The hockey sports industrial complex strikes again

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ant parent who would consider sending their kid to “ school” at a dilapidated ice center for mediocre DMV hockey really needs to have their head checked.

Let's be brutally honest, the entire kiddie club sports/clinics industrial complex is a massive scam. If your kid is not a natural born athlete, all the tens of thousands of dollars spent on sports over the years is as good as lit on fire.

I disagree. Having a kid involved in a sport is a good use of their time. It gives them exercise and a place to make friends. It teaches them a lot of skills that are useful in life.

I think all parents would welcome an opportunity to have their kids kept busy with something active and productive, especially as it keeps kids off of the phones during the activity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hockey is an unusual sport in that if you want to play in college, you can't even go straight from high school to D1, you basically have to play junior hockey until you age out at 20-21 and then you go to play D1, which is why D1 hockey players are much older than other D1 athletes. A lot of recruiting happens out of junior hockey. So if playing in college is really your aim, then this isn't a terrible model assuming they have connections to the right junior programs.

If you want your kid to play D1, you need to move to Canada. Since the NCAA started allowing guys from Canadian juniors in, the pipeline now goes through Canada.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hockey is an unusual sport in that if you want to play in college, you can't even go straight from high school to D1, you basically have to play junior hockey until you age out at 20-21 and then you go to play D1, which is why D1 hockey players are much older than other D1 athletes. A lot of recruiting happens out of junior hockey. So if playing in college is really your aim, then this isn't a terrible model assuming they have connections to the right junior programs.

If you want your kid to play D1, you need to move to Canada. Since the NCAA started allowing guys from Canadian juniors in, the pipeline now goes through Canada.

Or Minnesota. We know a family with 3 hockey-loving boys who moved to Minnesota when the kids were still young enough to catch up. They didn't have the time or money to have 3 boys in AAA hockey, but in Minnesota, they never have to get on a plane to play good hockey (in fact, they play better competition locally than our AAA teams play when they travel). The dad found an equivalent job in Minnesota, and with the lower cost of living plus no longer having to pay for travel hockey, the mom was able to quit her job.

[Anonymous]

This thread is correct. DMV is a hockey desert. Minnesota is absolutely the right play if you are looking to move to support your kids hockey interest. If its a good choice to move for a kids sport interest is probably for another thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is correct. DMV is a hockey desert. Minnesota is absolutely the right play if you are looking to move to support your kids hockey interest. If its a good choice to move for a kids sport interest is probably for another thread.

Ffs, Louisiana is a hockey desert. The dmv is actually a pretty good youth hockey area. If, at 14u going into 16u, you think your kid has a chance of making “it” you have have some decisions to make, but that true of all American families except those in Minnesota, Detroit, and Boston, maybe Buffalo and Chicago too. But cmon, we don’t need to be so dramatic about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Ffs, Louisiana is a hockey desert. The dmv is actually a pretty good youth hockey area. If, at 14u going into 16u, you think your kid has a chance of making “it” you have have some decisions to make, but that true of all American families except those in Minnesota, Detroit, and Boston, maybe Buffalo and Chicago too. But cmon, we don’t need to be so dramatic about it.

1000%. Even areas in CANADA have remote small towns where the AA or AAA team has to travel 3 hours for almost all of their games because they are from way north Ontario or middle of nowhere BC.

The Hockey havens (Minnesota, Michigan, New England) have more hockey, sure, but the DMV hockey offerings are way better that areas like North Carolina.

[Anonymous]

We live in Fairfax and are within 40 minutes of I think 5 rinks. Definitely not a desert.

My son just recently starting playing so I don't yet know about the quality of all the teams, but it has not been hard to get involved and there is no shortage of learn to play, drop in stick n puck, or ice time. I suspect if we wanted he could make this a serious thing.

The association with the Capitals helps too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Ffs, Louisiana is a hockey desert. The dmv is actually a pretty good youth hockey area. If, at 14u going into 16u, you think your kid has a chance of making “it” you have have some decisions to make, but that true of all American families except those in Minnesota, Detroit, and Boston, maybe Buffalo and Chicago too. But cmon, we don’t need to be so dramatic about it.

1000%. Even areas in CANADA have remote small towns where the AA or AAA team has to travel 3 hours for almost all of their games because they are from way north Ontario or middle of nowhere BC.

The Hockey havens (Minnesota, Michigan, New England) have more hockey, sure, but the DMV hockey offerings are way better that areas like North Carolina.

I'm in North Carolina. I always get a little giggle out of the number of DMV teams that come down here for tournaments. But, yeah, our options are very slim here. Two AAA programs in the whole state, neither of which are good imo. Even the AA programs are middling at best.

We looking to leave NC for a whole host of reasons and we're trying to decide if we return to DC, or go to Minnesota, which is where DH and I went to college and lived for several years after (before moving to DC). It feels absurd that we're taking youth hockey opportunities into account, but here we are. Believe me, the option to keep travel mostly in state in incredibly appealing. Then again, all paths lead to beer league, so maybe just playing rec hockey in the DC area is the way to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Ffs, Louisiana is a hockey desert. The dmv is actually a pretty good youth hockey area. If, at 14u going into 16u, you think your kid has a chance of making “it” you have have some decisions to make, but that true of all American families except those in Minnesota, Detroit, and Boston, maybe Buffalo and Chicago too. But cmon, we don’t need to be so dramatic about it.

1000%. Even areas in CANADA have remote small towns where the AA or AAA team has to travel 3 hours for almost all of their games because they are from way north Ontario or middle of nowhere BC.

The Hockey havens (Minnesota, Michigan, New England) have more hockey, sure, but the DMV hockey offerings are way better that areas like North Carolina.

I'm in North Carolina. I always get a little giggle out of the number of DMV teams that come down here for tournaments. But, yeah, our options are very slim here. Two AAA programs in the whole state, neither of which are good imo. Even the AA programs are middling at best.

We looking to leave NC for a whole host of reasons and we're trying to decide if we return to DC, or go to Minnesota, which is where DH and I went to college and lived for several years after (before moving to DC). It feels absurd that we're taking youth hockey opportunities into account, but here we are. Believe me, the option to keep travel mostly in state in incredibly appealing. Then again, all paths lead to beer league, so maybe just playing rec hockey in the DC area is the way to go.

It’s because we all secretely want to live in the Raleigh Durham area, so we go down for tournaments to lust at how our lives could be.