Being a Hockey Parent

[Ahbroody]

Nice should be interesting to see how the girls hang against boys given the ages of some. Should be a great learning experience for her and the speed increase should be good also.

There was a little drama during hawks tryouts. Two kids I would have liked on the team got snatched by the team M quit last year with the ahole coach. The club didnt register a mite team till after tryouts. This way they could lure kids parents by offering them squirt spots. The club is garbage nobody good stays there past squirt and they lost their main rink last year as the owner turned it into a strip mall. Now they are using a 3/4s size rink. For the peewees and under and possibly a rink an hour away for others. I guess they were scared so they manipulated rules to keep kids whos parents dont understand their kids will ride the bench. Whats worse is both the kids are undersized 2nd year mites and are playing squirts. One is an emotional train wreck because his dad rides a the $ hit out of him. We played games with him this I summer and the kid was constantly crying. Hell at tryouts M literally beat up a kid who was hitting and slashing this kid because he couldn't take care of himself. Yet. Hes going to play squirt? All these nut bag parents thinking their kids going pro. You hear them talk and they are crazy. What is worse was both boys really like each other and wanted to play together.

For us no inline this year. We are doing Hawks Mite travel which is really just a local tournament team and inhouse squirt likely or maybe mite. The Sharks Youth Hockey organization was named one of USA Hockeys four model programs so we dont know if the boys can play up anymore like they allowed in the past.

One thing I have noticed is skating the ramps has greatly improved Ms speed and stamina. He is the fastest kid on his team and two kids that were close to his speed last year are definitely slower now. They did liners last practice and he destroyed everyone not even going all out. At school they had all the kids run a lap and he was the fastest kid in his grade. Not bad.

[E.J.]

Scott,

Went to the U16 Grizzlies game yesterday to see how they looked. They dominated their competition(Boise Jr. Steelheads), but not sure what that means. Breakout looked REALLY good, solid D. Their goalie plays for our HS team, though is not currently the starter(who knows if that will change). I am interested to see how they(U16’s) and the U18’s compete in Michigan in a couple weeks. Assume you guys will be there?

Talked with the father of the goalie I mentioned above, he says that the 18's look really good, but I still have no idea who is on that team. Guess I'll have a lot of answers by the end of the month.

We are heading to Vegas to play the Jr. Wranglers this weekend. Not sure what type of team we are going to have, but excited to get on the ice.

[kugie]

My Youngest just started the learn to skate.

My Little Helmet head

I'll have more of my Daughter and Other son soon

[E.J.]

EXCELLENT, Joe!!!!

Looking good....

[E.J.]

Just had the goalie that was between the pipes for the 2 time State Championship team, for both their championships, transfer to our school and was at practice last night..... This should be interesting.

Went from not having a goalie last Summer, needing a kid to transfer in to have someone in net.....to now having 4, 3 of those being VERY GOOD. 2 are very young, but starting for a U16 AAA and a U16AA, the other mentioned above, who is between the pipes for a U18 AA and IMO, the best of the bunch. Crazy how things change in a year in that aspect.

HS team should be VERY DEEP & talented, but some of that is youth. Wouldn't want to be the coach, deciding who is going to be on the ice. He watched practice last night from off the ice to get a different view to evaluate. All that said, wonder if they will gel enough to make a serious run at the title....can't win on talent alone(think they have as much/more depth, than any team in the State).

[kugie]

Second game of the season and the first Win for the Squirt A team.
It took six or seven games last year to Get a win It looks like we are on the right track.

My son got his first point of the season.
An assist on the first goal of the game.
He's looking good out there This is going to be a great year.

[E.J.]

Congrats on getting the early season win and your son getting on the scoresheet!

We had a chitshow in Vegas....

Had their ashes handed to them 4 straight games. Not only on the scoreboard, but physically. It got out of hand at points, not sure the refs had a handle on the games. I have never watched 4 games in a row like what I saw, standing room only in the box on numerous occasions, coaches getting run, kids getting run...not great hockey. To give you an idea, Jr. Wranglers welcomed us to Vegas by getting 63 PIM in the first game.... Seemed like they were shorthanded all the time and we still couldn't score.

The skaters looked close(they had one kid that really stood out), but they had some great kids in net and it showed. Feel like we outshot them by a good bit the first couple games and still were getting crushed.

LM got boarded in the first game and this was the result. I was sure that somehow a skate got in there, but it appears that his knee must have hit the ice or boards and a piece of plastic in his shinpad wedged against his knee and punctured the skin. I haven't seen the shinpad, but the coach was telling me. Crazy?



I flew down, but the boys bussed. Some of the tweets by the kids on the roadtrip were classic. A coach, who I know well through a friend, thought the casino smelled good after coming off the bus.



The hotel was a dump, but their beer was cold. I also love that you can walk from the hotel/casino through a door and be in the ice arena....with beer in hand.



Not a great weekend won/loss wise, but I think the boys still had fun and it's a starting point. Can't get worse....

[Ahbroody]

Originally Posted by kugie

Second game of the season and the first Win for the Squirt A team.
It took six or seven games last year to Get a win It looks like we are on the right track.

My son got his first point of the season.
An assist on the first goal of the game.
He's looking good out there This is going to be a great year.

Nice

EJ that is nuts. Never seen that before.

Ms mite team played 3 half ice games this Sunday. He and hus buddy went off and pissed off coaches. His best goal was when he was tripped driving the net from the side and scored while sliding on his stomach across the front of the net. The great thing about his mite club team is the coach has split the kids into 2 groups. He is working with the group of 5 kids who are good and working heavily on skating and puck movement. I am very happy how well hes getting coached right now.

Inhouse started last week. I really hope they let him play up. It was ugly out there talent wise for mites and he was visibly board on the ice. During a scrim he and his buddy were on opposite shifts. They literally controlled the puck 70% of the time. People were asking who they were it was kind of funny.

[Ahbroody]

Good night I am not digging current schedule.
Monday mite travel practice
Tuesday in house squirt practice. Playing up in squirt gold against almost all 10 year olds.
Wednesday mite travel practice
Thursday is swimming then judo
Saturday in house and some travel games.

Upside they played first official scrim as inhouse team and he lead his team in scoring and looked great.

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

Good night I am not digging current schedule.
Monday mite travel practice
Tuesday in house squirt practice. Playing up in squirt gold against almost all 10 year olds.
Wednesday mite travel practice
Thursday is swimming then judo
Saturday in house and some travel games.

Upside they played first official scrim as inhouse team and he lead his team in scoring and looked great.

....I feel for you brother.... Pleased to hear the House League moved M up.....think it will be better for him, as well as the league. That could have been ugly....


I'm in the same boat, between soccer and hockey, I am quite a taxi for the Little One....though we double up on 2 days and usually have 3 days off. I'll be happy when soccer ends the end of October, though I fear her coach is going to be upset when we don't commit fully to the Winter futsal and indoor leagues.

Monday - Off
Tuesday - U10 Lightning + U10 Max Soccer
Wednesday - Off
Thursday - Soccer
Friday - Soccer + U10 Hockey
Saturday - U12 Lady Lightning games(starting Oct) + U10 Lightning practice/games + Soccer games
Sunday - usually off, but have U10 Lightning practice this week.

^^^ Not bad for a U8 girl.... On the flip side, they have been working on lines and I think they are putting her at D. She is not too keen on this, feeling like she is going to sacrifice scoring. I reminded her that her brother was the 3rd leading scorer for the HS team last year, playing D.... Her response, "Yea, but that is because of his slapshot....I can't do that."


I feel fortunate that I no longer have to taxi the Little Man, he's on the ice pretty much daily, sometimes twice a day, between Regulators and the High School. I don't know how I'd do both. Not too pleased that I have to miss the first HS game(pre season) of the season tonight, due to Lightning practice for the Little One... Life of a hockey parent.....

[Ahbroody]

Yup were insane.
Glad they moved him up also. He told me he didnt want to play mites. After watching the skating evals I knew why. Cluster fock. Kids hitting each other with sticks in head focking off like crazy. He looked irritated and bored. Even wife saud she was going to pull him if they made him play mites which was a shock as she never cares, but they seem to have a huge in flux of low skill and behavior problem first years.

I screwed M for tomorrow. He has a travel game from 8 to 9:30. The inhouse program is having a bunch of USA Hockey people come put on a dryland and on ice coaching clinic for inhouse coaches from 10:30 to 1:00. They sent out a email looking for kids. I responded not really thinking and they wanted him. Then he has an inhouse squirt game at 3:45. I am going to assume that still being 7 he will be useless for the game. Have not told wife yet about clinic. Im going to get an ear full for this one.

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

going to get an ear full for this one.

....Now that is funny....

Originally Posted by E.J.

Scott,

Went to the U16 Grizzlies game yesterday to see how they looked. They dominated their competition(Boise Jr. Steelheads), but not sure what that means. Breakout looked REALLY good, solid D. Their goalie plays for our HS team, though is not currently the starter(who knows if that will change). I am interested to see how they(U16’s) and the U18’s compete in Michigan in a couple weeks. Assume you guys will be there?

