Should I consider Tier 1?

[Guest]

The Venom full ice mite team that will become Philadelphia Hockey Club Sq Minor team next season will certainly dominate the western Pa/ Southern NJ area for years to come and be competitive against some of the country’s best youth teams. No Austen Matthews there yet but PHC will be an attractive place to play for area best young players

[Guest]

It comes down to supply and demand. The way it is supposed to work is that there should be a number of players competing for a few slots. Unfortunately, with so many tier 1 teams now, there are few kids “competing” for a lot of spots. It’s really telling when teams aren’t fielding full rosters and organizations aren’t even fielding teams in certain age groups. If you are willing to travel, any “good” tier 2 player can play on a tier 1 team. I’m not the bit impressed when I hear such player is on AAA team. If you want your kid to enjoy the game and have fun, stay with tier 2. If your kid wants to play in juniors, college scholarship, play professionally, go play prep. Tier 1 in PA/NJ area is only to make parents ego better.

[Guest]

It has to be about the coach and the practice model that they employ.  Games are play to to re-enforce what is being taught.  The comparison between Tier 1 to Tier 2, AAA to AA, A is irrelevant.  They are all a money grab, its just done different ways.  Most Tier 2 programs have multiple teams in all age groups because no one gets tuned away (cha-ching) with only 2 sheets, so your "practices" are with 2 other teams on the same sheet (30-45 kids) where as Tier 1 has less of that, where they have 1 or 2 full ice practices with a shared ice practice a week, but most organizations require the team to take a full roster (13-15) and believe me there are not that many "Tier 1" kids in the area for the amount of tier 1 teams, so you have less skilled playing with more skilled.

Find a coach and a program that you are comfortable with that gets the most out of your kid.  Then if your comfortable paying whatever the tuition is go there.

[Guest]

Save the money and invest in skating lessons, private lessons and clinics. You can spend less money and get better instruction for your son along with less travel. the travel is a lot at tier 1 and gets tiresome especially at a young age. I love hockey and love watching my own son play, but trust me the travel can suck. Get the confidence and skills up first. Think about this, for some tier 1 games you are away from home for 6-7 hours in a single day, some tournaments are 8 hours away, think about all the time wasted back and forth and what you could do with that time on the weekends doing other more productive things. for a 45 minute game you are talking about 15 minutes of ice time!! make the jump to tier 1 when they are pee wee or older. if during his 2nd year of squirts  your son is playing in the top division of his league and he is hands down the best player and dominates, make the jump at pee wee.

[Guest]

I agree with what you wrote wholeheartedly. But I have a question/concern. My own son played Tier 1 full ice mite this season and performed well enough to be asked by several Tier 1 Squirt programs in area if he would be interested in changing teams for 21-22 seasons. The travel and money this season was absolutely an issue with our family. But my concern is that if I DON’T play him at a Tier 1 team next season and wait a couple years to tryout, that there won’t be a roster spot for him as teams are “built”. For example there is at least one Tier 1 program in area that I KNOW has ZERO open spots on their Bantam team and are debating not holding tryouts for that age group. I would prefer NOT to go the Tier 1 squirt route next season but also don’t want to run risk of not being able to move him up in future if he’s good enough.

[Guest]

If your kid is good enough to make a difference, that "built" team will find a spot for him. 

[Guest]

I agree with what you wrote wholeheartedly. But I have a question/concern. My own son played Tier 1 full ice mite this season and performed well enough to be asked by several Tier 1 Squirt programs in area if he would be interested in changing teams for 21-22 seasons. The travel and money this season was absolutely an issue with our family. But my concern is that if I DON’T play him at a Tier 1 team next season and wait a couple years to tryout, that there won’t be a roster spot for him as teams are “built”. For example there is at least one Tier 1 program in area that I KNOW has ZERO open spots on their Bantam team and are debating not holding tryouts for that age group. I would prefer NOT to go the Tier 1 squirt route next season but also don’t want to run risk of not being able to move him up in future if he’s good enough.

The last possible thing you would want to do is go into debt over a sport. Your kid is 8. Honestly, there's a chance he loses interest in hockey in the next few years. Unfortunately, it happens. Don't worry about what team he can make in 5 years. If a team is already picked, then there is nothing you can do about it. Being there as a squirt doesn't mean he would still make it as a Bantam. He could get bumped out by someone else at PW. You never know.

I'd find a close T2 team that has a good coach. If you have a few extra bucks, find a good skating coach and get some private/semi private instruction. That will help more than anything.

[Guest]

There is no guaranteed at t1. If your kid is better the team will cut the lowest guy on the depth chart. They do it all levels.

[Guest]

I agree with a few of the posters above. Go to a quality Tier 2 program and put some money into skating and skills lessons. I know of people that pump tons of money into their kid's Tier 1 travel to potentially get a scholarship. Truth is that the money spent on hockey is more than the kid would likely ever earn for college.

[Guest]

I can tell you from my experience that loyalty in tier 1 hockey only goes so far. If the next mcdavid walked through the door I can tell you somebody is getting dropped like a bad habit. If your kid is that good and plays rec hockey for 10 years and decides to play tier 1 hockey when he’s 16 if he is legit and lights out it won’t matter he will make a team and someone will get cut. It’s just the way it is. Tier 1 hockey at the younger levels is about $$$ don’t be a sucker