Youth Hockey Tournaments A Total Waste Of Money

[Guest]

less then a minute left then that is acceptable, dont know why a coach would get angry at that but then again look at today's coaching.

[Guest]

That's one reason why participation drops off so much as kids get older. My problem is that there is no sane middle ground. For my kid it's either a year-round 70+ game, 7 tournament season or inhouse with kids that can't skate. It's all about quantity, not quality. I'm in the same boat, and it sucks.

[Guest]

70 + games, and 7 tournaments? AAA doesn't even play that many games including tournaments. That's around 100-110 games for kid.

[Guest]

When I said 70+ games, I was including tournament games. We went to 7 tournaments total, including local and travel.

My son has never played spring/summer hockey, and has only been on 1 dvhl team each year playing b and a level hockey.. I haven't had a single month off in years. Heck, we had over twenty pre-season games last year, starting immediately after evals.

I felt so bad for the third line parents... averaged about three to four hours of weekend time sucked from their life for each of those twenty games, then their kid spent between 4 and 5 minutes playing hockey.

Don't get me wrong, the tournaments and games are fun. But their value as a developmental tool is pretty limited and you can have too much of a good thing.

[Guest]

that makes sense we have the same. Thtat's what it's turned into with non-stop hockey. The idea is to not allow it to stop so the clubs have an endless revenue stream which is a business. The amount of games played is over the top too much. Especially for kids playing for school too because they will play every day. It doesn't leave much to your social life, their social life or for their homework.

[Guest]

All outstanding and truthful points,70 plus games at AAA is absolute truth. Factor in the Bullshit "Spring Tournament Team" with multiple practices that plays way over their heads its a 12 month money suck. You have people like us that understand its a joke and money grab then you have the clueless parents that believe playing year around is going to make " little Jonny" better.

[tree408]

has only been on 1 dvhl team each year playing b and a level hockey.. I haven't had a single month off in years. Heck, we had over twenty pre-season games last year, starting immediately after evals.

I felt so bad for the third line parents... averaged about three to four hours of weekend time sucked from their life for each of those twenty games, then their kid spent between 4 and 5 minutes playing hockey.

Sorry, hacked apart your post to keep is streamlined.  I've  got to be honest if you're doing that (20 pre-season, 7 tourneys) for a B level team then you may be with the wrong club.  If 3rd liners are only getting 4/5 mins per game, they're definitely with the wrong club.  Not even AAA is playing 20 pre-season games.  And AAA benches are shortened so you may have 3rd liners not getting quality playing time, but at the B level if the kids aren't getting ice time there is something seriously wrong with the coach and organization.  This is just my opinion.

[Guest]

I don't know if naming names is ok so sorry if it isn't, just delete. Hockey Times Productions is an awful experience. They are mean and don't help with anything and the scheduling is the worst. If you have a problem with them good luck contacting them because all calls go to voicemail and nobody ever responds.They are a total waste of money.

[Guest]

You have to research the hell out of these tournaments. I know it is tough, especially in the early season, but you have to find out who is registered, look them up and see who they have played and determine if it is worth going. I hate MyHockey rankings, but you can at least look up who has played who. And if they aren't listed, go to their website or their league website and research.

Also, have a plan for when you meet with parents after evals. For the most part, outside of AAA and some AA, most teams just do 1 travel tournament a season. If you want to do 2, have everyone vote on it. As stated above, even a simple 2 night weekend away can end up being a lot of money. If you are playing over Thanksgiving or Christmas, make sure people are available.

I think the biggest problem with some of these tournaments is that they really need to start telling teams that they aren't a fit. I know that's never going to happen(except for some of these high end AAA ones) because they aren't turning down money and they need to fill out the bracket with at least 4 teams to make it work.

[Guest]

We just finished a tier 3 tournament where two of the four teams were tier 1... Guess which teams made the championship game...