I used to live in Japan. There was 1 rink in the entire prefecture I lived in, and it happened to be in the the town adjacent to mine. I found out one of my co-workers coached the University ice hockey team (surprised they had one!) He invited me to join their practices and I immediately had my gear shipped from Canada.
After I started playing with them I also joined the prefecture's men's team. Since there was only 1 team we had to travel to other prefectures to play games. Games were pretty rare, but damn did they practice. Practice practice practice! Iverson's nightmare.
The players were actually pretty good. I played rep through minor hockey, and was definitely not the best player there. But - and it's hard to really understand unless you witness it - they couldn't really play hockey. Like, they had the skills but when you put it all together with 10 players skating around the ice, something was off.
Anyway, the point is it is pretty clear this kid has skills. But he's in the Japanese system. Practice and skills are definitely encouraged, but team play and strategy are not really. Maybe that is because there are so few hockey players in that country.
Bottom line: I think he should move to a "hockey" country in order to develop. Much like many North American soccer players head to European/South American academies in their teens. It is just something about the sport culture, not to mention the level of competition.
Good luck to the kid though!
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I would think he would have to go through the CHL import draft though and that would be at least two more years away. Surprised he isn't playing at one of the many academies in the west which would allow him, as a 2003 the be drafted into the WHL this spring.
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I know he's coming to Vancouver again this summer to play in another AAA tournament. He and fellow Japanese prospect Yusaku Ando have dominated it in the past.
I am fairly certain that's Aito is going to rely on the CHL import draft.
I heard that they were trying to get residence in Langley or something, but I guess that didn't work out.
Yusako Ando, in the other hand, may be drafted in a Bantam draft. But I think if this happens, it will be in the QMJHL.
In older videos, Aito mostly focused on his puck handling skills. But in the more recent videos, you can see that he is also a strong skater.
Needs to keep his head up though.
I would think he would have to go through the CHL import draft though and that would be at least two more years away. Surprised he isn't playing at one of the many academies in the west which would allow him, as a 2003 the be drafted into the WHL this spring.
Yeah he's due to be drafted this year in the CHL and sniffing around it looks like he's trying to find status in the west to play either in the Dub or the BCHL
#14 on the red team looked pretty good too, bigger and a better skater, and a very nice goal, not sure why it was on this guys clips.
Also, love that the nets have the pre mid 90’s Euro hanging mesh.
He's come over and played in AAA tournaments and dominated while being smaller than he is even now, he really should try his hand at the CHL, should a team be willing to give him a shot.
Location: Oklahoma - Where they call a puck a ball...
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by カナダ人です
I used to live in Japan. There was 1 rink in the entire prefecture I lived in, and it happened to be in the the town adjacent to mine. I found out one of my co-workers coached the University ice hockey team (surprised they had one!) He invited me to join their practices and I immediately had my gear shipped from Canada.
After I started playing with them I also joined the prefecture's men's team. Since there was only 1 team we had to travel to other prefectures to play games. Games were pretty rare, but damn did they practice. Practice practice practice! Iverson's nightmare.
The players were actually pretty good. I played rep through minor hockey, and was definitely not the best player there. But - and it's hard to really understand unless you witness it - they couldn't really play hockey. Like, they had the skills but when you put it all together with 10 players skating around the ice, something was off.
がんばって！
This is pretty rad. I run hockey tourneys all over the world and we are doing one of our draft tournaments in Japan this coming Sept. I'm pretty stoked about it. We usually stick to North America but 2 years ago we did Salzburg, INCREDIBLE. Japan has been much harder to set up due to the language barrier. Any tips? Flying into Tokyo and playing in Karuizawa.
