Rink Jumping Season is Upon Us!

[Guest]

I used to look down on all of the "rink jumpers" and "club hoppers".

But after being thoroughly mis-treated by our long time club, I have come to change my mind.  Mistreated in the loyalty sense. We were loyaly to them, they were not loyal to us. Full disclosure: my son is still with this team for the current year.

Loyalty is a one way street in youth hockey.

Do what is best for your player and your family for next year.   Do not have blind loyalty to a club.

I used to think the same way and have concluded the same way you have. This is some the best advice out there for parents.

Even if your situation isnt all that bad, it never hurts to try different rinks, meet different people, etc

[Guest]

To me nearly every rink is the same in this area. Grass isn't always greener

What rink (don't need team/year) is a problem

[Guest]

To me nearly every rink is the same in this area. Grass isn't always greener

What rink (don't need team/year) is a problem

I promise to elaborate after the season ends.  But it deals with promises made and broken. And "daddy ball".....lots of "daddy ball".

I will say, it does NOT involve South Jersey. LOL

[Guest]

There was a EUREKA moment for me last year.   My son played on a different spring tournament team than his normal cohort.  It was for a team from a different rink. 

Spring / Summer hockey is an opportunity to play under different coaches and with different players. 

This year we are going to ramp it up and play with multiple different summer teams to get a feel for the various cultures.

[Guest]

I wish we had to play where we lived, No1 from this area is going anywhere and those that have a chance leave by 14 anyway so just let's the kids have fun

[Guest]

Not as many players below 2011will change rinks as you think. Always rumors, but in the end people usually stay put. Flyers Elite will most likely have to roster mixed aged teams at PW and SQ next year. Don't believe the hype!

[Guest]

“Will they get enough kids” is exactly what is wrong with AAA hockey in this area. FE and others will field teams no matter how bad they are and parents will chase the letters even if the team isn’t AAA level. The slogan “development over wins and losses” is fantastic if it were actually true. The losses are coming regardless of the coaches philosophy because the roster is filled with tier 2 kids. To each is own, spend your money as you wish but let’s be honest about the product they put on the ice.

Flyers Elite is still digging out from PHC poaching most of their 2012 & younger kids back in 2021. Venom left and took best kids to PHC.  Not having teams below 2010 last season really hurt the program. BB updating facilities and bringing in quality coaches is a start. The only thing that will make FE better is to get better players. That may finally happen next season but it will take 203 years of playing together before these teams are good. I hope FE returns to their former glory when I played!

Could not agree more. The Venom 2012/FE 2011 move to Hollydell was a tough blow that FE still has not recovered from. The problem is that BB doesn’t seem to be putting a lot of effort into recruiting players. Their website is outdated, their coaches are relatively unknown (but with loyal players), and they do little to publicize the improvements to facilities and teams. Many parents are reluctant to try out for fear that there won’t be enough kids to make a team and they’ll be told AFTER AAA tryouts have concluded to find another place to play. Thats what happened two years ago and BB isn’t doing much to alleviate those fears. They can’t sit back and HOPE players show up to tryouts especially at 2012. There are players who will come to FE but they have to give them a reason why it’s better than staying where they are or moving to someplace else more stable.

[Guest]

Agree about FE and BB doing a poor job of recruiting. They need to run in season clinicd and pewer skates and not just private lesons. FE has great coaches, lots of ice time and improving facilities, but very few people know this. They have openings next season on AAA teams for 2011 thru 2015. People need to know this!

[Guest]

Agree about FE and BB doing a poor job of recruiting. They need to run in season clinicd and pewer skates and not just private lesons. FE has great coaches, lots of ice time and improving facilities, but very few people know this. They have openings next season on AAA teams for 2011 thru 2015. People need to know this!

Flyers Youth and Hollydell have some very good teams in those birth years. Some of those cores have been together for several years. The only way to get a good amount of kids at any group, is to do whatever it takes to get a coach to come over there and bring their team.

No offence to the current Flyers Elite coaches, but they just wont get the kids without this.

As someone mentioned above, same thing happened with Venom came to Hollydell. They literally laid out the exact way to get it done...

[Guest]

its a great theory, albeit flawed.

you can play for as many as you want, however less a waiver once they start you already signed your "contract" two months prior.

There was a EUREKA moment for me last year.   My son played on a different spring tournament team than his normal cohort.  It was for a team from a different rink. 

Spring / Summer hockey is an opportunity to play under different coaches and with different players. 

This year we are going to ramp it up and play with multiple different summer teams to get a feel for the various cultures.