Does the EHF simply dislike Lovell? Lovell attempted to host a tournament in January where EHF teams were invited (younger kids) and all the teams had to say no stating that they weren't allowed due to EHF rules and could be fined $5k if they did. Really?

EHF and E9 teams do play each other in tournaments, but apparently a Lovell hosted event was a no. It was ok when it was the Exposure Event a few weeks ago but not a Lovell hosted event.

EHF people and the league are so annoying. 99% of the kids in both leagues are going no where after youth hockey. People realize in college and even ISL the recruitment is world wide. You got kids in Canada, Russia, and Europe that will take spots from EHF and E9 kids. Can't we all just have fun playing youth hockey.

So it seems like this is a move to spite Lovell then or an opportunity where they can say no to lovell. Lovell has this beautiful new rink with a restaurant, would have been a fun tournament but EHF teams and coaches were told they can't parti****te. Some of the Lovell teams and the EHF teams actually enjoy each other's company. So lame.

welp this got a lot of views.

3-5 kids from any birth year from EHF or E9 will play in college. It’s true. My kids played in the EHF and E9. I have a 98 and 00 and have followed a lot of kids. While I don’t have a horse in the race anymore, I was realistic even though my kid was always top 1/3. Enjoy youth hockey and drop the dream, you’ll be happier in the long run.

20-25 kids per birth year in New England play division 1. Usually 5-6 mid Fairfield kids (some are actually NY or NJ), so probably only 13-16 Mass kids per year. Another 30-35 play division 3. But there are lots of kids that decide they don’t want to play junior hockey and be a 21 year old college freshman. They play club hockey, which is pretty darn good at some schools. There are also a handful of kids that end up playing a different college sport.

Found this on an old thread and this sums it up fairly well. Really depends on the birth year too :

Most paying customers are probably not aware that the guy who owns the e9/BHL and VHL leagues, and also owns a dozen or so rinks, is basically the boss of all bosses. He rides a cash cow with all those teams paying up to him. There are so many ass backward arrangements and back door deals in the e9 that no matter what anyone tells you, it's 100% rigged.
This is also why the owners of both E9/BHL and EHF want to limit their exposure and willingness to match up against each other in youth hockey. Think of that, it's f'n youth hockey and these two "adults" are standing in the way of exposing the best of the best in our region to grow MA hockey. The owners don't want to forgo the mounds of cash they make on all of us suckers and in the end, all they are doing is hurting the development of MA Hockey over cash.

curious what people think…. Would Lovell support a tournament that let’s say the Breakers were to put on? I think the rule is lame but there is an EHF rule stating that EHF teams are not supposed to play in tournaments during the season that are hosted or affiliated with a local non- EHF program. So we all have to give our money to out of state companies that come in and run tournaments I guess. Seems like a dumb rule

Imagine if we did what was best for the kids as opposed to what was best for leagues and owners....mass youth hockey is a disgrace

But the EHF did parti****te in the Exposure tournament where they played against E9 teams. So didn't they already break that rule?

The E9 doesn't have this rule, so why does the EHF?

I have no idea if lovell would support an event put on by BSB. I know Breakers kids that attend lovell skills and played on their tropics team over the summer. As far as I know BSB doesn't host events and if they do they don't invite lovell teams.

There's also a tournament in Worcester this weekend where BA is parti****ting and playing against the Eagles, SSK and PHC

What am I missing? I can't help but think it's just the EHF has something against Lovell.

I'm not sure the entire EHF has something against Lovell, but the Breakers organization certainly does. They see Lovell as a business threat, and why wouldn't they...a better organization with nicer facilities that geographically isn't far from where the Breakers play. Rumor has it that Breakers folks even tried to halt Lovell arena construction by planting a protected species of turtle at the construction site.

BSB had nothing to do with this particular tournament. They weren't invited. There were a few top EHF teams invited who BA has played before.

Funny on the turtle piece. That is pretty pathetic if that's true. But yeah I can see where BSB is threatened by Lovell based on geographic location. It seems well known that lovell is a much better program.

If i can have imessage on an android, then why do I need an iphone?

It is really not hard to understand. Neither can play each other unless it arbitrary through a third-party tournament or event.

This thread is what happens when parents cared more about sports than school 25 years ago...and the trend continues.

I work in biopharma and we attend the same events as our competitors. We all work together. People leave companies for other companies all the time too. It's even ok for patients to take medications from two competitors.

So…none of you understand one simple thing because you’ve been here for five minutes….

Take a look at the best ehf teams and you’ll see that they are littered with ex e9 kids. The reason why fed owners don’t want to play e9 teams is because they know that the longer the e9 high level kid has to play e9 only, the higher the probability that the kid comes to an ehf team. Now, Advantage kids tend to stay put, but the 2012s and 2010s have lost kids to the fed. Regardless, the ehf owners know that they have the league that almost everyone wants to play in. So they don’t want anyone else playi)g in their sandbox.

