Exactly! Look at the coach and how the player follows the coach - because they are good at developing and that is all that matters. It is all on the WJ website.

What many of the parents of young kids don't realize is the better players play for many organizations throughout their developmental years.

My older son played for a house league, an independent select team, EHF teams, BA teams, tournaments teams which were independent, some were affiliated with EHF organizations, a high school JV team, a high school varsity team and two different junior teams and now a college team. Which were the most important for his early development? I'd say his BA teams, his house team, the independent tournament teams and I'm sure he would have a different opinion.

Relax because the teams you bad mouth now might very well be the team your kids end-up playing for in the future. In fact if the kid is a good player, I'm positive he will at least play in a couple tournaments for an organization you would never predict at this point.

how are you supporting your argument? because it is what your son did? Everyone is just throwing random statements around. The EHF rules WJH; successful players stay with their coaches; you need to play on different teams to be successful. What are you people smoking? The truth is that none of us have actually figured anything out.

You are both right (I guess that was second poster's point). But it's awful difficult to find a great coach in the right league and stay put for the full 6-8 years of youth hockey. Things change too quickly between age 7 and 14. You pretty much need to have a kid that is good enough at mites to make a top team, with a good coach that stays put for the duration. Most of us had to take a year to figure it out, and started with a mediocre coach in a lesser league. Maybe if I had a second kid go through it, I would get it right from the start, but I still believe that is the exception.

But in my experience (personal and observing others), the better players don't jump around, but they do touch several organizations throughout their youth hockey careers if you include winter and spring/summer teams or in-season/off-season skills. BTW, I think this is a good thing, as a couple of different styles and perspectives is probably beneficial.

I think, what is far more impressive is the fact that they have 3 kids from Missouri on the roster. St. Louis hasn't been known to be the hotbed of ice hockey exactly.

Not sure where you have been but the St. Louis AAA Blues have been good for quite a while.

Didn't they have five picks in the first two rounds this year?

Huge strides the last several years.

yes 2 nose picks and 3 toe picks ......

Correct 5 1st rounders this past year.