Who has landed the top free agents?

Who is most improved next year?

Stop worrying about everyone else kid and focus on your own.....

stop ruining everyone else's fun and lighten up.

Hard to say who's improved the most when the best available players are still out there.

It's not over until the papers are signed and the checks are cashed!

Islanders are loading up. Prepping for the Q now. All bottom enders and complainers are out. Taking 5 new players. That is fact not fiction

Hear the Flames improved with addition of Shaw from the Falcons

Have to love guys like you. "That's a fact"...you are wrong. The number is three. Have a clue!

regardless, still going to be some unhappy 10 year olds

agreed

Heard 2 kids from the Ice...who is the 3rd?

3 kids from the wizards

There is your 5. Islander parents must be furious with all the new kids.

Again...WRONG!!!!!

IF you guys are taking 3 kids from the 05 Ice team why don't you send them the 3 kids you are going to cut. Call it a swap. This way the parents can bring their kids to the Ice's free skate/evaluation next week. If the coaching staff continues to tell the parents they plan on cutting their kid "don't worry about it let's get through tryouts" even through you plan on cutting their kid after tryouts, then you have a loss the spirit of youth sports. This could work out for everyone. You get 3 high end players that the Advantage program developed over the last few years, BA or AI then take the kids the Islanders could not develop, develop those kids over the next year or two and then you can re-recruit and re-sign them back...

Recruiting and signing 10 year old kids is easy. Developing kids is hard work and takes time. Stick with the kids you made promises as your word is important not just in youth hockey...

IHC seems to have done a good job scouting, recruiting and committing the top free agent. Not agents. While they may be more improved from where they are today, will that be enough? Time will tell........

the answer is no...you can't go out and pick kids that parents think are studs and expect them to play like a team. Time won't solve that...development will. Clearly, that's not an organization that fosters development.

All star teams fail, because they rely solely on the talent of the individual. I'd put the 03E VJW - a team who's core has been together since Mites - against any EHF team and like their chances

E9 can't compare to EHF at any level...E9 is the B division hands down

up until all the recent transactions, I'd say the top 4 or 5 from Fed and E9 at the 05 level could compete against each other and it would be anyone's game

not even close... at the 05 Level, Wizards, Advantage Ice, or Assabet.. E9 top teams wouldn't beat a top 4-5 team in EHF... not even close

Really? What place are the Caps or SSK in? They were beaten. Beaten seems to be higher than "close"

Really? any one can lose one game....

My Hockey Rankings:

EHF Teams in Top 20 (6) - BJE(9),IHC(11),MF(12),MMF(16),BJT(18),Caps(20)

Elite 9 Teams in Top 20 (1)- Adv. Ice (19)

The gap is not as wide as you think it is. I don't think there's a logical person who believes those teams are "not even close". The competition would be much stronger if the teams were balanced by year between both leagues.
But hey, you have fun beating up on the Bandits. Bet it makes you feel like a winner and helps your rankings by running up the goal diff ratio.

E9 is losing 3-4 of their top players to EHF this year in 05 division. Why? EHF is better... and it only weakens an already weak league. I see players try and come from E9 to EHF, and 9 time out of 10 they are one and done...

not arguing which league is better... point is top 3 or 4 in both leagues would be able to compete against each other.

Sorry, 03E VJW would not come close to beating top 6/7 03 teams in EHF Elite.

They just beat Mid Fairfield in Buffalo. Mid Fairfield is undefeated in he EHF.

There is no dominant 03 team this year in EHF. Look at the Eagles record in he last 10.

U don't focus development towards bottom third kids that have gotten 2 years or more and just don't get better. In Elite hockey you need to have core competency's or you are going to get cut. Top half suffers when bottom kids are kept too long.

Truth is correct - it's just like why there are Honors classes in school. It's nearly impossible to coach up the bottom third while trying to further develop the top half...nobody wins.

Kids need to fend for themselves once they hit squirts? That's the point?

So... once they're age 9/10 they should stop acting like children?

So...once they're age 9/10 they should stop making mistakes?

So...once they're age 9/10 they should be told to leave because Mr. Bender thinks you stink?

So...once they're age 9/10 if they can't win a super series they'll probably need to reconstruct the team?

Guess what? You still sound ridiculous.

You know, I was thinking. If you grab your ankles then the anus is about an inch more exposed than grabbing your toes. Think about it.

who is recruiting Leonard that play with 04 Rifles, hands down the best 05 in the states

Should not being using kids names on the d board unless you put your name on the post...just saying....

