Best program?

puckster1234 · Post by **puckster1234** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:02 pm

IF you could choose who you played juniors for, who would it be? Who has the best junior program?

puckster1234 · Post by **puckster1234** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:03 pm

I meant...Junior A program

Marty McSorely · Post by **Marty McSorely** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:21 pm

Look at that coaching staff....hard to beat, to bad they are Fargo!

RLStars · Post by **RLStars** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 2:28 pm

puckster1234 wrote:I meant...Junior A program

Its pretty much ALL Junior A in the Midwest.

Blue&Gold · Post by **Blue&Gold** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 9:20 pm

Are you asking about USHL (Tier 1), NAHL (Tier II), or good old Mn Tier III? League wise, obviouslyl USHL.. If you're talking teams? That's a bit tougher.

itsmorefun · Post by **itsmorefun** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 11:09 pm

I was wondering about USHL - Junior A... wondering what team has the best program... in your opinion...

Blue&Gold · Post by **Blue&Gold** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 1:05 pm

itsmorefun wrote:I was wondering about USHL - Junior A... wondering what team has the best program... in your opinion...

All that I menttioned is Junior A. USHL is Tier I, NAHL is Tier II and the MN Jr. League is Tier III.

Best USHL program? Depends on what you mean. Last couple of seasons it would have been Omaha with Hastings as the coach. Sioux City with Sicliano was also considered a top program. Both coaches are somwhere else now and I would not consider either of those programs as "top". Fargo should be there, but time will tell. Being a successful college coach does not mean they will be great junior coaches, so we don't know about them. Right now, Indiana looks to be the place to play.

Bottom feeders: Tri-City and Chicago are probably teams I would be leerly about playing for. (Will they be there in another season? Not sure..) Sioux Falls? If the coach likes you, great place. If he doesn't? Good place to disappear to. Des Moines is feeding off the bottom too, but Parise` as a coach.. he would be awesome to play for I would think. However, the owners of the team may be ruining the program. (one of them has a kid playing who probably is out of his own league)

Look, the landscape changes yearly in all of these leagues. And you really don't have a ton of choices as to where you will play unless you're willing to not play for a season or so. It's all draft based, and if you have some talent, the team who drafts you may not be excited about trading your rights to the competition. If you go to the USHL, try to make the best of it regardless of the team.

Aren't you glad you asked?

itsmorefun · Post by **itsmorefun** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:30 pm

[quote="Blue&Gold"][quote="itsmorefun"]I was wondering about USHL - Junior A... wondering what team has the best program... in your opinion...[/quote]

All that I menttioned is Junior A. USHL is Tier I, NAHL is Tier II and the MN Jr. League is Tier III.

Best USHL program? Depends on what you mean. Last couple of seasons it would have been Omaha with Hastings as the coach. Sioux City with Sicliano was also considered a top program. Both coaches are somwhere else now and I would not consider either of those programs as "top". Fargo should be there, but time will tell. Being a successful college coach does not mean they will be great junior coaches, so we don't know about them. Right now, Indiana looks to be the place to play.

Bottom feeders: Tri-City and Chicago are probably teams I would be leerly about playing for. (Will they be there in another season? Not sure..) Sioux Falls? If the coach likes you, great place. If he doesn't? Good place to disappear to. Des Moines is feeding off the bottom too, but Parise` as a coach.. he would be awesome to play for I would think. However, the owners of the team may be ruining the program. (one of them has a kid playing who probably is out of his own league)

Look, the landscape changes yearly in all of these leagues. And you really don't have a ton of choices as to where you will play unless you're willing to not play for a season or so. It's all draft based, and if you have some talent, the team who drafts you may not be excited about trading your rights to the competition. If you go to the USHL, try to make the best of it regardless of the team.

Aren't you glad you asked? :lol:[/quote]

Blue&Gold,

Thanks for the info. I was once told, by an old USHL coach, who wanted my son to play for them in future, "just don't let on that you want your son to be drafted and no coach will waste a draft pick. Then, because he's not drafted, I can pick him up." It doesn't matter anymore, but I was just wondering what you think about that...

Stabbin31 · Post by **Stabbin31** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 12:29 am

if I was still playing and had the choice I would go to the WHL. However if we are talking USHL I would say hands down the coach of coaches is
Jon Cooper in Green Bay. Great coach/staff. Great barn and pretty good fans.

Knott in SC is another very good coach, old school like Coop.

PK OHandley in Waterloo is in this mix as well.

My choices would be

Green Bay
Waterloo
Souix City
Souix Falls

itsmorefun · Post by **itsmorefun** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 8:00 pm

I wondered about Waterloo. I've heard so many great things about that coach and that program - probably more about the coach being so good to the kids (one of the few who care about them, I hear).

Thanks for the info. It's nice to know that this is a tough topic - which just means that they're all pretty good.

Blue&Gold · Post by **Blue&Gold** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 2:10 pm

itsmorefun wrote:
Blue&Gold wrote:
itsmorefun wrote:I was wondering about USHL - Junior A... wondering what team has the best program... in your opinion...
All that I menttioned is Junior A. USHL is Tier I, NAHL is Tier II and the MN Jr. League is Tier III.

Best USHL program? Depends on what you mean. Last couple of seasons it would have been Omaha with Hastings as the coach. Sioux City with Sicliano was also considered a top program. Both coaches are somwhere else now and I would not consider either of those programs as "top". Fargo should be there, but time will tell. Being a successful college coach does not mean they will be great junior coaches, so we don't know about them. Right now, Indiana looks to be the place to play.

