MM Choice League

[HockeyDad41]

Sorry if it was an exaggeration, I was just repeating what I heard. Do you know if those associations still discourage families from participating?

In theory my association could provide similar development, in reality they can't.

Yes, you do have to register for tryouts and there is a $400 registration payment required. I suspect that is done to limit the tryouts to those who really want to be in the league. If you are not selected they will refund your $400.00.

Not sure about the "choose your words carefully" warning, but I am happy to advocate/advertise for the Choice League, they do a nice job.

[scoreandscoreoften]

IM, are you saying your assoc. doesn't require payment before the kids take part in practice. Ours does. Mites and squirts require half before you step on the ice, and PW and bantams the full price. They also need to pay for tryouts up front, before taking part. Just good business practice. You don't want to be chasing people around to settle up their acct.

[InigoMontoya]

IM, are you saying your assoc. doesn't require payment before the kids take part in practice. Ours does. Mites and squirts require half before you step on the ice, and PW and bantams the full price. They also need to pay for tryouts up front, before taking part. Just good business practice. You don't want to be chasing people around to settle up their acct.

No. I'm saying the association doesn't ask for $400 in May, for an opportunity to hold a spot for him in October. As a matter of fact, the association doesn't take $400 for the entire season of mites.

I have no problem if parents want to spend a couple grand on a six year-old's hockey. At MM they'll get a ton of reps; they get a ton of ice time. However, this thread is not advocacy, it's advertising. That's fine, just call it what it is - no different than Puck and Skinner.

[scrapiron]

I have register my son for the Choice Program and the reason you register so early is so that if a player is not selected for the league they will know long before the winter association registration happens.

It made sence to me. My son went through the first eval and was selected. It will be our first year in Choice. I will keep you posted as to how it goes.

[HockeyDad41]

Congratulations, he's going to love it. Which level is he skating at?

[HockeyDad41]

IM, are you saying your assoc. doesn't require payment before the kids take part in practice. Ours does. Mites and squirts require half before you step on the ice, and PW and bantams the full price. They also need to pay for tryouts up front, before taking part. Just good business practice. You don't want to be chasing people around to settle up their acct.

No. I'm saying the association doesn't ask for $400 in May, for an opportunity to hold a spot for him in October. As a matter of fact, the association doesn't take $400 for the entire season of mites.

I have no problem if parents want to spend a couple grand on a six year-old's hockey. At MM they'll get a ton of reps; they get a ton of ice time. However, this thread is not advocacy, it's advertising. That's fine, just call it what it is - no different than Puck and Skinner.

My association charges about $400 for mites give or take a few bucks. We also have mandatory fund raising which can tack on another $200 to the price tag. We also have 15 hours of mandatory volunteer time. All of this for less than 31 hours of ice that we share with 1 or more teams plus around 15 games. The games are 3 - 12 minute periods, with 12-14 year old refs who do their best. There was a 3 game jamboree at the end of the season for our one and only tournament. Also our association is very small and did not field an advanced mite team. 3 or 4 kids at the top dominated, 2 or 3 at the bottom could barely skate and the rest were in the middle.

I think the Made was about $1200.00. We had over 100 hours of ice, we shared the ice, but always with the same team. The practices were planned beforehand and each team in the league followed the same regimen of training. Of course we had no fundraisers or volunteer time. We had a mid and end of season tournament, our 20 games were 20 minute stop time periods, and there were qualified refs officiating the games. The huge gap in ability that we had in our association did not exist in Choice league.

We have a lot of folks in our association that are extremely happy with what I have described for association hockey and that's great. For those that are looking for a different experience, Choice offers that.

Advocate or advertise as long as people get the message and have an opportunity to decide for themselves I am ok with it.

[scoreandscoreoften]

My kid has did both. Two years of mites in association, two years of choice, and last year back at association. Not even close. Last year was a total loss compared to the last 2 years, as far as development. If your not in a top association, the choice league is a very good option.

[dogeatdog1]

IM, are you saying your assoc. doesn't require payment before the kids take part in practice. Ours does. Mites and squirts require half before you step on the ice, and PW and bantams the full price. They also need to pay for tryouts up front, before taking part. Just good business practice. You don't want to be chasing people around to settle up their acct.

No. I'm saying the association doesn't ask for $400 in May, for an opportunity to hold a spot for him in October. As a matter of fact, the association doesn't take $400 for the entire season of mites.

