NJYHL vs DVHL Which League Is Better?

[Youth Hockey Info]

It's obvious the majority of the traffic on this board are Mid Atlantic hockey league(s) member families. There's been numerous discussions regarding which league would be considered better.

Better in terms of:

• Club membership
• Membership Price, (tuition)
• Available included membership options, ie. off ice dryland or weight room training, video
  review and full game video replay etc.
• Membership Talent
• Club Coaching Staff
• Travel Schedules
• Age level membership balance
• League Competition

Additionally, are there any guests or members on this site who choose to play out of their own regional league?

Example: Pennsylvania residents who choose NJYHL instead of DVHL or vice versa?

For those of whom are NJYHL High School member families. When you're son or daughter's NJYHL season ends, do you join DVHL teams to supplement the remainder of the winter hockey season in conjunction with the High School hockey season?

[Guest]

I can confidently say there's almost no difference except price. We tried Lawrence 2 years ago for a season and the member premium was well above DVHL prices, to which I still can't figure out why. Other than that we didn't see any difference.

[Guest]

I agree I'd also like to know why we're paying over $1000 more than DVHL player payments each season. Not including the uniforms too!

[Guest]

That’s not a ton of difference from Mite to Bantam. I’ve seen kids from either side go to the other league because teams and coaching were better in one over the other. Regarding PA kids playing in NJ for those ages, a lot depends on where you live and what’s available at the rinks around you. If you live in Yardley, for example, you close to Lawrence, Mercer, Grundy, and SkateZone, plus Princeton. Pick the team that offers the best program (coaches, travel, ice time, cost, etc) for what the kid wants.

In terms of Midget and high school, it largely depends on where you go to school. I’ve seen Tier 2 kids who play for the APAC teams go to the NJ so that they can concentrate on high school full time come November. Most of those schools practice twice a week, plus a game or two so the amount of ice they’re getting is about the same if not more. I have seen kids get a release to play in the DVHL, but that’s a bit less frequent. You should probably stay in the DVHL if you’re a PA resident whose high school team is on the ice maybe twice a week.

I’d  love to see the DVHL implement the NJYHL season for the midget divisions so that kids can actually do things outside of hockey on weekends in addition to playing high school, but that’s apparently not happening any time soon.