Ouch. So my kids team lost 6 players from last year, including the head coach. He took a job in Michigan, and took his son with him
We upgraded 1 goalie that we lost (actually 1 goalie was cut, he struggled a lot last year) and we added a decent Defenseman (another kid who was on the team a couple years ago, he came back) but we added 1 more D and 3 more Forwards who have never played AAA hockey.
The coach, who was the long time assistant coach since the teams inception, warned us all that the new kids would be 'works in progress', so we all knew it could be a rough year. Our first games this past weekend were a slaughter-fest. It was ugly. The worst losses we've ever taken as a team.
My kid, along with the core group of kids who've been on the team for years all looked OK, but I'm worried that their confidence is going to get shot to hell if things continue like this.
We're heading up to Detroit for a couple games on Saturday, against 2 very good Tier 2 teams so we'll see how those go. I know these 2 teams aren't quite as strong as the team that shellacked us last weekend (Pittsburgh 98 Selects, coached by Alain Lemieux) but I'm still pretty worried!
My kid has gotten physically stronger and bigger since last season and we've been doing strength training since the spring. There is a personal trainer at our gym who has worked with him once or twice while he was between clients and Cam likes the guy, and so do I, he really knows what he's doing, especially with teenagers. I'm thinking of paying him to work with Cam regularly, but the wife always seems to complain when I talk about paying trainers
I'll post again after this weekend, keep your fingers crossed for my kid and his team!