Is it me, or is it unethical, to promise parents and kids that their team will play in elite hockey this coming season? I may be wrong but dont you need a bid to get into elite if you have not played in that tier before? Which, btw, this team was very far from it...

Haha,

Most be talking about SM at the Warriors U14 level. Said same thing to Gavin kids last year and ended up in lower half of BHL.

I don't just blame the coaches anymore. I blame the parents too. You have to know where your kid is at level wise and put them in the right place.

But you can't. That "elite" tag is too important to you...

Here’s my story. When my oldest boy was a peewee a local owner promised him a spot on his team for the following year. After tryouts were all over, he notified us our boy ‘didn’t make the team.” We were left scrambling to find a team for my late birthday, undersized kid. Fast forward to post high school hockey, same owner emails asking our 6’3” / 190 son to consider joining his junior hockey program telling him he is their ‘top priority signing.’ Aaaaah, no. Sorry.

Not sure it's so much the coaches as it is the organization having wishful thinking and not taking the time to explain how parity and earning a seed works. It's one of those if you don't ask they won't tell things with alot of organizations.

The Junior Mounties are advertising themselves as Elite using E9 logos and it's their first year, most people joining don't realize they have a snowballs chance in hell of getting into the E9 at any birthyear.

Everything is so watered down, and everyone is so desperate to either get players or parents to get spots so it certainly creates some bad behavior.

Let me guess... Nh Avalanche
It kills me how many "hockey guys" are ******* clueless

Spend your whole life being a rink rat and you become a mental midget..Make sure and diversify your kids youth sports experience everyone, so they don't follow the same path as the morons running things in Youth hockey.


Good For You!!

Here is a youth hockey "life hack"...

Don't pay any attention to what your team is called: "elite", "black", "premier"...none of it matters. It's just marketing.

Ask the coach one question: What USA Hockey tier is your team?

If it is Tier 1...congrats, your bender is on a top team.

If it is Tier 2...congrats, your bender is bundled with everyone else: from EHF "Black" all the way to town "A" teams. Now sit back and enjoy the ride.

There's no excuse for anyone being duped by this misinformation anymore. Too much information out there, including this board (imagine that!). It's the parents' fault if they don't due the proper due diligence before they make a multi-thousand dollar purchase that will essentially dictate their weekend plans for 6 or 7 months.

Did the coach lie or did you hear what you wanted to hear?

We are happy to offer your son/daughter a spot on our (fill in birth year) Elite team. We will play in the very competitive (fill in league name here) and believe you player will be a key contributor to our success.

As has been pointed out, ELITE is a marketing term not recognized by USA Hockey. So pretty much every organizations top team is the "Elite" team, regardless of tier. Unless of course you are in the PHL where Elite wasn't good enough, so now you are Premier, unless you are on the B team, then you are back to being Elite. (Total genius move on the part of MB)

So did the coach tell you that your player was on the elite team or did he say you would be playing in the E9 or EHF Elite? I'm not saying the coach didn't lie, just asking the question.

On a side note, it seems like it's becoming more common on the E9 side of of the world. Coaches and organizations walking this fine line between outright lies vs realms of possibilities. Because of parity, yes a team might qualify to the E9 but not likely, yet they market the idea of Elite because it appeals to the players and parents. I guess this is the downside of having movement of teams at the Elite level & parents that don't take the time to understand.