BeaverFalls

Unfortunately aforementioned teams exist purely to not intermingle with unwashed masses in AA.

Being that it’s club hockey (albeit extremely competitive teams) I don’t see the need to force playing juniors of some level. The ultimate goal here is to find a place that offers the education you need/want. If you were trying to go NCAA and possibly beyond, then I’d consider a legitimate junior program. Consider…

A massive Ferris wheel would do wonders.

What level/league of juniors?

Not the first person I’ve heard that the next sanctioned sport will be e-“sports”….it’s been discussed by AD’s…but maybe world of chel will be part of it.

Hockey town is a relative term.

Idk these programs well enough honestly to say what is real and what isn’t. But legit programs tend to have a history of having kids move on the better programs along with are actively scouted by them.

Most of these local club teams would actually welcome you being proactive and letting them know you’re interested in playing at that level. There is no recruiting team or budget for them; so if you have a little bit of a playing resume you’ll be welcome. Some of them invite potential freshmen to skate with the team for a practice. Things are a little different the NCAA route. You should have a pretty good idea by 15U whether your anywhere near the radar for those programs without paying for “placement” services. (eg already playing legit AAA and being top 1/2 to 1/3 of that lineup as well as developing to at least be able to go tier II junior).

Parents who raise turds also are a large problem in all of this and bear the brunt of the responsibility.

After 30-50 years a lot of these schools still heisman their hockey programs and act like they don’t exist or are parasites for their other school teams. Makes you wonder if it would be any different if the sport was sanctioned.

Unfortunately for many schools, HS hockey has turned into the modern day in-house. The prevalence of AAA and AA programs in the area is correlated to that. I’m not getting into the legitimacy of those AAA/AA teams, but you can’t play a 40-80 game schedule with 2-3 practices a week and then turn around and take seriously another 20 HS games. It’s overload and why a lot of players either don’t bother playing HS or treat it like in-house.

Problem is because there are so few officials available they take and use anyone. Not the best and brightest. Not saying that’s the case for all of them by far but there so few out there that crews are doing HS games that 30 years ago would’ve been doing peewee games at best.

Deflect deflect deflect…counter-accuse…

I had the privilege of helping “transport” Brett a few years ago for an event. He is one of the most genuine, humble and friendly celebrity/athletes I’ve ever met. Great to hear for all involved.

There’s a lot of things I don’t agree with you on your posts, but you’ve been spot on here. While we may differ in the philosophy of what is best for hockey in WPA in some ways, we both agree that basic decency should be the standard.