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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Both my kids played ice hockey (one boy one girl). It’s a great sport and the best to watch as a parent. Neither kid ever complained once about going to practice…ever…from 8u all the way 16u. In fact it’s the opposite, they got stir crazy when they were off the ice for a couple days.

My son topped out at the upper a level and my daughter played girls aa. Hockey is a weird sport in that if your kid is still living at home at age 16 they’re probably not playing ncaa d1/d3 hockey, but thats okay. The numbers lie a little bit in that most men’s college hockey players play junior first and most women’s bcaa players come from a few select programs and boarding schools. That said, I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s been great character builders for both of them. Go for it.[/quote]

I would change things - specifically, I would avoid travel hockey and invest in other sports. My kid played several years of AAA hockey, and we're now strongly encouraging (borderline bribing) him to fall back to AA and high school hockey. One year of AAA hockey cost us over $40,000 - including 12 out-of-state tournaments, many that required getting on planes (including some spring/summer trips, which most kids on the team do), equipment, clinics, skills lessons, and some time with a group trainer. Beyond the financial sacrifice, it consumed significant family time and limited our vacations.

It's easy to get sucked in when your kid shows potential and loves the sport, but I don't think it's worth it for most families. Our friend's son had a terrible billeting experience last year - inconsistent transportation to/from the rink, unreliable meals, and other basic needs not met. Without parental supervision, his grades suffered, too.

Sports are wonderful for character building, work ethic, and teamwork, but these benefits aren't exclusive to hockey.  Lots of hockey players also enjoy football, baseball, and lacrosse - sports with far less demanding financial and time commitments, plus much better odds of playing in college.  [/quote]

Agreed. My daughter could’ve played aaa, but we were hearing horror stories about favoritism and poor coaching (dad coaches in aaa playing their daughters and her click…cmon) coming out of pride (and getting to Rockville was a nightmare for us) and sending her to boarding school was not on the table.  At each age group there are one to two very competitive aa girls teams in the dmv, where 4-5 girls per team could play for pride, or did and walked away for a variety of reasons. From sneaking peeks at and following the boys teams…ashburn, Reston and Montgomery aa looks very high level. I’d say go for it.

I do think hockey is different than other sports for two reasons - the dedication to skating requirement, and the team nature of the game. 15 skaters per team and if one kid takes a lazy a** shift the team is giving up chances (football may come close in this regard). There are more life lessons taught in hockey, or maybe the same lessons are more intense. [/quote]

Agreed, the cost of AAA hockey (both in terms of money and family time) does not make sense unless your kid is good enough to play in college/juniors.  From the girls perspective, unfortunately, aspirations of playing college almost always require you to play AAA, you just don't get the exposure playing AA, and if you do, it's because you're paying for it in terms of showcases and camps during the off-season.  It's not impossible, but there are very few girls in the area playing AA that go on to play NCAA hockey. My kids have been playing with Pride, and while there have been very good and not so good years, it was definitely the right choice for us. Last year they had 8 girls go on to NCAA, and this year 7.  This is a pretty comparable to girls prep placement, but you're paying a heck of a lot less, and getting a few extra years with your kid. But again, if playing in the NCAA is not the goal, AA is absolutely the way to go. [/quote]

I don’t think pride is comparable to prep placement. 7 girls going “ncaa” is a bit misleading. 6 are diii and DMV Aa girls are starting to go to these diii schools as well. one of the two d1 commits is a lower level team in a lower level conf and  the other is…I don’t think the team has played d1 before…is it d1 acha?

It’s a bit tangential to the original discussion. Hockey is the best youth sport imo, but getting caught up in the tier 1 trap can sour it for some people.[/quote]

If you're looking at most prep schools like Deefield, Kent, Choate, etc. those have a similar track recod.  There will be 1-2 girls going to D1 per year, but the majority are going to smaller schools in New England, particularly NESCAC which recruits heavily from prep schools at least on the girls side.  If you're talking the pure hockey boarding schools like Shattuck, BK, etc. then yeah, no comparison, those girls are generally all going D1.[/quote]

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