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this all goes back to 1 simple point....if you are good enough they will find you. Save a ton of money, go play HS hockey with your friends and enjoy the entire HS experience.
There's something to be said for having a HS girlfriend, going to the Semi- formal, going to watch a football game under the lights. If after 2 years you are clearly faster, stronger, better, and dominating your HS then go to prep or Jr., stay back a year, and make a run at it....if you do it at 13/14/15 years old your just rolling the dice....
"The CC studs you mentioned of days gone by are still there, but you're probably seeing them skate as freshman and sophomores, not as juniors and seniors."
100% correct.
Your getting all the kids that were not allowed to check in High School now. They shoot the puck up boards because they don't know how to take a check or give one. Count how many times each team gives the puck away!!!
USPHL better option. BA has become a non-factor at both levels. Idiot parents are just dream chasers.
Agreed. USPHL is a far better option than T1EHL, but you're still getting far too many kids on these full season U rosters whose parents think they're too good for public, get cut or buried at Catholics or whose parents won't foot the bill for a Prep. If you're considering it, go check it out. It may work for you. But If your kid can legitimately play at a Catholic or Prep, or be a standout at a good Public for a few years before making a jump to a Prep or Juniors, you're probably far better off staying with one of those options.
U18 USPHL much better than T1
I got to watch a bunch of Tier 1 games over the weekend in Hingham. This was the second time I got to watch a game at that level and I was amazed how cheap and chippy the games are. Half the players are cross checking everything in sight, scrums all over the place and fights. Its U16 and U18. The hockey is decent but its a goon fest in my opinion. Kids have no recourse for being cheap. The last time I saw a Tier 1 U18 game it was a brawl with BA and some other team and yesterday wasnt much different. I even witnessed fights between kids in the hallways. Honestly I wouldnt even let my kid play in that mess - I much rather him in prep hockey or high school hockey where players actually have some restraint and they know they cant take liberties without punishment as they represent a school. Its about development and not being a goon. This setup of putting raging 16-18 year old kids on buses and in hotel rooms and shipping them all over is a joke. Missing school and playing in goon filled games - all set with that. I am all for tough hockey but conduct yourself like a pro and not some punk.
Don't know what games you were watching but I saw nothing of what you just described. Yes, the games are physical but there was nothing remotely dirty or cheap about them and there certainly were no fights in the hallways.
Buffalo jr Sabres vs NH Monarchs was one of the games and hallway outside between period between what it seemed was players or members or organizations.Brawl I witnessed was U18 BA a while back. Maybe its just the games I caught but quality of hockey is fine but the goon stuff is out of hand. Pathetic.
Guy is clueless. What does league have to do with "local" players? It's a national league.
Locally, any one of the BA players would be first one on their HS teams. Why is a 20 game HS season against low end talent attractive?
spot on man-each and everyone of the players on the U16 and U18 advantage was cut by a Prep or a CC team. Parents are living in a fantasy world
Sorry your kid is on the 3rd line at your D2 or D3 school. Complete joke. There are 8 graders who can't even play real club team hockey playing varsity for some of these crappy D3 HS teams. Most U14 teams could beat these teams!
Go watch either of these teams and the competition. None of those U18's were cut from their HS teams. Most are public HS kids that actually can play vs. the total public HS kids, even at the D1 level. Hingham, Marshfield, Braintree, Weymouth, Walpole, Norwood, and so on....The best player on those teams would struggle to keep up with the U18 competition on both BA and other T1 Elite league kids. Stick with the facts folks.
Fact. A few of the teams listed above had kids who played U16 in their 2nd year of U16 for BA...none of those kids made the U18 team, all heading back to their HS's. Good players, but not good enough to play at the U18 level of this league.
U16's are even better, usually because the kids can be smaller and faster, better for the good developing players to play with kids who get it vs. playing the garbage 18 year olds who can't catch a pass or stick handle.
Sorry your kid can't make a team in this league. Keep telling yourself it's not good hockey though and Hanover High is a better option for you :) (You know who you are buddy)
High school hockey has jumped the shark. It's all who you know and not how hard you work. They dont have to skate hard Daddy got them there.
Just read a stat that out of 498 D1 college players - only 1 came directly from u18 Tier 1 hockey. 17 came directly from prep schools.
Agree. Good players are everywhere and the PG factor makes prep an alternative to junior hockey. Go watch a game and you tell me if that is the breeding ground for the better players in the college game.
Yeah those 4 D1 commits on the Avalanche are mediocre at best. Come on man.
High school is all political. It's all who you know and how much you donate or if daddies coaching.
Its from lack of real skill/talent. Players hit and fight for the clapping that goes with it. If they don't have skill and finesse to draw a big oooh and aww from the crowd they do it with goon tactics instead! You definitely don't see it as much in prep school. It's not allowed and kids are smart enough not to risk an injury. Same in Europe, who also rely more on skill than cavemen mentality.
Pppppppp*****y!!!!!!!!