Tier hockey

[JSR]

Those teams, along with Team Illinois (TI) and Chicago Young Americans (CYA), used to be in the Tier 1 Elite Hockey Leage, left just last year to form their own league called the High Performace League. My son's team will play the Mission twice this season but those are just non league "games" as we have close enough proximity (about an hour and a half drive) to just play them as well as CYA and TI during the season.

I can't think of a better reason why I'm an association hockey fan than this. So the 5 teams listed above we're at the pinnacle, Tier 1 elite hockey, and it wasn't Elite enough so they had to break off and create the High Performance League. The grass is just never green enough when hockey becomes all about the individual is it?

Amazing.

What you fail to see is that associations at the A level also cater to the individual: The Average Player. Most A teams have maybe a few, give or take,top end players, a handfull of average players and some low end players. Practices are held back by the lower end players and do not challenge the high end players, making most practices average. The low end players benefit. The average may get a little better and the top players gain little to nothing and fall behind their counterparts that are being pushed in high tempo practices and play better competition.

Tier 1 caters to the high end individual. Association caters to the average individual and low end individual depending on what level they play at.

Each level of player should be challenged

Well said

[fastncrash]

I can't think of a better reason why I'm an association hockey fan than this. So the 5 teams listed above we're at the pinnacle, Tier 1 elite hockey, and it wasn't Elite enough so they had to break off and create the High Performance League. The grass is just never green enough when hockey becomes all about the individual is it?

Amazing.

What you fail to see is that associations at the A level also cater to the individual: The Average Player. Most A teams have maybe a few, give or take,top end players, a handfull of average players and some low end players. Practices are held back by the lower end players and do not challenge the high end players, making most practices average. The low end players benefit. The average may get a little better and the top players gain little to nothing and fall behind their counterparts that are being pushed in high tempo practices and play better competition.

Tier 1 caters to the high end individual. Association caters to the average individual and low end individual depending on what level they play at.

Each level of player should be challenged

Well said

The HPHL was created primarily out of a desire to limit the travel, and of course some political and business economic's factored in also.

Same mentality of many MN Metro Assoc's who don't travel because they just don't NEED to in order to get competitive games.

[old goalie85]

I would compare it to the Maroon & Gold league.

[JSR]

What you fail to see is that associations at the A level also cater to the individual: The Average Player. Most A teams have maybe a few, give or take,top end players, a handfull of average players and some low end players. Practices are held back by the lower end players and do not challenge the high end players, making most practices average. The low end players benefit. The average may get a little better and the top players gain little to nothing and fall behind their counterparts that are being pushed in high tempo practices and play better competition.

Tier 1 caters to the high end individual. Association caters to the average individual and low end individual depending on what level they play at.

Each level of player should be challenged

Well said

The HPHL was created primarily out of a desire to limit the travel, and of course some political and business economic's factored in also.

Same mentality of many MN Metro Assoc's who don't travel because they just don't NEED to in order to get competitive games.

Yes, that is what I heard as well, that the travel and expenses were a huge consideration. Limiting it to the Illinois and Detroit teams allowed those teams to centralize things and cut huge amounts of travel and expenses to their players and families and I'd heard it was a major consideration. However, I do think some credence has to be given to the fact that these were not so coincidentally also the "best" teams from those two areas as not all were invited so to speak

[Shinbone_News]

dupe deleted

[Shinbone_News]

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[Shinbone_News]

Those teams, along with Team Illinois (TI) and Chicago Young Americans (CYA), used to be in the Tier 1 Elite Hockey Leage, left just last year to form their own league called the High Performace League. My son's team will play the Mission twice this season but those are just non league "games" as we have close enough proximity (about an hour and a half drive) to just play them as well as CYA and TI during the season.

I can't think of a better reason why I'm an association hockey fan than this. So the 5 teams listed above we're at the pinnacle, Tier 1 elite hockey, and it wasn't Elite enough so they had to break off and create the High Performance League. The grass is just never green enough when hockey becomes all about the individual is it?

Amazing.

Exactly. It's not like these teams won't continue to travel all over the place anyway. The "limit travel and expenses" explanation is bogus hearsay. The name-- High Performance League -- says it all. They should call it the "Greenest Grass League" (for as long as it takes for an even more elite league to emerge, consisting of, say, the first two lines of Compuware and the Mission ).

[Section 8 guy]

What you fail to see is that associations at the A level also cater to the individual: The Average Player. Most A teams have maybe a few, give or take,top end players, a handfull of average players and some low end players. Practices are held back by the lower end players and do not challenge the high end players, making most practices average. The low end players benefit. The average may get a little better and the top players gain little to nothing and fall behind their counterparts that are being pushed in high tempo practices and play better competition.

Tier 1 caters to the high end individual. Association caters to the average individual and low end individual depending on what level they play at.

