Last time my son's team went to JP it was early in the season and we were able to sit outside the pool area and it was glorious to get out of the sauna.
Youth Hockey - catch all
- Thread starter tonyandpals
- Start date
Not happening here. It has been in the high 30's low 40's during the day so far. The pool outisde is open but has ice on it. Seems like someone messed that up.
Great place, definitely the best tournament experience we've had so far.
Although my room has become the designated knee hockey arena, which is less than ideal.
Great place, definitely the best tournament experience we've had so far.
Although my room has become the designated knee hockey arena, which is less than ideal.
We were in Lake Placid for less than 10 minutes when 6 boys were in my room knocking shit over. I poured a drink and went outside..
Tournament victory! My son had the GWG in their last pool game which was effectively a semi-final- the winner played for the championship. He got team MVP for the game and he was really excited. Such a great tournament experience. We enjoyed it far more than Waterville.
Funny story: one of the cooks at one of the restaurants was outside smoking a cigarette and he was joking around with one of the older brothers of one of the kids on our team who happened to be out there. The kid told him he shouldn't smoke cigarettes and the guy jokingly asked him if he wanted to try one. Well the kid told all my son's team that and they thought it was hilarious and took to calling him "Ciggy man." He became the unofficial mascot of the Flames and they chanted "ciggy man" as a team on the way out of the locker room and on the ice after they won the title. I'm sure the other teams parents were very confused.
Funny story: one of the cooks at one of the restaurants was outside smoking a cigarette and he was joking around with one of the older brothers of one of the kids on our team who happened to be out there. The kid told him he shouldn't smoke cigarettes and the guy jokingly asked him if he wanted to try one. Well the kid told all my son's team that and they thought it was hilarious and took to calling him "Ciggy man." He became the unofficial mascot of the Flames and they chanted "ciggy man" as a team on the way out of the locker room and on the ice after they won the title. I'm sure the other teams parents were very confused.
Those moments are great and that's awesome for your son, congrats!
Also the "ciggy man" thing is funny and something that just organically brings a team together. Our goalie situation has been...tough...this season. One of our kids was heading heading back to his room while walking with our goalie. They passed the goalies room on the way and it had his doorhanger thing that was made for each kid on the door. Our player was like, your last name is "insertpopularnoodlebrandhere" which he had no idea, I don't think anyone did. He quickly dubbed him "noodles" and an nickname was born and the team came together around it.
Thank you, it was really fun.
Ya, these kids are a lot of fun and they come up with the best stuff to rally around. Noodles is an excellent nickname.
Anyone part of BSHL or SSC? SSC has been painfully behind the times with scheduling, standings, communication, etc. BSHL has been adding more teams each year with the initial focus having been U6 teams and C and B teams at the U8/U10 level. Seems like BSHL is trying to pull in much more than that next season.
South Shore Conference veteran here- just a trash organization. Website is useless for any sense of accuracy, communication is piss poor, and no one seems to actually give a shit about the kids.
Hope I'm not insulting anyone's family here, I get running a large organization is tough, but they do a poor job of it.
Hope I'm not insulting anyone's family here, I get running a large organization is tough, but they do a poor job of it.
Seconded on the above and, if you can believe it, things are even worse for the SSC girls league. We moved our girls’ program to MYC this season and, while there are some complaints about travel and rolling scheduling, it’s been a far superior experience.
MYC actually emailed coaches at the start of the season for a list of SSC or VHL teams that girls on their rosters played on, with the intent of minimizing game conflicts. I was blown away by this.
MYC actually emailed coaches at the start of the season for a list of SSC or VHL teams that girls on their rosters played on, with the intent of minimizing game conflicts. I was blown away by this.
I've had really good experiences with the Manchester Flames youth organization. If people are in Southern NH/Northern Ma and looking for good value, they do a real good job.
BSHL has been great for my U6 guy. They quickly moved his team from Bronze to Silver and they’ll start in Gold in January. I loved that they were so proactive in making the games more competitive.
Only complaint I have is the opposing coach that instructed his goalie to lay down across the net in the playoff game over the wknd. The kids couldn’t lift the puck over him and just seemed out of touch with what the intent of hockey at the U6 level should be.
Only complaint I have is the opposing coach that instructed his goalie to lay down across the net in the playoff game over the wknd. The kids couldn’t lift the puck over him and just seemed out of touch with what the intent of hockey at the U6 level should be.
When I was coaching housmites a lot of coaches just had their goalies drop into butterfly and stay down...I hated that. It's 100% about development not winning. And for the record in 5 years of coaching U6/U8 and rotating goalies, I have 4 different kids who have gone on to become full time goalies.
Also- mean to pass a story along that I thought encompassed some of the challenges of youth hockey in MA today.
I've been very happy with the club team my son plays on...he's got a very knowledgeable coach who really appreciates him and the competition isn't going to get much better, even leaving our little island for a team somewhere off cape. I don't know that I love the program as a whole, but they do a pretty good job and my son's specific team makes it well worth it, despite the hefty price tag (that necessitated me getting a summer job...of course that job was working at my local rink driving the 'boni, so not terrible).
Last week my son's town team had a playdown game (for the uninformed, it's basically a one game playoff to qualify for the state tournament) at home on
Tuesday night. We have a few kids from the town team on the club team and we got a notice from the club team that we would be expected to attend the club practice that night over the playdown game...the contract we signed stated we pick club over all other events. I called the head of the club and he explained (understandably) that they need to hold people to the contract, otherwise what are they worth.
