anyone else find stj tph academy skeptical? it looks sloppy and it seems like the kids aren't getting a good education... are parents really thinking that their kids are going to go pro by attending a program like this?

Anonymous wrote:OP here- but if you make your high school hockey team and play club hockey, do you have a better chance of getting into an Ivy?

No one from my son's DC area school hockey team got into an Ivy last year.
One kid was a legacy with a strong application (based on where he wound up enrolling)

Anonymous wrote:OP here- but if you make your high school hockey team and play club hockey, do you have a better chance of getting into an Ivy?

Absolutely not, especially in this area.

Anonymous wrote:St James is probably the best run youth hockey program in the area. But I think their academy thing is different. It’s multiple sports, not just hockey. If I had to guess they’re trying to build something similar to img.

Correct, Academy is different from the tier II hockey program STJ runs. That said, if you are a hockey player in the Academy you do your online schooling at STJ and also have on ice training/off ice workouts there during the day which is run by STJ coaches. You do not have to play for STJ's tier II program. The ice and off ice training at the Academy would supplement whatever team you are on.

False, STJ coed program definitely does not run the best or even a particularly good youth hockey program in the area. STJ girls hockey program is pretty well run though. The coed side of STJ hockey has a lot of growing pains they still need to work out in both their Academy model and even in growing the strength and consistency of their tier II program. If you want a well run coed program you are better served looking at Loudoun, Ashburn, Reston, MYHA. Every program in the DMV has various issues, no program is perfect. But if you want a program that is consistently well run across majority of birth years in coed hockey, it is definitely not STJ. If you're a girl though - go for it, the girls hockey director is on top of her stuff. You would think the coed program would be run just as well; but it's surprisingly not. I can't tell you the number of unhappy parents I know from STJ hockey (and the Academy); it's a shame. Beautiful facility and the concept all around is very good - they just struggle with execution.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For which club? Everything is “Elite” now … is used as a marketing word to denote higher-level than “AAA”, which itself used to be the top-level marker.

So a second “Elite” team in an age band would seem to be a contradiction in terms.

I think "Elite" is usually used to denote a lower level (see, e.g. USPHL Elite v. USPHL Premier)

Elite in AYHL means they'd lose to Ashburn, Reston, and MYHA. It's not really AAA.