Thank you Hillbilly1. You were intelligent to understand my point. Winning is fun at the young ages. Squirts will continue to compete and work hard win or lose. Just need to keep the parents like "puck fan" at home in front of the TV were they belong.
Sorry, no matter how much you complain as you watch from the stands, I will still be on the bench coaching.
I understand that kids today are different than when we grew up(just a fact). I would love my kid to be able to go play at the park all summer long and scratch the score of their pickup baseball game in the dirt, but hey that can't happen these day's.
I have coached plenty of kids and found that many of them have an extreme desire to play as much as they can, most even are finding they enjoy practice time.
Hey remember that rankings are all subject to opinions whether it's in LPH or god forbid on this site talking about squirts. You know what they say about opinions, just like ********, everyone has one.
Don't disgree with anything you just said. Although I will say I have never had a problem signing my kid up for a sport they wanted to play. At least where I live, opportunities to play hockey, baseball, golf, soccer, basketball, fast pitch softball, etc... seem to be endless.
In my mind, where the crunch in opportnities starts to rear it's ugly head is for the high school age kids. If kids aren't talented yet still want to enjoy the sport, it becomes more and more difficult to find places to play.
Last edited by JoltDelivered on Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
crw wrote: How would you rank em' now, this deep into the season?
I have seen most of the top 15 teams or so and I think they go in the following tiers (not in order):
Tier I
Edina
Farmington
Rosemount
These three seem to be the class of the MN Squirts.
Tier II
Eden Prarie
Minnetonka
St. Micheals Albertville
Wayzata
These teams are capable of beating anyone, including the top three.
Tier III
Centennial
Chaska
Elk River
Moorhead
Osseo - Maple Grove
Prior Lake
Roseville
Stillwater
Woodbury White (I think)
These teams are all solid but not quite at the level of the others listed.
I am sure I have missed someone as I haven't seen many outstate teams. I am not sure but I believe most of these teams are in Fargo in two weeks. Wow, what a tournament!
I haven't seen a spleen that large since breakfast.
Wayzata beat WBL 3-2 in double OT. WBL probably belongs in Tier III. I also forgot Mankato. They have a nice team. I would rate them a high Tier III or maybe even a low Tier II team. They will have a hard time in Fargo with only 10 skaters and (possibly) six games in three days.
I happened to notice The Grand Forks Blues beat the Wisconsin Fire this weekend. I would say that makes them one of the teams to beat in Fargo too.
I haven't seen a spleen that large since breakfast.
I happened to notice The Grand Forks Blues beat the Wisconsin Fire this weekend. I would say that makes them one of the teams to beat in Fargo too.[/quote]
My son's team played the Grand Forks Blues earlier this year and this was the best team they have seen all year. They have played
Rosemount
Stillwater
W.B.L
Both Woodbury
They absolutley man handled us. I would say they are a legitimate threat in Fargo.
The WB Squirt A tournament was an 8 team tournament, no pool play, just straight bracket play.
Centennial beat Wayzata 5-4 in one of the semi final games. Centennial played extremely well, probably their best game of the year. They outplayed Wayzata for large poritons of the game. LOTS of penalties called on both teams.
White Bear lost a heart breaker to Woodbury in Double OT in the other semi final. White Bear actually had a goal disallowed because the "not so agile" ref wasn't in position to see the puck go in and right back out on a wrap around play. Dozens of on-lookers on that end of the arena saw it go in. As you can imagine, coaches not happy and refs not interested in discussing. Same 'ol, same 'ol D2 referee botch job.
Woodbury beat Centennial in the chapmionship 4-3. Very well played game.
Wayzata beat WB 3-2 in Double OT in the 3rd place game. Tough back to back 2OT losses for WB. Tournament rules state 4 on 4 in 1st OT and 3 on 3 in 2nd OT. Both periods 5 min running time. WB drew a checking penalty in 2 OT and it was just a matter of time after that...
Interesting thread. I am more interested in the "to rank or not to rank" part than I am the actual ranking.
A couple of random thoughts...
The fact that there is no squirt standings is a reaction to over zealous parents. We could have a squirt league if folks would just cool it. I don't think that could ever happen.
Ask long time coaches, long time refs, long time board members... Squirt parents are the worst. Not intended as an insult really, just a fact, especially first time squirt parents. Trust me, if your son or daughter is just starting out...by the time he gets to high school you will have an entirely different view of squirt hockey than you do now. If you are so fortunate as to have multiple players at different ages...you will have a different view when your youngest gets to squirts than when you oldest did. This fall I sat in on a squirt parent meeting... you could look around the room and tell who was there for the first time and who had been there several times with their other kids.
Expense. I recently had a discussion with a new squirt parent about the cost of hockey. Her focus was on our associations fees... 300.00 for squirts including all of your ice and 2 away tournaments. I reminded her that the really expensive part was travel...you can easily spend several thousand dollars traveling. When I suggested that if we really want to control the cost of hockey we need to watch travel...she squirmed...
hocmom wrote:Interesting thread. I am more interested in the "to rank or not to rank" part than I am the actual ranking.
A couple of random thoughts...
The fact that there is no squirt standings is a reaction to over zealous parents. We could have a squirt league if folks would just cool it. I don't think that could ever happen.
Ask long time coaches, long time refs, long time board members... Squirt parents are the worst. Not intended as an insult really, just a fact, especially first time squirt parents. Trust me, if your son or daughter is just starting out...by the time he gets to high school you will have an entirely different view of squirt hockey than you do now. If you are so fortunate as to have multiple players at different ages...you will have a different view when your youngest gets to squirts than when you oldest did. This fall I sat in on a squirt parent meeting... you could look around the room and tell who was there for the first time and who had been there several times with their other kids.
Expense. I recently had a discussion with a new squirt parent about the cost of hockey. Her focus was on our associations fees... 300.00 for squirts including all of your ice and 2 away tournaments. I reminded her that the really expensive part was travel...you can easily spend several thousand dollars traveling. When I suggested that if we really want to control the cost of hockey we need to watch travel...she squirmed...
In the end...it will all be OK.
WOW! $300 including ice and tourneys and someone is complaining? I have twin boys playing Squirt A and our MONTHLY hockey bill is around $200 each and that's just for ice. Total for the season will be around $1500 per skater + travel expenses and I think that's about average for our district.
What association are you in and are their homes available in the area?
How would you rank em' now, this deep into the season?