Very true, went thru it last spring, if your kid might play JV or Freshman for a bad high school team, play full season club with a good coach and good core of players...better development and if your kid loves hockey its 8 months instead of 2 months of high school.
Hard to tell, U14 teams are usually the last to get formed...find a good coach first. Previous poster mentioned teams with a good core of kids who are 8th graders next year, otherwise you may have some high school kids coming in and out though out the year.