You folks need to get a grip of reality, 95% of the youth players will not ever play college hockey. All because you pay all of this money from year to year, doesn't entitle you and your child long lasting success. Starting to see tweets, etc. from Pro & College coach's on how ridiculous youth hockey has gotten. Don't let you 10-year old begin to specialize in one sport (hockey), playing only hockey for 9 months+ is bad for their development and health (injuries). Parents need to start looking at themselves in the mirror and do what's right for their child.

Your assessment of crazy hockey parents is correct.
However, playing hockey for 9 months exclusively, then playing a second sport(lax.soccer.baseball) in the off season is not bad if the kid loves hockey. 12 months of hockey below peewee minor is bad as they need time to rest and relax from hockey.
If you want your kid to have a chance of making a HS varsity team, he should have a primary sport. Otherwise, play town hockey and enjoy the ride, but don't be surprised if he is a JV player for 4 years.

Bingo....:+1:

There’s nothing wrong with playing Hockey 8-9 months year. Anyone who tells you different is a moron. 95 % of people and kids do because they enjoy the sport. 95 % of parents know it’s a long shot to make a College team. Your offering no new info.. Your on the soapbox to nowhere. No one is listening.. blah blah..

Really? Having kids under the age of 13-14-15 doing the same repetitive skills/physical activity cause over use of those muscles, joints, and tendons which in turn causes more frequent injuries. Just wait until all those hip problems begin to occur, if your kid makes it past high school with hockey, you will find out. and BTW, my soapbox is a bit higher than yours since I have a kid who played Prep/USHL/Hockey East and barely played any hockey in the summer.

"my soapbox is a bit higher than yours since I have a kid who played Prep/USHL/Hockey East and barely played any hockey in the summer."

If this is a true statement, your son played youth hockey more than 15 years ago. Gramps, leave the dboard to parents with kids in youth hockey and watch your grand kids from live barn. Much less of a chance of breaking a hip at the rink.

Nope still playing, not an over-ager, entered college at 19, and no, I'm not a grandfather. You are all in for a rude awakening when your kid turns 15

That’s because your kid plays **** hockey and sucks he will never see high school Hockey. The elite kids skate all summer and continue to get better while your kid sits home and ears **** all day.

when are the tweens back to school? the Dboard has enough issues without the underage coming on here.

What, exactly, is a "shark pit?"

A pit where sharks have freaking laser beams attached to their heads...

You don't need to have to focus on hockey 9 months a year if your goal is only to make the public high School Varsity team, most of those kids are multi-sports athletes

Apparently your live in a D3 town.

Bingo!

"You don't need to have to focus on hockey 9 months a year if your goal is only to make the public high School Varsity team, most of those kids are multi-sports athletes."

Yes most are but they still play more than one sport even in D-1 towns but yes they have to play higher level hockey than town hockey to make varsity. Our D-1 high school team rarely has a town hockey only kid on the team and when they do make it they certainly don't see much ice. So you get to practice all week for months on end to sit on the bench.

95%! Ahh It's more like 99.5% maybe more won't play college hockey.

There's 60 D1 teams, so given a 21 spot roster that's 1260 players in any year TOTAL playing D1 college hockey. Divide that by 4 for birth year numbers and you get around 405 per birth year give or take.

Then there's 84 D3 teams, so do the same math there and it's around 440 per birth year.

So all told there's quite a bit less than 1000 kids in any given birth year IN the ENTIRE WORLD of prospective players actually play college hockey. You'd have a much better shot at getting hired by Google or accepted at Harvard than playing college hockey.

My/Your kids aren't going to be making a living with a stick and skates. Get them to a good college with their brains, it's much much easier to do.

*This obviously applies for boys as it's a much less competitive path for girls to play college hockey.

My 03 will be 1 of those 1,000!

No question, it's a mortal lock!

You psychos better get a reality check very soon. I understand that high school hockey is a shell of its former self, but there are LOTS and LOTS of kids that will not even play at a better high school, private or prep that they think will play at, never mind college hockey.


Parents and kids are in for a rude awakening in a few years !

What if they just like to play hockey and eat pizza and ice cream? What if they have no dream beyond hanging out with their friends. The kids are fine and they should play whenever and wherever they want to play. If they want to play all year I say let them as they may never want to play again. Dboard shaming an entire generation of players is ignorant. Let kids be kids and let them play on. Parents on the other hand probably should take a 4-5 month break from hockey.

Much better odds for the 08's to have a career in hockey. They are stacked!!!

in Toronto they are

To each their own I say. Besides as a physical therapist I appreciate all of the afternoon business I get from players with overuse injuries: hips for hockey, elbow & shoulder for baseball and believe it or not, backs from soccer. 10 years ago my afternoons were slow, now I'm usually juggling multiple clients during those slots, all between 14-17 years old.

That's because they aren't doing the right things off ice. Parents don't understand that hockey training doesn't only involve having skates on. Kids don't want to do the work, they want instant gratification.

True for any sport. You have to do exercises that balance out the stresses of the sport.

Best Junior Bruins team EVER!!!!!! :joy: