Hockey247

Is anyone familiar with the USHL Player Development Camp.  We get invitation's all the time for camps and I’m assuming most, if not all, are money grabs.  This one, from the USHL, is an invite only.  I’m just curious if anyone is familiar with it.  

The rumor was a lot of 09 AA Badgers were jumping ship and going to Esmark, along with 09 Vengeance.  I’m not sure how that played out, but I assume 09 Esmark had a larger turnout, while Vengeance suffered.  It may be smart on Vengeance, to have that supplemental, because there has to be an overflow.  I’m not familiar as to whether the tryout dates normally overlap like they did, but that has to hurt some teams (as well as benefit others).

I’m curious what came of all of the movement among the teams.  Is there any confirmation of the teams that were rumored to fold?  Which teams seem to be starting from scratch, with all new players?  It seems the 09’s seemed to take a hit this year.

12 minutes ago, James Gatz said:

Goalie development is unique and lonely journey.  I am a big proponent of supplementing with private lessons.  There are a handful of people out there offering private goalie instruction in all four cardinal directions from downtown.  Some of the organizations also offer 2x/month goalie clinics.  They are okay, but not as useful as private lessons from my experience.  

When it comes down to the individual teams, much less the different organizations, your mileage will vary greatly when it comes to what the coaching staff knows and does when it comes to goalie coaching.  Some do provide coaching during practice and others provide virtually zero instruction.  It is a position where the kid has to be a self-motivated, dedicated individual to coach themselves a fair amount.  It can be a struggle to apply what you learn in private lessons/clinics to practice and a battle to reinforce good habits vs. forgetting all they learned in the lessons/clinics.  I don't think there is any one organizatoin that does it best; the individual team/coaching staff matter most.

I agree!  He does receive private lessons in Dek and inline. We have looked into private for ice but it’s been hit or miss if you even receive a reply. So far, these AAA teams all seem to have goalie specific coaches, along with team coaches.  I like the idea of someone familiar with him and the team being able to work with him, not just “hey, stand here and take the shots”.  I was hoping for some insight into the differences among the teams.

1 hour ago, pickle said:

Tier I and Tier II are the only designations that USA Hockey recognizes.  AAA, AA, etc. are skill levels typically applied by leagues to distinguish their different levels and groupings.  Independent teams are outside of league designations and can say they are whatever they want.  The problem is that people always use these terms interchangeably when technically they are not.  Tier I does not automatically mean AAA and Tier II does not automatically mean AA, etc.  These AAA/AA skill designations generally were a factor of age level, but were more about team depth.  The AAA/AA skill designations only mean something when they are given by respective leagues and tournaments and used for separating team levels.  You now of the "AAA-Elite" designations to separate the top AAA teams from everyone else.     

Tier I means that teams can and do recruit and billet players from all across the country/world to assemble the best possible team they can regardless of where the players come from.  Tier II requires that players generally reside within 50 miles of the teams home rink (varies by region) with some exceptions.  Tier II was generally just the top AA programs from the respective local leagues (PAHL) and used to be happy playing each other to be the best local team.  Tier I was reserved for the best teams who typically played outside of the local area and basically were "independent" or played in "AAA" level leagues and competed with the best of other regions.  They used to be better/higher than the top "AA" teams from the local leagues.  

Tier I and Tier II officially only applies to 14U teams and up (now 13U at Tier I) and only those teams officially competing for the respective Tier I or Tier II National Championship, although associations emerged as "Tier I Programs" and typically refer to all their teams as Tier I, while other programs try to field both Tier I and Tier II (and all other level) teams.  My understanding was that USA hockey was cracking down on programs fielding only 1 or 2 "Tier 1" teams.  You basically had to have a full Tier I (14U, 15O, 16U, 18U) program.  This limits the teams actually eligible to compete - but this doesn't mean teams can't call themselves whatever they want, whether it means anything or not.

Obviously it is always about money and teams can charge more and make more money the higher level they call themselves and try to compete - whether they are at that level or not.  The thing about MyHockeyRankings is that it gives a rating and teams are ranked accordingly regardless of what they call themselves. 

I really appreciate you breaking it down like that!  We are looking for somewhere where he can get good coaching and development.  I think it is true, in hockey, that you get what you pay for.  I haven’t found that there is much, for a goalie, at A/AA.  He can definitely compete at that level and would benefit from the added focused coaching.

1 minute ago, hockeyisgreat said:

And according to most folks here they are the only ones that are true AAA!  Everybody else (which is almost every organization) is just a money grab and a Faux AAA team!  

So are you including Vengeance in the faux AAA category?  Is this why there isn’t much discussion about them?  I really haven’t seen much negativity around them, but again, I can’t find much discussion at all.  

I’m new to this forum, but I’m hoping to get some information.  Although I know not everyone is in favor of the AAA teams, I am looking to get some sort of comparison between the teams.  There seems to be more discussions that include Esmark, but I haven’t seen too much said about Vengeance.  Can anyone throw out some pros/cons?  Thoughts or knowledge about the new Aviators AAA?