Talked with the father of the goalie I mentioned above, he says that the 18's look really good, but I still have no idea who is on that team. Guess I'll have a lot of answers by the end of the month.

We are heading to Vegas to play the Jr. Wranglers this weekend. Not sure what type of team we are going to have, but excited to get on the ice.

Just checked the NJPHL website, looks like the 16's are getting their asses handed to them. The 18's won their first game(site is only updated to that game), but it appears the team they played is pretty bad.... Will see how today shakes out.

Go Grizz!

[E.J.]

Just got an update, looks like the 18's lost in a 2OT shootout to Richmond last night and then beat Broward Prep today, 5-1.... Looks like they are holding their own.

[E.J.]

Though it didn't end like we would have hoped, first travel game of the season is in the books. Saving grace, the Little One was given the game puck as the player of the game.... Not bad for an 8 year old girl playing in a U10 "boys" league....










Don't mind her lucky purple socks poking out from the bottom....

She'll take the ice with the U12 Lady Lightning on Saturday and try to get the stink of losing off....

[E.J.]

I'll give you one guess as to who scored the first ever goal for the newly formed U12 Lady Lightning team....

Let me know if you need a hint....

[Eleven]

Originally Posted by E.J.

Scott,

Went to the U16 Grizzlies game yesterday to see how they looked. They dominated their competition(Boise Jr. Steelheads), but not sure what that means. Breakout looked REALLY good, solid D. Their goalie plays for our HS team, though is not currently the starter(who knows if that will change). I am interested to see how they(U16’s) and the U18’s compete in Michigan in a couple weeks. Assume you guys will be there?

Talked with the father of the goalie I mentioned above, he says that the 18's look really good, but I still have no idea who is on that team. Guess I'll have a lot of answers by the end of the month.

We are heading to Vegas to play the Jr. Wranglers this weekend. Not sure what type of team we are going to have, but excited to get on the ice.

We didn't play the Grizzlies in Detroit, but we did play them this past weekend in Minnesota. Not sure how it works, but the showcase weekends are league games and it just turned out that we didn't meet up with them until this time.

The word was they were a new team? One of our kids played with one of the Grizzlies kids way way back at Mite and our parent was explaining how the team worked. She said they all eat together, bring their own food and drinks, and have a guy just for that!?!??!

She also said it costs 10k just to play, not including travel, and they fly everywhere (They certainly have to fly to all our showcases) and she also said that there are parents who help pay airfare for those who can't.

They didn't have a good weekend, but I certainly can see the potential they have. We gave them their worst loss of the weekend, 11-1. Looking at the results so far, after just 2 showcases, they haven't won a league game yet. We're about in the middle, which is what we expected. We've had a couple games that just didn't go our way. We should have gone 4-0 this past weekend but our kids **** the bed in game 2

Our boys are currently 4th out of 10 so we'll see how the rest of the season goes. I think the next showcase is in Rochester NY next month.

[E.J.]

Yea, have been watching their scores at the 2 showcases. They have been struggling to say the least.

Some of that info seems off, the team is not new....meaning, it's just Oly's(Darryl Olsen) team from last year, some kids aged out, new kids in ect. But he's been coaching the 16's for years, the organization just joined the NJPHL & started an U18, which they have never had before(so the 18's are new).

Not sure about the other logistics, assuming all eating together and whatnot, the travel is significant and I know a lot of the parents are not traveling with the kids, so maybe it is to assure they are eating & eating right.

I find it hard to believe that they are paying 10K and not having some type of travel included? Though admittedly, I don't know. I do know that the WMAHA(organization) is non-profit, so they have to be spending all 10K each kid is giving, towards the hockey related activities(impossible to spend that on ice time?). They actually gave us back money last year(from fees) that was not used.

4th out of 10 isn't bad at all! Good luck in NY!

[Eleven]

The mom who gave us all that info is a 'talker' if you know what I mean. She knows something about EVERYTHING!

We could techincally be called new. Even though about 1/3 of the team has been together for years, our organization hasn't had a U16 team for a few years.

We've heard horror stories for years about other teams and their costs. Even with paying for all of our coaches traveling expense and rooms, brand new uniforms, bags, warmups, gloves and shells our cost to play this year was about $3700. We did have a couple people fly to Mn, but not many. I think that trip is the farthest we travel this year so all in all I think we're lucky in regards to travel!

[E.J.]

Mike, SJ was awarded the 2015 14/16/18 Tier I National Championships. Some cool stuff coming to your backyard in 17 months.

[E.J.]

Started out league play right, 10-1 win... Need to play like this every game....