Sheriff66
Footballguy
I'll be coaching this year, starting with Spring hockey, son just turned 7 so he still has 2 years of Mites left, can't wait
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Hockey Parents Thread (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Nigel
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Faust
MVP
Honestly, it was one of the best experiences I have had being involved in helping to coach this last 2 seasons.We had 3 rules for our team this year:1. Have fun2. Work hard3. Display good sportmanshipI'll be coaching this year, starting with Spring hockey, son just turned 7 so he still has 2 years of Mites left, can't wait
hockeymedic
Footballguy
Best times were coaching, especially my son when he was a squirt and pee wee. I enjoyed it so much I got my USA Hockey coaching cards all the way up to level 4. You will get addicted to coaching, I ended up coaching at the bantam and midget levels after my son moved on. I've been out of coaching for about 3 years now and I miss it. Going to watch the Ohio PeeWee state tourny tomorrow, maybe I'll see if I can hook up with a team for next year. FAUST - great rules for th elittle guys and always remember the juice boxes and donuts.
mozzy84
Footballguy
for a 7 year old? damn your making me feel better. Our town you can "lease" equipment head to toe until they turn 9 for $50 bucks and when you turn the equipment back in you get you $50 back. registration is $100 and you HAVE to sell or buy 12 raffle tickets at $20 a pop. They also have volunteer hours they make you pay for, 8 hours at 20 bucks an hour and they give you that money back if you put your hours in. Its a smaller town (30k) but its a hockey town, currently have 3 former players in the nhl right now anyways. they make it pretty cheap to get the kids going, it gets spendy though when the start traveling in squirts.
Skipdog77
Footballguy
Last weekend of hockey for my 5-year old mini-mite this weekend
I am more than a little bummed. Only 6 more months until September, I guess.
I ordered a net with targets and a backstop (net ) and shooting pad ( pad ) for him to work on his shot and have some fun with over the summer.
Looking forward to many spring/summer evenings of us shooting pucks off the garage doors together.
I am more than a little bummed. Only 6 more months until September, I guess.
I ordered a net with targets and a backstop (net ) and shooting pad ( pad ) for him to work on his shot and have some fun with over the summer.
Looking forward to many spring/summer evenings of us shooting pucks off the garage doors together.
Sheriff66
Footballguy
Here's a great free resource...The Drill Vault
Sign up for the newsletter and they will e-mail you the password, great drills in there that I have my son doing already, it has really helped his game. Another great free resource is Smart Hockey, Vinny Lecavalier shows you tons of drills that can be done...
Daily Workouts
Bottom right hand corner of the hompage
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Faust
MVP
Faust
MVP
We had our first game of the season on Sunday. Our team fell behind 1-0 at the end of the first period, only to come back to a 3-1 lead going into the third period. A quick goal from the other team made the score 3-2, and they pulled their goalie with 2 minutes left in an attempt to get the equalizer. We scored an empty net goal for a 4-2 win.
Nigel
Footballguy
Thanksgiving tournament for my son's Mite 1 team this weekend, 4 games in 3 days Friday - Sunday. We've been struggling mightily lately - have dropped about 8 straight in league play. Lost the tournament opener on Friday to a team we should have beaten, then won two Sat. against teams we had absolutely no business beating. The 2nd win Sat. was against a team who hadn't lost all season, they were something like 14-0-2 in league play. Nigel Jr. pumped in a hat trick and assisted on another in a 5-4 thriller. 
Best part of it was when the other team cut the lead to one w/ a minute left, emptied their net and put all of their best kids out on the ice. They had one kid in particular who dominated all game. I saw our coach call my son over to he bench before the face off and tell him something - I asked him after the game what he said and he told me "Coach said he wanted me inside 77's shirt until the buzzer" - and that's what he did, skated around like a nut shadowing the kid.
The same team (it was a round robbin) thumped us in the championship game the next morning 8-2, but those two W's on Sat. were by far the highlght of the season so far and the kids were thrilled with their 2nd place medals. So much frigging fun....
Best part of it was when the other team cut the lead to one w/ a minute left, emptied their net and put all of their best kids out on the ice. They had one kid in particular who dominated all game. I saw our coach call my son over to he bench before the face off and tell him something - I asked him after the game what he said and he told me "Coach said he wanted me inside 77's shirt until the buzzer" - and that's what he did, skated around like a nut shadowing the kid.
The same team (it was a round robbin) thumped us in the championship game the next morning 8-2, but those two W's on Sat. were by far the highlght of the season so far and the kids were thrilled with their 2nd place medals. So much frigging fun....