I said I get it, but we were playing in the game. I was told that next time this happened my son would be suspended- after all they couldn't make exceptions, otherwise everyone would skip. While I completely understand this perspective, I raised the point that we had attended every practice or game, and there were kids who miss a practice every week...or how about the kid that didn't go to Lake Placid and then spent 3 weeks in Florida? I was told that was fine, but what my son was doing was not. I get it, I really do, but that's so fucking dumb. These are 11 year olds, let's be reasonable here. But whatever.
My son had the GWG and got the empty netter to send our town to states in front of around 150 fans including friends, families, and the hockey community at large. It was everything that Massachusetts hockey is about.
I've been very happy with the club team my son plays on...he's got a very knowledgeable coach who really appreciates him and the competition isn't going to get much better, even leaving our little island for a team somewhere off cape. I don't know that I love the program as a whole, but they do a pretty good job and my son's specific team makes it well worth it, despite the hefty price tag (that necessitated me getting a summer job...of course that job was working at my local rink driving the 'boni, so not terrible).
Last week my son's town team had a playdown game (for the uninformed, it's basically a one game playoff to qualify for the state tournament) at home on
Tuesday night. We have a few kids from the town team on the club team and we got a notice from the club team that we would be expected to attend the club practice that night over the playdown game...the contract we signed stated we pick club over all other events. I called the head of the club and he explained (understandably) that they need to hold people to the contract, otherwise what are they worth.
I said I get it, but we were playing in the game. I was told that next time this happened my son would be suspended- after all they couldn't make exceptions, otherwise everyone would skip. While I completely understand this perspective, I raised the point that we had attended every practice or game, and there were kids who miss a practice every week...or how about the kid that didn't go to Lake Placid and then spent 3 weeks in Florida? I was told that was fine, but what my son was doing was not. I get it, I really do, but that's so fucking dumb. These are 11 year olds, let's be reasonable here. But whatever.
My son had the GWG and got the empty netter to send our town to states in front of around 150 fans including friends, families, and the hockey community at large. It was everything that Massachusetts hockey is about.
That's a stupid rule and I'm glad you said no.
Congrats to your son, that feels really fun. I wish we had town hockey here.
Congrats to your son, that feels really fun. I wish we had town hockey here.
I actually dont get the bolded part. Why are those other absences OK and your sons was not? Was it specifically because he was picking a different sporting activity over the club event?
Also, what does a "suspension" entail and is that clearly written out in the contract? If they're going to be "sticklers" to their contract, I'm pretty sure there are a few SoSH lawyers around who'd be willing to poke more holes in it than there are in a hockey net.
Glad he had a great game and nothing will seemingly come from it, but this kind of thing really bothers me.
I think the issue was we were missing the event for a different hockey event. I still think that’s dumb, but whatever.
And yeah, something like this bothers me too…I’m not going to raise a stink (although maybe I should). He’s got one more year left until he needs to switch to short season anyways, so we’ll see what next year looks like and go from there.
It’s all very silly though
And yeah, something like this bothers me too…I’m not going to raise a stink (although maybe I should). He’s got one more year left until he needs to switch to short season anyways, so we’ll see what next year looks like and go from there.
It’s all very silly though
Ugh, the kid in my daughter's Mayor's Cup game did this on Saturday, clearly instructed to, and to top it off, kicked the goal out every single time, costing us at least one goal. Really pissed my daughter off, though she did get our teams only two goals. Time for her to practice lifting that puck.
Youth hockey can be so petty. We were at a high level girls u14 tournament this past weekend and after a top 15 in the country team beat a top 5 team, they dropped out, screwing up the schedule for all the other teams, because they didn’t want to play some 30-50s ranked teams and risk dropping in the rankings if they didn’t beat them by enough. Like there were millions of dollars and a spot in the Rose Bowl on the line or something.
I don't blame the club team. It stinks for your kid and its dumb that the practice outweighs the game, but it's understandable for them.
This kind of stuff isn't just youth hockey. There are kids that will play for their town little league team just to ensure they get enough games in to qualify, and then bail on remaining games/practices and join more competitive regional teams trying out for the LLWS. While it's the inverse of your situation, I think it's a relevant example. Your son tried out for a club team and took a spot from another kid who wanted to make the team. Prioritizing that club over other hockey teams feels OK to me.
Yes this makes sense. Couple kids on my son's squirt team are out of control with it.
I never said it wasn’t understandable, in fact I repeatedly mentioned that I understood. I was just telling a story to demonstrate some of the serious flaws in the way youth sports are run.
My largest personal annoyance here is probably the lack of any flexibility or nuance. It’s very impersonal and corporate, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to cause me to rethink if this is really the values system I want my kids raised in.
@Dummy Hoy - One thing that stuck out in your other post that I forgot to come back to, you mentioned he's 11 and this is his last year before "shortened season". I'm curious what you meant by that. My son is 14 and playing his last year of full year bantams before planning to play a half year midget team prior to playing for the High School next year (and this is only because CT CIAC doesnt allow rostering for a HS team and any other team in the same "season").
What does a shortened season mean for 12 yr olds?
What does a shortened season mean for 12 yr olds?
Well. I never played hockey and was trying to get my kids to elevate their shot a few weeks ago. They weren't getting it, so I taught them to flip it. Now I'm immediately regretting that decision.
I meant one more year after this.
My son will be 12/13 next hockey season and in 7th grade. The following year he’ll be in 8th grade and that’s at the high school, so while he will be on JV, I may just have him do the short season…our JV gets a ton of ice time. Not sure yet what we’re doing next year either, so one step at a time