Allow if it is your son!!!

Hey if it's in a positive light and the kid is all over the internet for his college comitt(s) then I don't have a problem with it.

Going off the rails on the crazy train............

This is 10 and 11 year old hockey. Good job scouting, recruiting and signing kids? Who do you think you are BU? BC? I suggest developing your own kids and yes it might take a couple of years to have this happen and stop trying to poach other teams top kids. Think about what you told the parents the previous year about how you develop kid's skills before cutting them this year. 10 year old hockey, you should be ashamed of yourselves....Maybe you would see it different if your kid was the one being cut.....

AMEN!

Too bad parents have to ruin everything. Probably still bitter about playing right field in LL.

It's only funny until they start college commits for 13 year olds.


13-year-old Maine recruit Oliver Wahlstrom mature for his age, coach says

http://www.uscho.com/from-the-press-box/2014/01/10/13-year-old-maine-recruit-oliver-wahlstrom-mature-for-his-age-coach-says/#ixzz3znKZneCH

Let's get it straight, none of these kids are Oliver Wahlstrom. You can dream big but your kid is not going to SSM for his freshmen year...

Please stop. You look silly. News flash...you don't want your kid to peak at 11 years old. I have to laugh at the dad's who have their kids get up at 5:30 in the morning to go to skills. Your creating a lacrosse player down the road and your not realizing they are 11 years old! College scouts don't care where you played youth hockey. They don't even care how good you are at 16 years old. All they care about is what you might become given god given talents. Trust me when I tell you all things equal they will take a kid that has never had serious training on or off the ice compared with a kid that has had everything and this is as good as they are going to get. They are in the business of anticipating more than anything. The dad's that do that to there kids are the type that never made their high school team and have a "that will never happen to my kid" mentality. Its funny, but the kids of dad's played at a very high level are not worried at all about 11 year old hockey. What does that tell you?

Good luck and see you in 10 years.

I have no idea how long you've been away from the game but you've really lost touch.

"College scouts don't care where you played youth hockey. They don't even care how good you are at 16 years old."

O.K., wander over to one of the BA Tier I League games and spend a little time peering through the glass and looking around the stands. At the U-16 level there and numerous college commits on the ice. In fact they are grabbing more from U-16's than they are from the U-18's because they want to lock them up and get them out to the USHL.

Now look around the stands and you will see numerous collage coaches, scouts and Junior teams. They are there because of the level of play and the concentration of top talent. These are the kids they are moving to Tier I Junior Hockey and filling their D-I college rosters with 4-5 years down the road.

At a lower level go to the State Tournament and look around. Many Junior teams and college coaches are in the stands for the Super 8 and D-I games but zero are in the stands for D-2 or D-3. They don't care the competition isn't there.

So to say they don't care how good a kid is at 16 is uninformed; to say they don't care where you've played is just stupid.

Your making my point! The college coaches are signing kids so early not because they are ready today to play D1, but rather they believe they see something that they believe will develop many years from now. Think about how old incoming D1 Freshmen are these days. Sure, there are a few unbelievable players that are ready at 17, but for the most part it is years later.

My comment on where kids play youth hockey I was referring to younger ages. Do you think they care where Johnny played 10 and 11 year hockey?

Check the list of kids that played on the Boston Mission team as Squirts and Peewees and let me know how that went. And believe me, these college coaches are not hanging around watching Town A Peewee & Town A Bantam games.

My bad, your correct. College coaches are hanging around watching Squirt games, but only the Elite teams. What was I thinking.

Holy cow buddy!! Did you really just say "college coaches are not hanging around watching Town A Peewee games". By inference you are suggesting they are watching Elite Peewee games. Shouldn't we see how they check and take a check before we recruit them? You must have a lot of anxiety when you watch your son play. In your mind he needs to play well enough at the Peewee level to get some looks from D1 schools.

Yes, go watch a true 'AAA' game and you'll see them there. You know times like Belle Tire, Chicago Mission, LA Kings, Little Caesars, Team Comcast....and you come back and let me know.

Not sure which post you are replying to, but if you are saying D1 coaches are scouting Squirt games, that would be wrong. Don't care what team.

Hold on - you mean to tell me that D1 coaches are NOT scouting squirt games? WTF, I thought I saw York watching my kid last weekend?

hey well for your information I just watched the 05 Eagles beat every team put in front of them at the 05 NJ superseries. Included in this were the Philly Little Flyers who boasted a record of 56-1-1 before being beaten by the Eagles 3 to 2 in the finals so don't think that the EHF teams can't complete because they can!

