School starts tomorrow, and it surely seems like the summer is over. The weather has been a little cooler, a hurricane has limped up the east coast, the state fair is ending, and the hockey clinic is over. We did get a chance to work on some fundamentals and still sneak in a little fun, but the hope was to give the players a chance to prepare for team tryouts and the upcoming season. Ice is always good, and a little practice can do wonders to shake the rust off and get the mechanics of the game in line after the summer break. Not everyone takes a break from the ice, but I think it is needed to avoid hockey burnout for players and parents too. Our team tryouts are next weekend, and it will be interesting to see who shows up. I have an idea who will try out, but you never know until the first warmup lap around the rink. High school tryouts are a little later, and some players will opt to do both. I have always encouraged players to play high school sports – regardless of the program. Not all programs are the same, and some players have little choice of what team they can try out for. If you play high school hockey – that's great. If you don't play high school, that's your choice or destiny. Each player has their own decision to make and hopefully we have prepared them well enough to make the cut. Some players have other sports that they enjoy, and have other interests along with hockey. It's all good, and no coach worth their salt should ever discourage any player from any other sporting endeavor, or team. On the same subject, I also think players need a place to play. If you want to be on a team so bad that you are willing to sit the bench all season – that's your choice, but every player needs a chance to play somewhere. High school is a different story – you earn your wings and move up when the coach thinks your ready. On a club team where you pay to play – you play – not sit. A lot of coaches will disagree with me, but I could care less. You want to play, then you get out there and play. If you just want to go through the motions and not work for ice time, then find another club and let someone who is willing to put some effort in on the ice get a chance. You still need to earn ice time through effort in both types of teams, but high school plays to win and develop their program. Club teams give you a chance to play outside the high school leagues. Both are good in most cases, and both compliment each other if done right. The old feeder programs were a mechanism to facilitate strong high school programs, but somewhere along the way some programs no longer could draw enough support for just one school program. Lacrosse seems to do a very good job at augmenting their high school teams through their club teams. It would be nice to see hockey work in a similar manner, but the numbers don't seem to be there. When your elite teams start to discourage their players from playing on a high school team, then something is broken. If we still subscribe to the idea that hockey is not only for the good of the team, but also for the good of the players that make up that team, then we need to develop both types of programs. Everyone that wants to play hockey needs an opportunity to do so and work to develop and improve their game. The great thing about hockey is after all the game – not the outfit. Anyone can buy an outfit. If you want to play the game – get you blades on the ice. Play on a school team, a club team, or a pond. It doesn't matter to me as long as you get on the ice and start enjoying this great game we call hockey.
PS: By the way Lacrosse, football,basketball, and baseball are pretty cool sports too.