I have no problem if parents want to spend a couple grand on a six year-old's hockey. At MM they'll get a ton of reps; they get a ton of ice time. However, this thread is not advocacy, it's advertising. That's fine, just call it what it is - no different than Puck and Skinner.

My association charges about $400 for mites give or take a few bucks. We also have mandatory fund raising which can tack on another $200 to the price tag. We also have 15 hours of mandatory volunteer time. All of this for less than 31 hours of ice that we share with 1 or more teams plus around 15 games. The games are 3 - 12 minute periods, with 12-14 year old refs who do their best. There was a 3 game jamboree at the end of the season for our one and only tournament. Also our association is very small and did not field an advanced mite team. 3 or 4 kids at the top dominated, 2 or 3 at the bottom could barely skate and the rest were in the middle.

I think the Made was about $1200.00. We had over 100 hours of ice, we shared the ice, but always with the same team. The practices were planned beforehand and each team in the league followed the same regimen of training. Of course we had no fundraisers or volunteer time. We had a mid and end of season tournament, our 20 games were 20 minute stop time periods, and there were qualified refs officiating the games. The huge gap in ability that we had in our association did not exist in Choice league.

We have a lot of folks in our association that are extremely happy with what I have described for association hockey and that's great. For those that are looking for a different experience, Choice offers that.

Advocate or advertise as long as people get the message and have an opportunity to decide for themselves I am ok with it.

What association is that? 31 hours of ice cmon?

[HockeyDad41]

Not all associations are created equal.

I cut this from my end of year ice bill.


Team Fees
End of Year Jamboree $400.00

Ice Hours

31.00 Total home ice hours @ $177.50 $5,502.50
Scheduled Ice Hours/Month
November 4.50
December 9.00
January 9.00
February 8.50
March 0.00
Total Scheduled Ice Hours 31.00
Team Gear $42.83
Referee Fees $160.00

[InigoMontoya]

Our mites got about 30 hours of ice, as well. Holy crap, I hope it's not the same association.

[jjackson]

The Choice league sounds like a good program. Some associations are good, like ours, some bad. Its good to have options, for profit, non profit, who cares. I know some kids who learned a lot at Choice, maybe associations should open their minds to learning something new.

[lkool]

Not all associations are created equal.

I cut this from my end of year ice bill.


Team Fees
End of Year Jamboree $400.00

Ice Hours

31.00 Total home ice hours @ $177.50 $5,502.50
Scheduled Ice Hours/Month
November 4.50
December 9.00
January 9.00
February 8.50
March 0.00
Total Scheduled Ice Hours 31.00
Team Gear $42.83
Referee Fees $160.00

How do you register for the Choice League? I created an online account and when I looked for the Mite Choice league I only found PeeWee and Squirt.

Is the mite league mail in registration only?

[scrapiron]

The peewee in a supplemental and is an addition to a players association hockey. The practices are for hand skills and one game per week.

[lkool]

The peewee in a supplemental and is an addition to a players association hockey. The practices are for hand skills and one game per week.

I understand that. I don't see an option online to register for the Choice Mite League.

[strokerdriver]

The peewee in a supplemental and is an addition to a players association hockey. The practices are for hand skills and one game per week.

I understand that. I don't see an option online to register for the Choice Mite League.

Word from our association is D6 is not allowing skaters to skate both association and MM choice / supplemental leagues this upcoming season. Reply from Brad @ D6 is make a choice but you aren't going to do both. What a great way to discourage your skater and slow their development when the association can't provide what your skater needs.... what's next no camps during school breaks.... If D6 has a beef with Bernie at Minnesota Made then resolve it and don't penalize the skaters who want to improve. Skaters work hard all summer improving their skills and then have to slide back into their associaton and maintain their skills at best. Then they spend the first part of next years camps trying to regain and or catch up with the others... Doesn't make sense to me....

[scoreandscoreoften]

The peewee in a supplemental and is an addition to a players association hockey. The practices are for hand skills and one game per week.

I understand that. I don't see an option online to register for the Choice Mite League.

