Almost 5k for 14u/12u hockey

[Guest]

Seems like 14u and 12u hockey (even at A and B levels) is approaching $5,000 at some NJ Black Bear rinks. Is this really what parents want to pay for those levels? Nothing against those levels, but do you really need to have 50+ practices and travel tournaments? Whatever happened to semi competitive hockey, why not have half the practices and half the games.

I understand AAA/AA, but come on, this is getting ridiculous. I understand rinks have bills to pay, but time for parents to fight back...

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[Guest]

you are not wrong.  honestly, there are much better investments.

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[Guest]

This upcoming season will be our first under BB, honestly, the price increase wasn't as bad as expected.  However, what I did not expect was losing the sibling discount.  Having three kids playing and not getting any break is hard.

I've also heard from our goalie parents that goalies no longer receive a discount.

I don't think I've ever seen tuition that didn't include sibling and goalie discounts until BB.

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[Guest]

My son played for VFC for a couple of years and I never got a goalie discount.

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[Guest]

My kid plays at Hatfield in PA. For next year it's almost $1k cheaper than the neighboring black bear rinks. More importantly, my son had a great time last year. The coaching was great, the parents were great, they got in some fun travel. Between the dvhl, ej and tournaments, it was a geat mix of competition.

Hockey's popularity as a sport is declining...more people watch mls now. $4-5k to play second tier hockey is a big reason why...

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[justahockeydad]

"I don't think I've ever seen tuition that didn't include sibling and goalie discounts until BB."

AS a father of a goalie and a skater I can tell you that not all clubs have given goalie/sibling discounts pre BB. My goalie has played for 3 clubs and only got a goalie discount of 10% from one and my skater played for 2 of those clubs and only got a sibling discount of 10% from 1, the same club that gave the goalie discount. Non of those clubs were BB clubs. It could be a BB thing not to offer it at their rinks but they are not the only ones.

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[Guest]

toms river seems to give a good goalie discount (50% looks like), but other rinks dont seem to do that (or minimal discount if that). we were just on a team with 2 goalies, i think goalies who do that should get a good discount

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[Guest]

Hatfield has given a 20% goalie discount for the 7 years we've been there. Bantam AA is right at $2k. Around $1600 cheaper than the nearest BB club (royals), which didn't even field a bantam aa team last year.

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[Guest]

Don't have much experience with Black Bear, but generally speaking there are programs that cater to A & B players that want to get better with the 50+ game slates & multiple practices per week, that come in at that price around where I live(just outside of NYC).

There are also plenty of organizations that have the typical ~30 games per year slate plus one practice per week model.

That is a good thing as it gives plenty of options to let families decide what they want and pursue it.

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[Guest]

Hatfield has given a 20% goalie discount for the 7 years we've been there. Bantam AA is right at $2k. Around $1600 cheaper than the nearest BB club (royals), which didn't even field a bantam aa team last year.

you are getting ripped off. the other poster said he saved almost $1000 at Hatfield. They must like their kid better than yours😂 that or he they don't like theirs and are charging them a $4500 team fee then giving the 20% goalie discount equaling $900 with a final cost of $3600. I do believe they were over blowing their discount to make Hatfield sound better. 20% is a good discount and is what our club gives also. Seems most that give them are in the 10-20 range.

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