Each level of player should be challenged

With all due respect, I think i see the big picture very well Snowed. Hockey is a team game and there are great life lessons in being all about playing with your buddies, having a great time doing so and attempting to build a good team over time TOGETHER.

The number of kids that will be positively impacted by looking at the world that way will be exponentially greater than the number of kids that will end up playing at a higher level than they otherwise would have due to following the hockey is all about what I can accomplish as an individual path.

Also, I couldn't disagree more with your assessment that association hockey caters to the average and low end player. That is a very misguided statement.

[SECoach]

Can't sign NLI until designated signing period of senior year (specific to each sport). Also, there's a big difference between watching and recruiting. Contacts are made by the player or family, and on campus, all is fair game. Off campus, a greeting is all that's allowed before the applicable dates (emails, phone calls each have a different date allowed). I've experienced zero violations of this after going through it as a parent.

[SECoach]

Oops, wrong thread.

[stromboli]

Those teams, along with Team Illinois (TI) and Chicago Young Americans (CYA), used to be in the Tier 1 Elite Hockey Leage, left just last year to form their own league called the High Performace League. My son's team will play the Mission twice this season but those are just non league "games" as we have close enough proximity (about an hour and a half drive) to just play them as well as CYA and TI during the season.

I can't think of a better reason why I'm an association hockey fan than this. So the 5 teams listed above we're at the pinnacle, Tier 1 elite hockey, and it wasn't Elite enough so they had to break off and create the High Performance League. The grass is just never green enough when hockey becomes all about the individual is it?

Amazing.

Exactly. It's not like these teams won't continue to travel all over the place anyway. The "limit travel and expenses" explanation is bogus hearsay. The name-- High Performance League -- says it all. They should call it the "Greenest Grass League" (for as long as it takes for an even more elite league to emerge, consisting of, say, the first two lines of Compuware and the Mission ).

From their website...

Frequently Asked Questions about the High Performance Hockey League

Since the formation of the High Performance Hockey League, a substantial amount of misinformation and rumors have been circulated. Below are some of the more frequent questions asked and our answers to those questions:

Why was the HPHL formed?
The HPHL was formed for three primary reasons. First and foremost is to address the excessive amount of travel, and the high costs associated with that travel. This was especially troubling for our midget team families. The second reason is to address the fact of uneven competition and eliminate lop-sided games to the degree possible. All the HPHL member organizations are strong top to bottom. The third reason goes straight to a philosophical difference of how best to operate a youth hockey league for elite AAA players. HPHL members share the same vision in this respect, with an eye toward maximizing the overall development of our players consistent with USA Hockey’s principles and ADM model.

Did USA Hockey create the High Performance Hockey League?
No. But the principles put forth by USA Hockey for LTAD/HPC are the foundation of the High Performance Hockey League.

Will HPHL Midget Teams be playing teams outside the league?
Absolutely yes. The original six HPHL organizations have intended all along to partner with other competitive teams in the scheduling process. The key of course is scheduling in a manner that is consistent with the HPHL’s mission and goals. This means keeping travel and expenses at a reasonable level, ensuring the highest level of competition in all games, and furthering the maximum development of all our players. And obviously for midget players it also means promoting our players by ensuring they are “seen” by the junior and college coaches/recruiters.

Will HPHL Midget Teams be limited to only 25-30 games?
Absolutely not. The HPHL member organizations are governed by the rules and policies of our USA Hockey local affiliates, the same as all other youth teams. USAH’s current Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) guidelines recommend 85 practices and 50 games per season for midgets. We believe we will be in the ball park of those numbers. A slightly lesser game count than in the past few years could be possible, but if so, it will be the result of a far more practical and sensible scheduling format. The old model of playing 4 games in 36 hours makes it impossible for players to play in peak physical condition, risks a higher incidence of injuries, and defeats our purpose of maximizing player development through competition. All Midget games will be 3 x 20 minute periods.

[IHEA]

What you fail to see is that associations at the A level also cater to the individual: The Average Player. Most A teams have maybe a few, give or take,top end players, a handfull of average players and some low end players. Practices are held back by the lower end players and do not challenge the high end players, making most practices average. The low end players benefit. The average may get a little better and the top players gain little to nothing and fall behind their counterparts that are being pushed in high tempo practices and play better competition.

Tier 1 caters to the high end individual. Association caters to the average individual and low end individual depending on what level they play at.

Each level of player should be challenged

With all due respect, I think i see the big picture very well Snowed. Hockey is a team game and there are great life lessons in being all about playing with your buddies, having a great time doing so and attempting to build a good team over time TOGETHER.

The number of kids that will be positively impacted by looking at the world that way will be exponentially greater than the number of kids that will end up playing at a higher level than they otherwise would have due to following the hockey is all about what I can accomplish as an individual path.

Also, I couldn't disagree more with your assessment that association hockey caters to the average and low end player. That is a very misguided statement.