Fantasy_Freak
Footballguy
My 4 year old son is playing in a local Development league where the rink loans the full equipment until the child moves onto the Mite level at that point they are expected to have their own equipment. The Devo league consists of practice one hour a week coupled with a 40 minute game every Saturday morning. Within the devo league they progress and play against better talent until they get to the point of where they are playing on a travel team (Mite, Squirt, etc.). I have convinced myself that I can build a rink in my backyard next winter, obviously with a few of the other fathers in the league who have already done this.
BigJohn
Footballguy
Hoping to get some advice. Son is 5 and in year 2 of instructional hockey. We want to get him some roller blades for Christmas. I never played hockey, so I have literally no knowledge of good/bad equipment. Are there brands that are better than others? I'm seeing Roller Derby, Rollerblade, THOR, Lake Placid, K2.
Any thoughts? I have my eyes on these, but not sure if they are of quality.
Any thoughts? I have my eyes on these, but not sure if they are of quality.
AcerFC
Footballguy
Could use some help here from anyone who may have been in a similar situation
Backstory: My son is obsessed with goalies and since putting skates on he has wanted to play goal. I told him that he needed to learn how to be a "player" for two years before he could move to goalie.
He is now a second year mite and has not given up the dream. To make things worse, he has played goal on three occasions this year and has been very good between the pipes (which I knew would happen). I even got a text from a coach who was playing in the finals of tournament, a division a year older, who wanted him to play goalie in the finals. I politely declined because it was just too much over the Thanksgiving break for my son. We had our own games all weekend.
Anyway, he has asked Santa for his own goalie gear for Christmas. Not street hockey stuff, we already own that. So my wife and I spoke last night and just decided to get him his own stuff. I still do not want him playing goalie full time, however, I dont want to stop him from excelling at goalie.
At what point do I let him make the decision. If it was up to me, he would be "player" and goalie for his next two years at the mite level and then make the decision at squirts. Im not sure if he will be OK with that
Sorry, it was longer than I wanted it to be. In no way am I saying he is Henrik or Quick out there. He is a good little goalie though and people have recognized that.
Backstory: My son is obsessed with goalies and since putting skates on he has wanted to play goal. I told him that he needed to learn how to be a "player" for two years before he could move to goalie.
He is now a second year mite and has not given up the dream. To make things worse, he has played goal on three occasions this year and has been very good between the pipes (which I knew would happen). I even got a text from a coach who was playing in the finals of tournament, a division a year older, who wanted him to play goalie in the finals. I politely declined because it was just too much over the Thanksgiving break for my son. We had our own games all weekend.
Anyway, he has asked Santa for his own goalie gear for Christmas. Not street hockey stuff, we already own that. So my wife and I spoke last night and just decided to get him his own stuff. I still do not want him playing goalie full time, however, I dont want to stop him from excelling at goalie.
At what point do I let him make the decision. If it was up to me, he would be "player" and goalie for his next two years at the mite level and then make the decision at squirts. Im not sure if he will be OK with that
Sorry, it was longer than I wanted it to be. In no way am I saying he is Henrik or Quick out there. He is a good little goalie though and people have recognized that.
AcerFC
Footballguy
I want him to learn how to play the game. He is a very good skater and it will also help him when and if he does play goal full time. But more important to me, is that if he ever decides he no longer wants to be goalie, he has a good foundation already.
Copeman
Footballguy
Nigel
Footballguy
Damn, started this thread 6 years ago, son is now a first year bantam. Boy does time fly. He still loves it. I'm a bit jaded now with all of the nonsense involved with youth hockey, parents take it way too seriously. Fortunately my son has been on the same team now for five years now but I think there's only four others he's played with the entire time. Kids leave every year looking for a better situation, others get cut because better players are recruited. I live in MA and one of our kids left the team this year to go play on one of the top teams in the country, in Syracuse. Parents got an apartment there and they travel there every weekend fro MA just so this 13 yr old can play on this team. Nuts.
AcerFC
Footballguy
great idea. Thanks.
Faust
MVP
My son is now a second year Bantam and playing goal for his fourth season after playing mostly defense for his first five seasons. I feel very confident in saying that the foundation skills he developed playing as a skater have helped him, and will allow for him to play as a forward or on defense should he ever want to do that with his friends later in life.
Fantasy_Freak
Footballguy
Wow, time does fly, my son is now 7 playing on the local Mite team through and AAU program where we play full ice as opposed to USA Hockey's ADM cross-ice model. We play in a league out of the Chicago area. As it stands I believe we are the only Mite full-ice program in the state of Wisconsin. Pretty happy with my son's development and it has been fun watching him the past several years. Also, fun to see my wife get involved and try to understand hockey more and more.
