Yowza, this sounds like great reality TV!

He probably laid it on thick!

I'll tell you the impact. It's terrible. Kids have a pretty simple view of the situation, they just want to play hockey and have fun with their friends. So they get sad when they are told that they are better off playing for another team. But if they stuck around for another season, as the season would unfold, they would start to fear the coach (again), and they would get frustrated with his better-suited-for-town-hockey kid (this was confirmed by the head coach's soon to be ex-wife at almost every game, saying "He doesn't belong on the ice"). As an aside, the coach's kid singlehandedly lost the JWK tournament for the team. Opponents skated around him like he was standing skill and scored 75% of the goals against the team while he was on the ice.

The parents, of course, have a different perspective, and have access to more information. The parents who decided to leave all reached a tipping point somewhere along the road. For some, the tipping point was discovering that the coach was riding the hobby horse with one of the moms on the team. Those parents I'm sure started to question whether he was favoring that mom's kid, and/or whether to tell the mom's husband. For other parents, it was when they saw their kid crying about how the coach yelled at them, and hearing what the head coach said to them to make them cry. For other parents, it was knowing that several teammates were leaving for other teams. For other parents, it was getting to the end of the rope with the head coach's lame practices, the head coach's lies, and the head coach splitting time with coaching the white team (which he did for financial reasons, as he has two boys, and he gets free tuition by being a head coach). For some parents, it's a combination of these reasons. But whatever the reason(s), the parents are trying to make the best decision for their own kid, and it's no coincidence that over half the team made the same decision.

Nobody wants to stick around for another season of the coach and all the drama, and knowing the team's skill level would drop significantly. The team finished last year in the league finals, which is a good result. But I bet if you asked the kids privately how they viewed last year, you'd get mostly negative responses. And with the talent that is now remaining on that team, that team would not even make the black bracket if they had to play in the parity rounds. What kid would want to stick around for that? Also, what parent would pay close to $3k to knowingly put their kid in that situation?

The situation became unworkable, unfortunately, and nobody should be expected to leave their kid in a situation like that. So while the negative impact on the kid due to leaving his friends, it is far outweighed by avoiding the inevitable negative experience called "next year" and by joining the much more positive situations available to the outgoing players. For most parents, it's a no-brainer.

If anyone, people should look to the flames organization because they could have avoided this whole situation by removing the head coach when they were asked to do so by the parents. But they didn't, they chose to leave the head coach at the helm, and this is the fallout. They had the information, they just made the wrong decision. They shouldn't be holding players hostage for simply leaving an unhealthy situation, and looking for a healthy one.

What an incredible story. Why would the flames want to bring this much attention to their known problems? This is truly worthy of a Boston Globe article about youth hockey in Mass. How about "Money or The Kids - What one local hockey club will do to keep a profit". Print it.

Not the first time LR has blocked kids/families from pursuing a better opportunity, and it won't be the last. The only consolation is that his own team is a complete mess, which must break his heart.

Many of the flames teams are a complete mess. Yes, LR's 04 team, the aforementioned 05 Tier 1 team, 06 tier 1 team, the 04 tier 1 team. They are not the only game in town anymore, there are many, many more, better options now for quality coaching and quality ownership. How many championships did they win this season, with what 25+ teams that they field? If I had to guess, maybe 3? 1 of which was the 06 elite team that was mentioned earlier, that was using an illegal player.

Two more sheets on the way though, so the money keeps flowing. Hey fed4life guy, keep promoting because you know they are all about developing your kid, right? They are playing you, but you keep pushing their message.

This horseh*t ain't elite fella. Read the hashtag closely.

What happens below the Show ain't on my radar. This sounds like an episode of AAA Dawson's Creek. White, Black, silver, parity, group sex.... Keep that foolishness out of my windshield.

#fedeliteforlife

It's all the same people involved, and you think they view your kid differently because he's "elite"? Joke's on you buddy.

We shall see about that.

Now someone pass me your $, hockey mom and some lube.

The show? Lol...You're a complete moron pal.

Honestly though, could someone please step up and tell us if the mom is hot?

At the end of the day, we are all crazy hockey parents, this is still an anonymous message board, and we are still on the interweb.

NO, TRASHY

Trashy gross or trashy hot?