Wow, really! They're competing against regional all star teams?? You must really be a talented parent to get your kid on a team that can compete with such high level kids! Do you feel like your life is complete now?

You're probably one of those guys that didn't make it past little league in your athletic career. Probably can't even touch your toes right now, but hey I'm happy you can live vicariously through your child. It's the circle of life.

Don't hate the player - hate the game within the game!!

The message is completely lost on you. You are on the side that believes you should control the fate of a child. Not only that, you manipulate it by negatively commenting on other kids and yuckin' it up with coach. Why cut the bottom three? So you can feel better about your 4 hour ride home?
I'm sure your kid is good. There's a bunch of kids I've seen that are great and just enjoyable to watch. The problem is you inject your opinion and it erodes at the fabric of youth sports. You're not alone either. There's so many who hold your twisted view. You want a team of All Stars. It's easy to play with All Stars. The real athletes are the ones that help those that can't "cut it", become better. When you see a kid do that, that's when you know you got something special.

Keep cutting the bottom three. Maybe next year you'll win two or three more games. I know a team that did that and they've lost more this year than last year. What's that tell you?

...Oh and you probably got a dicky doo, yeah, your belly sticks out more than your dicky do.

2/15/2017 implosion-kaboom!!!

364 days till we have this exact conversation again. Is this live or is it memorex? Bwahahaha

Long threads seem to gravitate toward the lowest common denominator.

My older boy played in over his head for a couple of years (a '96 one of the top years around here) and he moved down and his confidence took off. Once he adapted he was able to play with anyone his age in a top Jr. League. If he would have stayed I'm not sure it would have worked out. Confidence and ice time is everything.

Exactly! See? The two above d-boarders get what the discussion is here (even Richard Simmons too). No one is bashing little Johnny. It's about perspective. And it's not ridiculous - it's what is best for each kid. That's only point trying to be made.

Well the real question is often does the kid learn being on the first line, the PP and the PK or being on the third line of a great team? Conversely I see kids scoring 2-3 goals a game and they need to move up.

Your Honour, I object. It's the players parents' perspective, I'm saying it should be based on. Everyone has their own opinion watching practice and games, but Mr Bender is not talking about little Johnny's play with other parents along the boards, nor is he discussing it with coaches via text and email, he's just offering his opinion in this very discussion on the D-Board (which I guess now reading that does in fact make me ridiculous with the rest of you, nevermind...)

Sorry your kid got cut!

Are you joking? There is a parent that texts a coach every hour on who they can recruit or the play of other players. That's the problem! Your not a coach, your a parent that never played hockey in high school. If it was only of this Board - no problem, that is the right format. I am parent on the team and will be next year. I don't want another parent trying to replace my kid for next year. Not your job 0 it is the coaches job. Either become a coach or become a parent. We will have no team chemistry if you continue.

Remember, "Sweatin to the Oldies" was fun until it became a job. Let me be honest, watching some over weight octo-genarian try to touch their toes or grab their ankles is not fun! When the fun is gone, it is a job. Adults quit jobs! Youth hockey needs to be fun or they will quit faster than you can say Jazzercize!

Smells like rotten rancid tuna! Its a tune'r bro!

And they were terrible against the Caps! New coach, new team, somebody do something

So a team scores something like 10 goals in seven games and it is the bottom 3 or 4 kids fault. The only thing elite about that team is their goalie....

Thanks goalie's dad

That kid is nasty. Go watch him play. It is fun to watch him. Kid is like a mini NHLer.

I love how you say nothing except a goalie is Elite about a 2nd place EHF Elite team that is ranked 12th in the country. Last time I checked this was a team sport. It is Elite hockey sometimes kids get cut and sorry that yours did, just move on.

Elite teams don't get beat 10-3, 5-1, 5-1 and 3-0 over a 10 day period if they are truly elite. Call it whatever you want but that's not elite...Along with a bunch of teams as well. But if it makes you feel better you can write the word elite in the memo section of your check....

Please explain who the true elite teams at the 05 level are then?

Boston Bruins lost 9-1 to kings a few weeks ago. What's your point? Are they not a real NHL team? Top 6 EHF teams are all very good and can beat one another on any given weekend. That is why it is a great league.

Really?The B's are in 5th place in the East. 5 points away from 2nd place. I'd call that a prett good year. Get off the D board and get on NHL.com. Just like your evaluation of your own child, you are way off.