AcerFC
Footballguy
I think the greatest thing has been the cross ice model and I am happy that US soccer is going this way as well
Why would you want your 7 year old playing on full ice at such a young age. Not being argumentative, just wondering about your opinion. Every single thing I have read and seen with my own son and three nephews has shown the cross ice ADM model really helps develop stick skills and more importantly skating skills in terms of using your edges
AcerFC
Footballguy
Thanks. The more I think about it, the more I am just going to be that guy and not allow him to be a full time goalie until at least Squirts. If the current team wont work with me on that, Ill find one that will. Although Im confident that his current coaches agree with my direction having talked to them a bit about it
Nigel
Footballguy
Flooded the backyard rink on Sunday, pretty damn cold in Boston tight now but will warm up again end of week, hoping to at least get a base of ice in place. Supposed to get cold again next week. Last year my kids skated from early January to April 1. Keeping the snow clear was a full time job but man was it worth it, kids were out there every day.
Traveling to Buffalo next weekend with my sons 02 bantam team for a tournament that pulls teams from all over the U.S. and Canada, great completion. My son unfortunately got smoked last weekend by a cheap hit and had minor headaches afterwards. Feels fine now but having him sit this week to be safe.
Traveling to Buffalo next weekend with my sons 02 bantam team for a tournament that pulls teams from all over the U.S. and Canada, great completion. My son unfortunately got smoked last weekend by a cheap hit and had minor headaches afterwards. Feels fine now but having him sit this week to be safe.
AcerFC
Footballguy
I toyed with the idea of building a rink out back. Even bought a book on Amazon. Havent done it yet since like you said, it has been so mild this winter so far. Plus we have a synthetic rink in the basement so not sure I need to do it. But my son would love it, especially with some lights back there.
My nephew just played in the Bell tournament in Ottawa. They came in second giving up the winner with 24 seconds left. If Im being honest, the tournaments are the one thing I can do without. No need to give up weekends and even work days to travel 8-10 hours away to play hockey. But for some reason, these are a part of the youth hockey experience much to my dismay.
Fantasy_Freak
Footballguy
I appreciate the input, but I hope you can agree talent level can differ at all levels (Mite through Midget). My son has been playing with the same kids since he was 4, in a Devo system as well as cross-ice model and eventually onto full ice. They have been working on skating skills for some time now and continue to work on skating skills every practice and during games. Coaches push this by sending videos showing the importance of edge work, they send videos of professionals practicing edge work as well how they use the edge work in games. I'll be honest I haven't done much research on the subject, but from the games I watch the talent level, in some cases, out there has surpassed the cross-ice model. There are AAA teams that are playing the full ice model that travel the country and into Canada, in fact we have a scrimmage against a team today from Chicago whose league is made up teams from Canada, Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota and New York. This past Spring our team played in a Mite AAA tournament about an hour from our rink, there was a team from Denver, another team that had kids from Phoenix, Chicago, St.Louis, Detroit, and another team out of Chicago. The talent in this tournament is at a level much higher than the cross-ice model. Our team plays at a AA level for league play this season and only play within two hours of our home rink. The full ice model does promote stick handling skills as well as skating skills (my son as a defenseman has improved his ability to skate backwards because he has to do this on a full sheet of ice). Also this model promotes positioning on the ice, offensive zone and defensive zone, as well as passing skills for breakouts as well as offensive zone passing.
The other reason for full ice, is our hand was dealt this way. Because of where our rink is located we have one other rink in the area and after that we are looking at a 30 minute drive to the next closest rink, well most of the teams north of us informed us they were no longer traveling to our rink for a cross-ice game, too far to drive for what was in essence stick and puck, then south of us all the Mite teams were adapting to the full ice model. So instead of our organization being squeezed out we adapted to the full ice model.
I am happy we have adapted to the full-ice model, is it correct or incorrect I guess we will see in the future development of the sport nationally and ultimately see which model developed the better talent. I am not saying cross-ice is not needed again my son skated cross-ice for a couple years then both talent and organizational needs dictated the move to full-ice. If the talent surpasses the cross-ice model there needs to be an outlet play the full ice model.
maxwelledison
Footballguy
FF, not to give an iResume but I've played the game for 37 years and coached for 10 and IMO the full ice model at the mite level makes sense in very rare circumstances.
The bottom line is that even high level mite games usually become an exercise in the best skaters using the open space to gain separation in a way that does not aid development. Because the best mite skaters are not necessarily going to be the best squirt players allowing them to use their skating skills in that way encourages them to use space that simply doesn't exist at the peewee (and often squirt) level and above. It's better that they work on stopping, starting, edge work, small area games and passing that the smaller ice surface demands.
