Player shortages everywhere

[Guest]

Is anybody else seeing the amount of teams in the delaware valley unable to put teams together from 12u to 16u? I know all about the typical drop out rate once hitting starts but tryout numbers looks much different for next season. It looks like the majority of teams are still looking for skaters and goalies and keep extending tryouts. I think this is more of a money issue for the patents than it is normal circumstances for drop out.

[Guest]

Maybe youth hockey should ask for a federal bailout like everyone else...   Subsidies and free money for everyone!  Plus, I’m confident increased federal involvement in youth hockey would be nothing but a positive...

[Guest]

People have come to their senses and decided that they don't want to spend EVERY Fall and winter weekend in an ice rink to watch their kid play below average hockey at best with mostly unqualified coaches, (anybody the rinks can find willing to work for nothing, and is not a CONVICTED sex offender)!

Many found it was nice to have weekends and weeknights free to enjoy life during the pandemic! Not to mention Thanksgiving weekends in beautiful Rochester, New York!

[Guest]

Could be some families want to do other things, but for others paying full price for last year might have turned some off. And then I am seeing career long on one team players getting cut for the newer players trying to come in. Sad

[Guest]

We enjoyed doing other sports/activities last fall, for sure. The August - April schedule with crazy tournament schedules is tiring and expensive. And yes, the high risk of head and other injuries is a big turn-off, especially once kids begin realizing around end of middle school that the NHL or even college isn't in their future and they need to get good grades in school and need a whole brain to do it. Let teens who want to develop in hockey, develop, but a shorter competition season would be a blessing. Right now, it overlaps fall and spring sports, and kids are making their decisions. Hockey is a late peak sport and there's no reason for this kind of long-season madness at 14 or 16. By 18U, you know which way the wind blows anyway.

[Guest]

There's not a shortage of players...the # of players has gradually increased over the years.  There is an over abundance of teams.  I know people like to think that the better kids drop out once checking starts...but that doesn't happen, in general the good players remain good and the bad players remain bad.  Of course there are exceptions

[Guest]

Our club has mostly teams with 15 skaters. I guess they learned from covid that smaller teams can run into issues with shortages. I agree with the previous poster that the bigger problem is too many teams, especially at Tier 1.

[Guest]

You think 15 skaters is a "big" club? You need that many once Bantam starts if not more. As for why many might not be coming back, it could be loss of income from pandemic factoring in too!

[Guest]

Too many t1 teams in the area is a drain on the T2. Most of the T1 teams are really a T2 quality with a t1 price and most refuse to play quality T2 area teams. Hmm, wonder why?

[Guest]

From NY to VA it's the same to many teams and there are definitely kids sitting out because of money. Mine are the older one is a goalie and gets a break but we can't afford it either way because my wife has been on furlough for 8 months. Cutting corners isn't easy when it comes to our kids activities but you do what you have to do and they understand.