Thank you for deciding for kids you don't even know how they should spend their time. I mean, what are these kids thinking? Of COURSE you know better how they should plan their lives.

Oh, BTW you don't "pay through the nose" to play NCDC or NAHL. Which is where most of the D-III players come from. It's a long shot that someone goes from Tier III pay-to-play to a decent D-III program.

That doesn't mean they shouldn't go play, if that's what they want to do.

Oh, that's right, you've already decided they should get their "head examined"

I think what gets parents upset and leads to the "system is broken" is the plethora of Tier-III programs in New England and the let down at 21 when their players moves onto to a club program or beer league. Right or wrong, Tier-III programs are selling a dream to the players & parents that almost never materializes and rather than looking in the mirror, they blame a "broken" system.

The way I see it, colleges need money to field teams, boosters want success on the ice and to see players matriculate to professional hockey, NHL loves the current system because they don't need to project what a player will become, they are already getting a fairly mature player at 23-25 years old. In addition to the less risk associated with signings, because these players are entering the league older, the teams are getting most of their prime career years on the cheap.

If the money being generated by the system helps keep college teams viable and maybe even adds a few more teams, I'm all for it.

BTW, since the majority of kids heading to D-1 are coming from the USHL and NTDP, who exactly is getting rich off the system? The only folks making real bank off the current system are the Tier-III programs and again, look in the mirror for who to blame on that. That's not to say that USHL owners aren't turning a profit but it's coming primarily from ticket sales and ad revenue not the parents check book.

Bingo. If your paying for the crap bag stuff around here thinking its going to lead to D3 then you only have yourself to blame, not the owners.

Stop it. you're making sense. Think that's against the admin rules.

Couple of reactions.

I think what gets parents upset is having to telling their kid "No." What they should be saying is, "I'm not paying for another year of Tier III Juniors. if you want to play, you have to earn the money." Which they could do working hockey camps. But, since it's available, the kids want to play. On Mommy and Daddy's dime. Let's face it, parents can just say no. It's easier to blame "the system."

Lot of 1998-1999 players with no realistic reason to feel they have a future in the sport, and they are still playing low level Tier III, still contacting schools. I'm fine with kids continuing to play, but be realistic about where it's headed.

I actually had a conversation with one set of parents who were thrilled their 20 year old decided to play another year of Tier III, because it meant one more year before they had to pay for college. And, this kid isn't going to college.

Tier III Juniors outside of NE is a FAR worse **** show than in this area. The teams here are reasonably stable, comparatively speaking. Tier III teams in a lot of the rest of the company are owned by scam artists, if not criminals. Read "The Death Pool" on The Junior Hockey News. The owner of TJHN needs to get laid more consistently, but it's amazing what is going on out there.

I don't know that Tier III programs are making "real bank." $250K - $300K minus coaches, admin, ice, transportation, rent, league fees etc etc etc. doesn't leave THAT much profit.

I hear a lot of USHL teams draw fans by offering cheap beer. Drawing fans drives the ad revenue. So, they're not really selling hockey, they're selling beer. The ticket is a cover charge.

Oh I get it now.. So the NHL likes the SYSTEM.. Statistically less than 30% of Division 1 players ever make the NHL. Is the NHL funding these colleges or coaches?? Nope but they let the D1 kids hang onto their dream a little longer with promises of potential NHL spots. The bigger question which no one wants to tackle is if this is such a great process then why do NONE of the other NCAA sports operate in this way. I don't expect a thoughtful analysis. I am sure someone will bring up a 27 year old rugby player as a comparison.

Wow your a special kind of stupid. Either that or a flaming liberal where everyone should get everything their are promised or everyone should be equal.

Statistically less than 30% play in the NHL is selling a dream? If it's 30% that's awesome if true. No one promised my kid he's going to the NHL by playing D1. If he does, great. If not, he played college hockey four years and got a degree. So playing D1 hockey is nothing more than hanging on to an NHL dream? Like I said, your a special kind of stupid.

30% of D-1 players play in the NHL???? There's approximately 1500 players in D-1 this year. So 450 of them will be in the NHL next year?

In fact, yes the NHL and NHLPA donate money to the NCAA for various activities. You also skipped over the part of the boosters, who are extremely important to the viability of programs which also ties into the NHL. The more high profile a program becomes, through league titles, tournament appearances and yes, kids going to "the show" the more generous the alumni become.

Why don't more sports do it? Well in certain respects they do, as of now all the other major sports have rules around age limits for draft eligibility.

