Travel Hockey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sooo, for the Brad naysayers, with the latest debacle of a coach being fired a couple of months into the season, what’s the odds Brad is shown the door? Who would even make that decision?

What happened? Why was the coach let go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with travel hockey 10u in Northern VA. I am curious as to the competition to make Caps Academy, ST. James, or the other teams in the area. How many kids are trying out for the organizations teams at each age groups. Huge difference from house league? What have been overall experience with the organizations?

Of course trying out would be the best way to determine my son is at the level. But wouldn’t mind having some understanding before getting into this. Not aiming for the Little Caps. But moving up from House.

OP, how many kids are trying out and how hard it is to make a travel team really varies across birth years and programs. For example, the current 10U majors, the 2014 birth year, is a relatively small cohort (thanks Covid!) As a result, making one of the lower travel teams (B or Lower A) is pretty achievable for a decent House player who can skate competently; particularly at STJ, Caps Academy, Reston, Potomac. Not to mention that Ice Dogs will probably restart and look to rebuild in the next year or so, so there will be opportunities to tryout there. That said, the 2014s will be 12Us this Spring and then the landscape changes again with AAA hockey coming into play. The 2015 birthyear (10U minor) seems to be larger and have pretty good talent; might be harder to make even a lower travel team because there are more kids. I can't speak for the upcoming 10Us next season (2016s) but I assume they will have volumes that are similar to or better than the 2015s. Making a top team (AA) from House at 10U is much more challenging. Even making an Upper A team at a club like Ashburn or Loudoun would be very challenging. It's not unheard of but your kid will have to quite athletic, be a very good and fast skater and have very good stick skills. Many House teams also have select programs and there are also "travel light programs (at MYHA at least, but that's not Northern VA) which could be a good fit for your kid if they aren't quite ready for full travel. That said, hockey is for everyone and there is a level of play that is developmentally appropriate and fun for all. I wouldn't push your kid to go for travel unless the level of play is no longer fun and developmentally a good fit. The travel can be very extensive and the commitment makes it very difficult to play any other sports in the Fall and Winter. Tryouts will be held in the Spring for Fall 2025; many of the tryouts for all the area clubs do overlap so you will have to be a little intentional about which club tryout you will prioritize. Tryouts at travel are usually 2 days minimum but can be 3 or even 4 days if your player is on the bubble and rosters are still being worked out.

There has been a lot of commentary already on specific clubs in this forum - I'll only add that each club has positives and negatives. Your experience will vary depending on the team and mix of other families and kids you all end up with. I have heard great things and bad things from individuals at every club. There is no one club in the area that is the hands down best experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MYHA is a great program with teams from House to Travel Lite to AA. Lots of Northern VA kids play in the league.

Driving to Rockville during he week is NOT worth it for NOVA kids. Good option for MD kids or older kids playing HS based at Rockville. TM 15s/16s moving to Piney should help MYHA.

It is REALLY hard driving to Rockville from NOVA. The traffic is truly horrible coming from VA. But if your 10U kid is very skilled and able to make Keegan's team, than it's worth it. He is an incredible coach and the 10U age is his bread and butter. He really knows how to develop skill and talent at this age.

[Anonymous]

Anyone have experience with the Nova Ice Dogs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sooo, for the Brad naysayers, with the latest debacle of a coach being fired a couple of months into the season, what’s the odds Brad is shown the door? Who would even make that decision?

What happened? Why was the coach let go?

Guessing this comment from p 1 is referring to the same coach and he finally crossed a line

Brad Surdam has run CHA to the ground, hiring coaches who yell and insult the players, some of which so beaten down they left the program. The director Brad reports to no one and is accountable to no one. He's on auto pilot, completely checked out. I am sorry to see how awful the program is now when it was run under the prior director under much better circumstances, mentoring and enforcing sportsmanship, not "win or get cast out" mentality Surdam follows. He ignores advocacy, even when players are called racist names by other players. Definitely not worth the cost of travel at CHA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Long time hockey parent of child playing Caps Academy travel (10 years). The CHA is not as good as they used to be and St James is catching up. St James for professional coaches and seems invested in bolstering the program, increasing its presence in the travel arena.

Brad Surdam has run CHA to the ground, hiring coaches who yell and insult the players, some of which so beaten down they left the program. The director Brad reports to no one and is accountable to no one. He's on auto pilot, completely checked out. I am sorry to see how awful the program is now when it was run under the prior director under much better circumstances, mentoring and enforcing sportsmanship, not "win or get cast out" mentality Surdam follows. He ignores advocacy, even when players are called racist names by other players. Definitely not worth the cost of travel at CHA.

BS has and CHA are the complete opposite of win at all costs. I wouldn’t even consider it win at some costs which is why they will never dominate Ashburn or even Reston (depending on the birth year and level). The coach that was either fired or quit last week was a win at all costs guy. But that didn’t last long at CHA it seems for a reason

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sooo, for the Brad naysayers, with the latest debacle of a coach being fired a couple of months into the season, what’s the odds Brad is shown the door? Who would even make that decision?

Fired for what?

[Anonymous]

Brad Surdam has done more to damage youth hockey in this area than any other person associated with DMV hockey. He’s a narcissist, has little to no understanding of how to relate parents or youth players, and has little understanding of how the game of hockey should be coached in order to develop fundamentally sound hockey players.

[Anonymous]

We were with CHA for many years. We found Brad to far better than his predecessor Dan, and have found him to be reasonable. The CHA families have also been wonderful. St James is fine, but honestly players who have left CHA to go to St James make a higher team, but that team usually is far less competitive. Take a look at the current rankings. At least at the AA and Upper A level, St James teams are not faring particularly well this year.