Bottom feeders: Tri-City and Chicago are probably teams I would be leerly about playing for. (Will they be there in another season? Not sure..) Sioux Falls? If the coach likes you, great place. If he doesn't? Good place to disappear to. Des Moines is feeding off the bottom too, but Parise` as a coach.. he would be awesome to play for I would think. However, the owners of the team may be ruining the program. (one of them has a kid playing who probably is out of his own league)

Look, the landscape changes yearly in all of these leagues. And you really don't have a ton of choices as to where you will play unless you're willing to not play for a season or so. It's all draft based, and if you have some talent, the team who drafts you may not be excited about trading your rights to the competition. If you go to the USHL, try to make the best of it regardless of the team.

Aren't you glad you asked?

Blue&Gold,

Thanks for the info. I was once told, by an old USHL coach, who wanted my son to play for them in future, "just don't let on that you want your son to be drafted and no coach will waste a draft pick. Then, because he's not drafted, I can pick him up." It doesn't matter anymore, but I was just wondering what you think about that...

Well, there is some truth to that. Let me give you a little insight on that statement though: Nobody picks up your kid because you've said that, and then the coach who said he wanted him passes him up too.. Seen it happen. Never burn a bridge, however, when we went through it, my son did tell a couple of coaches that he wasn't really interested in going to their program. He had 4 that he was talking with seriously, so he had to wait to see who picked him up. (first pick, third round)

Be careful about playing too many games as the coaching staff can change very quickly. (One team talking with my son, the assistant who was talking with him suddenly left the program about a week before the draft.) However, you should be honest in that if you won't attend tryout camp for a team, tell them so.

I guess what I want to say is that you do have a little power, but not as much as you would like. And don't forget that you still have to make the team at tryouts. A season ago I saw the number one draft pick not make the team. I've also seen kids get traded to teams that they really didn't want to go to. Be ready for the worst, but hope for the best. It's a tough road even when it's easy.

itsmorefun · Post by **itsmorefun** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 7:22 pm

Blue&Gold

Ok... so this is good info. Thanks. Let's say that your kid was good enough to go straight to college from High School.... say he got a scholarship. Would you still attend Juniors for a year...then wait a year to go to college (bigger and stronger) OR... risk a year sitting on a college team as a freshman.

Just curiuos... I've watched the USHL Junior A hockey and see the incredible difference it is than high school (USHL is such a higher level of hockey than high school)... on the other hand, maybe you get "lost in the crowd" playing juniors and just become one of the same... maybe getting some time on a college team is better.

Thoughts? Again... assuming you were good enough to have this all work out for you...

Stabbin31 · Post by **Stabbin31** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:13 pm

First off, it wouldnt really be your choice. If a you get a scholly a team will either tell you to go to Jrs for a year or report to campus. However, you could pull a Brandon Martell and lose your ride as well.

Are you kidding, the USHL is about 30X higher level then HS. HS hockey for the most part is a joke, you will have a few good players per team. Most kids in HS cannot even play in the MJHL, let alone the USHL. 1-30 or more can even sniff the USHL.

GoldenElbow · Post by **GoldenElbow** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:19 pm

Did Martell lose his ride? How much of a ride did he have?

Blue&Gold · Post by **Blue&Gold** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:59 pm

Stabbin31 wrote:First off, it wouldnt really be your choice. If a you get a scholly a team will either tell you to go to Jrs for a year or report to campus. However, you could pull a Brandon Martell and lose your ride as well.

Are you kidding, the USHL is about 30X higher level then HS. HS hockey for the most part is a joke, you will have a few good players per team. Most kids in HS cannot even play in the MJHL, let alone the USHL. 1-30 or more can even sniff the USHL.

Stabbin is correct. And Martell went to the USHL to get ready for college as he really wasn't ready, and it showed. The same thing has happened to several, such as Tyler Keiffer who had an offer from SCSU, went to the USHL and couldn't even make a dent. Off he goes as he lost his offer. There are those stories all over. Until you sign that LOI, it's all a verbal and there are no guarantees either way. (Remember that, "until the LOI is signed, NO guarantees.....")

After high school, you really start to lose control of the situation. The best advice I can offer (from experience) is to make sure you have researched everything as much as possible, and stay patient. Never panic. I've seen players take the first offer as they're afraid it could be the only one. I've also witnessed a few who keep their nose to the grind-stone and get what they were after.

Very few make it to the next level. And many who make the move, don't succeed at the level that they expected to.

Good luck!

Stabbin31 · Post by **Stabbin31** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 5:57 pm

B&G

For the most part you are right. Keifer on the other hand still had his ride to SCSU, he made the decision to go to the WHL. He only played 19 games and left for the DUB.

The Gophs jumped at Martell early and he never really got it going in the USHL. Rumor is that Lucia told him all he had to do was keep a spot in the USHL and he would bring him in. Its to bad, hes a good player.

Jared Hummel is another player (Holy Angles) who had an offer to SCSU and struggled to make the transition. He was a Dahl recruit and Motzko was not a fan. He is having a pretty good start to his career at Hamline

The CHL and USHL are no joke, most of those guys know what they are doing and for the most part the best of the best play there and stick there for a reason.

itsmorefun · Post by **itsmorefun** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 4:42 pm

Good advice guys.

Thanks for taking the time!