D1 hockey has 30% going NHL? D1 hockey is simply stringing kids along keeping the NHL dream alive? Kids in other sports are not repeating, red shirting etc? And when kids do, they are never being told no we don't have a spot for you? This only happens in hockey?

You can't have a D1 kid. There is no way.

I don't have a D1 kid because I can't see the insanity of the this process???? Really, as I said on a previous post can't fix stupid.. D

You cant have a D1 kid cause you don't understand the process. So much of what you said is BS and anyone who has kids who have gone through it know your full of it.

Nope.. wrong again!! Understand the Process but don't agree with the process.. what is so hard to understand??
Honestly?? I really don't get why anyone who has gone through this when honestly looking at the big picture would continue to defend it. That leads me to believe maybe It is YOU who doesn't really get it.

Why anyone with an elite player would rail against this system is beyond me. That's who it's designed for. USHL was great preparation for Hockey East. There is no substitute or alternative for it. One year out there and then fully prepared for NCAA. Now if your only an elite player in the mind of a disgruntled dad who hates the system because it expiosed their kid as not being an elite player, well then I can't help you.

You don't have a D1 kid, because he isn't D1 caliber. I don't know what all the confusion is, my kid was a 19 year-old Freshman playing D1.

But Paul, your kid is really good.

I also think the system is broken from a US perspective and in comparing the sport to other sports but much of what is 'wrong' is fueling a healthy junior system in Canada & in the Midwest. These teams are the closest kids will get to playing the sport professionally and these teams, leagues and towns are loved elsewhere. This is part of the 'system' that needs repair but there is a lot that will forever favor 21 year old hockey freshmen because the healthy junior leagues eat it up.

You know Canadian junior has nothing to do with your NCAA system, right? Kids lose eligibility? You do know that don’t you?

Yes obviously, but the system of a robust junior league that feeds pro hockey is alive north of the boarder.

and thats relevant to this discussion how? another dope

Being the idiot bully you try to be, shouldn’t you be Tweeting incoherent stuff like your bully hero Comrade Trump?

The point I think was that there is a deeply rooted, profitable junior system and keeps kids until they’re 20. Hope Bully-boy gets it

Wow, if your stupid that disqualifies you from claiming your being bullied. Major Junior has nothig to do with NCAA. If you choose Major Junior, you are making a conscious decision to not play college hockey. It all but disqualifies you from NCAA unless your willing to pay a significant price. So the system your keep referring to cannot by definition include Canadian Junior.

Yes the CHA has a long standing position in Canadian hockey. It's a much bigger and much more lucritive than the USHL. But so what? Has nothing to do with this topic.

Thanks for joining the discussion though.

" Major Junior has nothig (sic) to do with NCAA "

I'll go slower for you. See the hockey farm system has a long history and very deep roots. Most adults in the room will say these deep roots can be trace back to their origins to.....Canada! And you will see there is money involved in this farm system both in Canada and....(drum roll please) The US of A !!!! See this old system, for those of you new to this sport, was built many years ago and really despite the Canadian Major Juniors' leagues insisting they support college educations by giving their players 'free tuition' to Canadian schools they really don't care. Check out how much it costs for a Canadian to go to college and check out how many players take the leagues up on their offer and you'll see it's not a big percentage. So you see this is the farm system for pro hockey, show-up, stay until you're 20, fill the stands, and either turn pro or a college will take you.

Guess what developed in the US of A? No really, guess. Another drum roll! A system that is well funded for Tier 1 Juniors of "Show-up, stay until you're 20, fill the stands, and either turn pro or a college will take you."

Now the challenged in the room will say, "Hold on a minute! But they're Canucks and I'm a God Fearing, MAGA hat wearing, US Vet, stand for the national anthem American GOT-Darn-IT!!! How on earth did all this happen in my country?" Welllllll, look to the north, look to history, look to where the bread is getting buttered, look who helps to fund this well developed farm system and then ask yourself - Does Major Junior has nothig (sic) to do with the NCAA?

O.K., you're dismissed.

At the end of the day, your kid wasn't good enough to play D1, so please stop wasting everyone's time and stop whining, go back to the kiddie board. This is a college thread, not wannabe college thread.

It's the NCAA. They exist to support colleges, not student athletes. They don't care about your kid. They will never change or implement a rule simply because it's in the best interest of the students.

They are a business that is about growing revenues for themselves and their members. If they could drop all sports but football and basketball they would but they can't. The other sports help with the smokescreen that they are really about amateur collegiate athletics and it keeps them clear of Title IX lawsuits.