There's like 3 teams in the EHF that could be worth leaving a BA elite team for.

And all these kids go on to play D1 right? Jokes on the parents. They'll see

Does it ever occur to people that some kids are just good players regardless of what league or team they're on ? Kind of like some kids are just smart regardless of what school they go to. It's called genetics.

It works the same everywhere else. Chicago AAA teams can’t play certain teams. Michigan the same. These guys running these leagues aren’t dumb. They know how to make money. Don’t think for a second they care about anything more than that.

But BA is the same. Lovell is one of the most expensive products out there.and the vast majority of those kids are town level kids. Yes, the BA 11 team is very good and the little kid teams are great, but it’s more because of how much natural talent they have and the great coaches they have….not because of the ownership. If you transplanted those kids onto breakers teams, they’d have great breakers teams…

Spoken like a true Lovell

Is the FED just restricting the Elite Division teams? Wondering if Tier 1 teams could join the tournament? The only thing that matters in the FED is Elite Division teams anyway.

It is fed elite BA was looking to play. The kids are still in diapers as people here would say. It shouldn't be a big deal but apparently it is.

It's interesting that the EHF 'allows' kids to play on junior bruins teams...with kids and coaches who come from the E9 as well. There's so many rules they seem to have but somehow that's ok.

EHF Elite doesn't play E9. never has never wil. Richard g says so. so u know

The best part is when U14 comes, you all get thrown together and you realize that there's every bit the talent coming out of the in E9 as there is in the EHF.

The same people you're kicking the $hit out of now are going to wind up as teammates with your kid and you're going to realize how wrong you all were in saying one or the other was superior. None of them "suck" at all.

There is a ton of talent out there, and if you're level headed and not a jerk, you'll appreciate seeing some really good hockey.

The bigger difference I'll say is EHF Elite parents have paid a lot more than an E9 parent generally speaking with all of the out of state travel they tend to do.

Not this year. My kid is an 09. There is absolutely zero comparison between talent at E9 and EHF. There are some good players in the E9. But the top u14 teams next year will be littered with EHF kids. There is a reason why Rats and Whalers go after EHF kids. There is a reason why Mount only scouts EHF games.

I will,say that after the top 20 percent ehf kids get taken out, the rest of the fed looks like the top 20% of e9 kids. But the top 20% kids is what makes the ehf so much better. The E9 doesn’t have kids like that. And the fed (minus bandits) doesn’t have bottom half e9 type kids. There is a significant difference in talent at 09 level.

All these EHF/E9 threads are started by the same 14' baby blue daddy that wants to puff his chest how good their team is and how much Bandits/Breakers suck. He is right. They are good. Those teams aren't good. Diaper hockey though, doesn't matter at this age.

It gets old listening to the complaining about EHF/E9 though. It will be interesting to see if he is still here next year if the rumors that are starting to circle are true.

I have never even heard anyone at Lovell so much as mention the bandits.

Bandits and breakers? At this point in time that BA 2014 is better than the majority of EHF 2014 elite teams. They won the exposure cup beating several EHF 'elite' teams and were placed in a higher division than some going into it ! Not saying it will stay that way for years to come but that's how it is now. *grabs popcorn*

This thread is actually kind of embarrassing. Clearly started by a bored parent and i don't know what they were hoping to get out of this.

How does that strategy for the Rats/Whalers work out? I see one Rats team winning the state tournament and not sure there's a Whalers that did at any Tier 1 level. It's all just about the same when it's all said and done.

No Whalers at u14. But point is the same. At u15, best teams are mostly ex fed kids. Gap is much closer. But it still exists.

So this has become a typical EHF is better than E9 thread again. This was really specifically about Lovell. Not the rest of the E9.

Its funny how everyone tries to make the comparison between the two organizations and who is better.... check your rosters people, no matter what the fawking rules are, EHF gladly take lovell money to "alternate" and lovell does the same. get over it!

My eyeball test - the teams that competed in the MA states this year for U15 (non-scientific):
1. Rats = mostly ex-EHF kids
2. Militia = mostly ex-EHF kids
3. Cape Cod Whalers= mostly ex-EHF kids
4. Eagles = mostly ex-EHF kids
5. 95 Giants = mix of ex- EH/E9 kids
6. BHA - mix of kids from everywhere
7. Top Gun = mix of kids from EHF/other
8. Wizards = mostly E9 Kids
9. NSWings = mix of kids from E9/other
10. Valley Warriors = mostly E9 kids
11. Patriots =mostly E9 kids
12. Jr. Thunderbirds = kids E9 / mix

Notable is that Lovell does not enter tournament bounds teams, so obviously is a major outlier.
But by the time the kids get to U14/U15 - the better teams are made up of the kids that played EHF. Would be interesting to see if that same pattern holds true for U16/U18 as the landscape again changes in that age band....

Giants were BHL kids. Not E9. And were higher then Eagles.