And you sound like an idiot.

To all you anxious hockey parents out there hoping and praying that your boy will hold up as the super stud beyond squirts, I offer you these words of advice: set your expectations realistically, it will make the youth hockey experience much more enjoyable for both you and your son. Take an honest look back at your own athletic career and that of your wife (or kid's biological mom). Don't expect your boy to outperform his parents by all that much. If you had a hard time standing out in HS, any sport (or couldn't make the team), don't expect to have a college hockey player on your hands.

Many have been fooled because their kid learned to skate earlier than the other kids and had an advantage in the early going. If you are that parent, encourage your son to keep working and improving their game, but be honest to yourself about the genetics that you handed him and adjust your expectations accordingly. At the end of the journey, all of the kids that reach the tip of the pyramid will have one thing in common...they are all great athletes. If you're being honest with yourself, you should know already whether your boy has the ability to reach that rarefied level.

Dumbest post on the board!

D board admin should block that jacka$$ from posting 3 paragraph rants in multiple thread topics. STFU.

So is your kid an athlete or not? What is your athletic pedigree? Or do you think you can avenge all of those embarrassing moments when you were last pick for pickup basketball by skating your little bender to death? Be honest.

A. This is strictly your opinion and not based on fact.

B. You left out the part that nepotism plays when it comes to former athletes and the leg up their offspring often get in the world of youth hockey. It's fine to sprout off about genetics but more than a couple of kids have been placed on teams they had no business being on strictly because of who their father or uncle is in the hockey world.

A. Of course it's opinion. That's all we have is our opinion on this board. If you come here looking for facts, you're probably better off just looking at the specific website for whatever program you're interested in or (gasp) actually talking to someone involved in that program. But I maintain the opinion that college hockey players have to be great athletes is pretty strong ground to stand on. What is your primary criterion?

B. If you had to make a judgement on two players of similar caliber at age 14 or 16 or 18, and take a chance on only one of them, why wouldn't you go with the kid with the professional athlete bloodline? You do agree that athletic ability is passed on through genetics, right? I know there are other things at play, such as relationships and connections to decision makers in the game, but even without that the safe bet is always the kid with the athlete in his genes.

So again, if you had a hard time hitting a baseball in Little League, or you never played anything past 7th grade, don't think that you can craft a college hockey player out of private skill lessons. Just be realistic about your kid's ceiling and encourage them to go as far as they can reach.

so he did get time (as a senior), maybe he was not 'ready' the years before, may he 'screwed around' in practice (where the ice time is earned) or some are just late bloomers (he was not that good as a freshman and you only remember now) or...

all which happened AFTER his senior year. where were those teams before...

good at that time or would become? he can only deal with today.

yep, the players know just like the parents?

a coach with a couple of state titles has some knowledge. if not for talent (granted he gets what walks in) and maybe not even to 'grow it' but certainly to focus teenage players (especially boys) to work well enough together to win (even potential future star JW couldn't carry a team).

who the **** cares. work hard, play hard, have fun and dream.

Honestly I saw JW play as a sophomore and really I didn't see a whole lot. I'm sure surrounded by kids more at his level he would shine but I have to say I didn't get it.

Nobody said they didn't spend time at the rinks. The poster is just looking for a little more quiet time at the rinks, without so much screaming and yelling. At least we don't have to hear you yelling "ice the puck" anymore during penalty kill. That's a step in the right direction. Let the kids play is all. Give them every opportunity to succeed, but let them succeed on their own.

Oh man I yell that all the time...thought I was being helpful. Thanks for the heads up Dboard.