They count and a transient workforce that is in their system for short periods of time and so the interest of unionizing and collective bargaining never gets any traction. See Northwestern football lawsuit. Whenever anything gets any traction they throw some crumbs to the workers (stipends) to silence them and then they are gone. The trouble-makers graduate and move on. A new workforce comes in and any movement has to start all over again.

Hockey is very costly but important to the schools who have a history with it. Some schools attract enough attendance to make some money but many do not. They make money on alumni. When alumni come back to campus with checkbooks in hand there needs to be things going on. Athletics are part of it. It’s well documented that small schools that dropped football to save money lost even more because alumni stopped coming back to campus. Hockey in many of these schools has a trickle down because students (full paying non athletes) want to go to schools with things going on. Drop sports and overall the school becomes less attractive to the general student body that pays the bills.

So to maximize revenue (direct and indirect) they need a product that is interesting. They set out on a path to make NCAA a feeder for NHL. Come sure future NHL players is the draw. So to pull kids from other leagues namely the CHL, they exploit the age limit issue of the CHL. The appeal if give yourself more time to develop. Why age out at 20 and have to turn pro if you not ready. They are also going hard after Euro’s. 35% of D1 players are now imports.

So the system is working and working beautifully for what it’s focused on achieving. NCAA players in the NHL is at an all time high and growing. They are televising more NCAA games in Canada. CHL is reeling a bit from labor lawsuits, tax schemes from owners, sketchy promises of tuition payments etc. So if you’re a parent of a Canadian kid who used to think CHL was the only path to the NHL, it’s no longer the case.

So the system isn’t going to change. It’s working well for those that its designed to work for. Your kid is not the priority. You work the system as best you can or tap out. If you tap out, there is another to take your place.

WTF are you babbling about? We know the origins of junior hockey. The topic is how things work today with respect to the path to ncaa hockey. Put the bottle down and try to keep up.

I like stories!

Looks like the idiot bully got owned. Major Junior has nothig ! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: :kissing_smiling_eyes: :stuck_out_tongue:

True that. The newer question is with so many kids getting just partial scholarship, why would a Canadian kid even choose to come to the states (unless it was a top 20 or so U.S. school) to pay what could be $2,000 - $6,000 per year in Canada?

If you play OHL/QMJHL you cant play NCAA though.

Sorry wingnut but I wrote that post. You can't seem to keep up with the conversation. The first is on how the NCAA/Junior Hockey system in the US is forcing 21 year old freshmen and propping up USHL. CHL has nothing to do with it.

Now the NCAA in its goal to be the leading path to NHL. That path is to pull in elite players from Canada and Europe/Russia. Still has nothing to do with CHL other than they want kids to choose NCAA over that.

Now tell us another story about the culture of junior hockey in Canada please!!!!

Dude, put down the keyboard. We've all had enough of you being able to type but unable to read.

you forgot your witty emoji's

:stuck_out_tongue: :cat:
:banana: :melon: :melon:

If you capped the age of incoming hockey freshman at a one year gap post graduate all that would happen is the junior leagues would go younger. Instead of heading off to the USHL at 18 or 19 you would see players heading off to the league at 16 and 17. It is hard for a kid that age to live away from home. I'd prefer they be 18 when they do it. Play hockey, take a college credit class or two while you do it, and take some time to mature. Truth is, hockey or not, I'm not sure I want to send a kid straight to college right out of high school these days anyway. Look at the first year college drop out rate. A kid will be much more prepared, hockey or not, after spending a year or two in juniors.

My kid was 17 went he headed to the USHl, 19 when he started at his Hockey East School. All of you are forgetting why college hockey/Juniors is set up this way in the first place? It makes College Hockey relevant to the NHL, the NHL has a hard on for NCAA players nowadays, because of their maturity, skill set, and knowing how to play a defensive game (something you don't see in the CHL). Remember, back before the 90's, College Hockey as mostly irrelevant, because most of these guys went from Prep/HS right to D1 hockey, and the vast majority of them weren't making it to the NHL. Look at the Olympic team from 1980, at most, the guys who made it to the NHL, they were only there for a cup of coffee. The current system give NCAA players a better chance to making it to the NHL. If that doesn't float your boat, then have your kid play club, there are plenty of them

Gee it makes college hockey relevant to the NHL? Gee we didn’t know that. I guess we forgot even though it was said a number of times.

All the hopes and dreams of college hockey within one year of graduating HS is never going to happen.


www.grandforksherald.com/sports/hockey/4569903-unds-recent-commits-give-window-recruiting-strategy