improving mite hockey

HockeyDadMN · Post by **HockeyDadMN** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 1:27 am

Wow, I thought the question was about improving mite hockey.

Mn Made Choice league probably doesn't need improvement, but association hockey does need to change, because there is competition now. Choice league may need to improve if they get competition too, but I'd bet they can change faster than associations can.

When my son was a mite, I thought ice time and then coaching made the difference. Now I believe it's ice time, instruction and competition, in that order.

Choice has changed the game and they did it with ice time, instruction and competition. Associations don't promote competition at the mite level the way Choice does. I bought in to the associations thinking at the time, but aren't all sports competitive, doesn't competition make a lot of things better. Kids love to compete, why not let them?

Want your association to improve? Build another rink or add sheets, recruit a lot of 3,4 and 5 year olds, get them good instruction and let them compete with each other.

Ice time, instruction and competition.

Ice time is still the most important. Good associations have the most ice. It has been that way for many years, first northern teams had the most ice, then Edina got indoor ice and then you can almost calculate the progression of winning associations related to the rinks they constructed and when they constructed them.

Now that MN Made is in Edina, they have over one sheet of indoor ice per 10,000 population. They probably also have more mites per 10,000 population also than most associations.

Mn Made won't be the last commercial rink built, maybe offering companies tax incentives or perpetual ice time purchases would be incentive enough to get more commercial rinks built.

youngcoach · Post by **youngcoach** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:30 pm

I seriously think that mites play to many games and don't have enough practices. I have heard of these mite teams that play like 35 games.

HockeyDadMN · Post by **HockeyDadMN** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 6:31 pm

I seriously think that mites play to many games and don't have enough practices. I have heard of these mite teams that play like 35 games.

I think they should play small ice games, with short shifts to keep the action and intensity going. Full ice games should be limited to special events.