Spring Hockey

[Guest]

I have a 2012 player. I have spoken to multiple coaches, directors & scouts about Spring Hockey. We skipped Brick Tryouts because a lot of people said Brick is worthless, individual/hot dog hockey played in a mall. I was also told Brick is kind of useless as a gauge for what a player may become because so many kids flame out after puberty hits. I was also told way more kids that play Quebec go on to play College or Pro than players who played Brick.

Any way, question I have is is Spring Hockey worth it? Lot of differing opinions on this. Rink directors and coaches love Spring Hockey but I suspect this is for money-grab reasons. Scouts and College coaches I know say Spring Teams/Tournaments are a waste. They say paying for privates or clinics is a better bang for your buck and more productive. They also said after mid-June get your kid off this ice, play other sports, do off-ice training and allow your kid to have fun and recover. I am asking this as I was approached about joining
a Spring team for tourneys. i am not sure what to do as my kid wants to play, but as the adult I tend to follow advice from experts. And by experts I mean College coaches and Scouts. Thoughts?