With all due respect dude, you seem to be little burred.

Are you saying high end players that play together over time won't be buddies and learn life lessons, and build a team together, aren't playing a team game? Are you saying that high end players that play together aren't playing a team game. You're saying because a kid plays for a high end group it is an individual game?

Take the goggles off. The world is not flat.

[Quasar]

SnowedIn wrote:

What you fail to see is that associations at the A level also cater to the individual: The Average Player. Most A teams have maybe a few, give or take,top end players, a handfull of average players and some low end players. Practices are held back by the lower end players and do not challenge the high end players, making most practices average. The low end players benefit. The average may get a little better and the top players gain little to nothing and fall behind their counterparts that are being pushed in high tempo practices and play better competition.

Tier 1 caters to the high end individual. Association caters to the average individual and low end individual depending on what level they play at.

Each level of player should be challenged

I agree with the above post, This becomes a big problem each year when Bantam players try out for high school. Many times high end players are held back because of numbers, respect for senior players, the idea of waiting your turn. Etc.

Each school is different, each coach is different, each Booster club is different, Parents have different views about what hockey is all about. Human nature being what it is, the "special" player will not be the first priority. I think that this is understandable. The majority usually determine the path the team will take.

People that think Minnesota high school hockey is the pinnacle can not accept the idea that there are players that are better than average. It is sad that good meaning people can't see their way to allow an outlet for a few players to continue to be challenged.

There are players in small communities that must rely on summer hockey for development. The High School program just keeps them in idle through the winter, while their peers in large school districts keep developing, and out state tier1 players are passing them by.. Not a good situation..

A State regulated tier1 midget program would solve a lot of problems.

[Section 8 guy]

With all due respect dude, you seem to be little burred.

Are you saying high end players that play together over time won't be buddies and learn life lessons, and build a team together, aren't playing a team game? Are you saying that high end players that play together aren't playing a team game. You're saying because a kid plays for a high end group it is an individual game?

Take the goggles off. The world is not flat.

I'm not burred at all IHEA. My apologies if I gave off that vibe.

I'm saying it's pretty difficult to build something with a group of buddies over time when the members of your team are rarely the same because many of them leave every season for greener pastures.

And to your final comment, sorry but the goggles are actually worn by the mass of parents who think their kid is going to play in the NHL someday.

[JSR]

I'm not burred at all IHEA. My apologies if I gave off that vibe.

I'm saying it's pretty difficult to build something with a group of buddies over time when the members of your team are rarely the same because many of them leave every season for greener pastures.

And to your final comment, sorry but the goggles are actually worn by the mass of parents who think their kid is going to play in the NHL someday.

Seriously where are these masses of parents who think their kid will play in the NHL someday? I have yet to meet any of them, not even in the Tier 1 AAA organizations. I even know some parents whose kids have been drafted and they are the most level headed people I know and they still think their kid is not likely to make it all the way. I think this statement is the biggest misnomer out there. I don't think hardly anyone thinks their kid will make it to the NHL, I do think that just like with good parents who look for good schools for their kids they just want their kids challenged and want their kids to maximize their potential whatever their potential happens to be, I think there is a HUGE difference between the two but Section 8 guys posts lead me to believe he is the type who does not see that difference.

[JSR]

Well, off to Youngstown, OH on Friday as we travel way too far and spend "way too much money" for the oldest son to play 5 Tier 1 league games......

But you know what my son said out of no where this morning when I drove him to school, he said it's the most excited he's ever been to play a game (which says ALOT considering how much he has always shown his love of hockey) and you know, that is priceless.....

Well back from Ohio.... took the team bus there, admittedly that part was a little brutal but other than that it was awesome. Everygame was fast, competitive, every shift was a learning expereince, kidscouldn't take a shift off. The son said it was a blast and was so happy to be on this team. The kids got along the parents got along. It's still ealry and so it's probably still the honeymoon phase maybe but what a difference. Honestly, the kid looks like he's learned more in three weeks of practice and a showcase than he learned in his assocation all last season. So it was a good choice for my son

[old goalie85]

Sounds great!! Can parents drink on the bus ????

[JSR]

Sounds great!! Can parents drink on the bus ????

They can and some did...

[JoltDelivered]

Sounds great!! Can parents drink on the bus ????

They can and some did...

Now we're talking!

[JSR]

Had three games at home last weekend now headin off to Waterloo, IA to play this weekend to spend some more money . No bus this time, just driving.... 3 hours in the car with the boy, talking, bonding.... priceless

[Snap Happy]

Had three games at home last weekend now headin off to Waterloo, IA to play this weekend to spend some more money . No bus this time, just driving.... 3 hours in the car with the boy, talking, bonding.... priceless

Thanks for the update. Time to let this thread rest.

[Plett Guy]

Amen.