign, or if the coach looked at the goalies and could not remember my sons name.

Sort of disappointed not to see him play this weekend.

[Woodside]

what kind of scout was after a 7 year old with a contract?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Woodside

what kind of scout was after a 7 year old with a contract?

eh?

[Northendzone]

Quick update....my sons team played their first exhibition game last night. The team lost 5-1. My son played the bottom half of the game and he was ok. He gave up one goal on a breakaway, one goal that was top shelf (he could have played higher in the paint and possibly got the shot but it was a nice shot) and then one goal with 16 seconds left......he made a couple of nice outlet passes and was very vocal in giving his team a heads up on thier surroundings.

The team released a few players but no goalies. After the game we had to go to another arena as his community tryouts continued. I was stunned as at the end of community tryouts he skated lines for 5 minutes.

Regardless of what happens, his commitment level is high right now.

[Northendzone]

the boys practiced last night and have game tonight, and final cuts post game.

My son will start the game. Last night he stayed on the ice after all the others left and he worked on his movement - his golaie coach watched him.

time is just dragging on today, and i feel like i am going to puke right now. whatever happens, i will shed a tear or two......

[Northendzone]

the boys practiced last night and have game tonight, and final cuts post game.

My son will start the game. Last night he stayed on the ice after all the others left and he worked on his movement - his goalie coach watched him.

time is just dragging on today, and i feel like i am going to puke right now. whatever happens, i will shed a tear or two......

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

the boys practiced last night and have game tonight, and final cuts post game.

My son will start the game. Last night he stayed on the ice after all the others left and he worked on his movement - his goalie coach watched him.

time is just dragging on today, and i feel like i am going to puke right now. whatever happens, i will shed a tear or two......

We start that journey tonight. It is a lot of pressure on a 9 yr old.

[slim spady]

For comparison regarding "too much hockey", consider this: my 12 year old daughter is a competitive swimmer and is decent but right now isn't elite. She swim for 1 1/2 hours 6 days a week from Sept to June. This costs me $2500 plus equipment (suits cost between $100-$300) and extra costs to travel to 5-8 meets every year (sometimes out of province). Trust me, commitment & cost of hockey isn't that bad.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

We start that journey tonight. It is a lot of pressure on a 9 yr old.

hopefully both of our journey's have happy endings

[Madman]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

We start that journey tonight. It is a lot of pressure on a 9 yr old.

Yep, my 10 yr old goalie starts tonight as well - thankfully he's not nervous like his Dad is.

[Northendzone]

No storybook ending to my sons journey as he was released tonight. It is difficult for him to rationalize as he was not really given a tangible reason as to why he was cut and he is very good at math, so he is desperately seeking to,understand why.

as a parent it was hard to watch him be so crushed, but it is part of life.

It was frustrating in that he played very well in his part of the game tonight getting a shutout and he moved the puck smartly a couple of times.

[FBI]

So what's next for him?

[Northendzone]

^ community hockey for the 2015/2016 season - and then i am assuming he will want to play spring hockey, and some camps this summer and then take another crack at it next year.