Word from our association is D6 is not allowing skaters to skate both association and MM choice / supplemental leagues this upcoming season. Reply from Brad @ D6 is make a choice but you aren't going to do both. What a great way to discourage your skater and slow their development when the association can't provide what your skater needs.... what's next no camps during school breaks.... If D6 has a beef with Bernie at Minnesota Made then resolve it and don't penalize the skaters who want to improve. Skaters work hard all summer improving their skills and then have to slide back into their associaton and maintain their skills at best. Then they spend the first part of next years camps trying to regain and or catch up with the others... Doesn't make sense to me....

Typical Dist 6 move. Instead of improving their product so the kids don't want or need supplemental training, they want to control what you do with your hockey player. What's next? no pick up games down at the park.

All you lawyers out there, is this even legal???

[council member retired]

[quote="strokerdriver"][quote="lkool"][quote="scrapiron"]The peewee in a supplemental and is an addition to a players association hockey. The practices are for hand skills and one game per week.[/quote]

I understand that. I don't see an option online to register for the Choice Mite League.[/quote]

Word from our association is D6 is not allowing skaters to skate both association and MM choice / supplemental leagues this upcoming season. Reply from Brad @ D6 is make a choice but you aren't going to do both. What a great way to discourage your skater and slow their development when the association can't provide what your skater needs.... what's next no camps during school breaks.... If D6 has a beef with Bernie at Minnesota Made then resolve it and don't penalize the skaters who want to improve. Skaters work hard all summer improving their skills and then have to slide back into their associaton and maintain their skills at best. Then they spend the first part of next years camps trying to regain and or catch up with the others... Doesn't make sense to me....[/quote]

Stroker, I don't think you hit an ace here. I am no fan of Hewitt, in fact I think he should be removed. However I don't see how this is as possible. Please share more or as some say with a subject title, most beautiful lady in a ___________, this statement is worthless without the pics.

[Buck Wheeler]

It is just a rumor. Dist #6 has no control as to what players do out side of Dist #6 or Minnesota hockey.

The Choice program is completely independant of Minnesota hockey or USA Hockey. Minnesota Hockey as a non profit organization would be at risk of losing their non profit status if they put them selves in a position of competition.

This was tried two years ago with the Lakeville "Stay and Play" rule. Bernie sued them and they back off completely.

The bottom line is that these players are not trying to play on two teams within USA hockey. The bigger question is why would they want to try and stop them. The peewee choice is more like an in season clinic with one game per week.

[strokerdriver]

It is just a rumor. Dist #6 has no control as to what players do out side of Dist #6 or Minnesota hockey.

The Choice program is completely independant of Minnesota hockey or USA Hockey. Minnesota Hockey as a non profit organization would be at risk of losing their non profit status if they put them selves in a position of competition.

This was tried two years ago with the Lakeville "Stay and Play" rule. Bernie sued them and they back off completely.

The bottom line is that these players are not trying to play on two teams within USA hockey. The bigger question is why would they want to try and stop them. The peewee choice is more like an in season clinic with one game per week.

Unfortunately it is not a rumor as that is the feedback from the D6 meeting attended by our association representative and an email exchange between an association member and Brad Hewitt asking for clarification. I for one do not want D6 dictating when / where my skater participates in improvement opportunities which will not interfere with our association events.

[HockeyDad41]

How would the association even know if a kid was playing in the league? Why would they care?

[ThePuckStopsHere]

How would the association even know if a kid was playing in the league? Why would they care?

In your particular case no one does care

[strokerdriver]

How would the association even know if a kid was playing in the league? Why would they care?

That is what I was thinking as well. I don't remember having to run any of the other camp registrations thru the association.... It is not even fall yet and I'm already sick of the politics....

[lkool]

What are the tournaments like? I imagine they are against the other teams in the choice league?

[lkool]

Choice League evaluations are going on now. I bet it is going to fill fast this year.

How many teams are there? If they run out of room on Gold will they place a kid on Silver even if the kid is in his last year, as long as his skills are inline with the other silver kids?

Thanks

[JSR]

Not all associations are created equal.

I cut this from my end of year ice bill.


Team Fees
End of Year Jamboree $400.00

Ice Hours

31.00 Total home ice hours @ $177.50 $5,502.50
Scheduled Ice Hours/Month
November 4.50
December 9.00
January 9.00
February 8.50
March 0.00
Total Scheduled Ice Hours 31.00
Team Gear $42.83
Referee Fees $160.00

That looks about right. Most Mite teams around here play about 31 games. Most teams play two games per weekend and there is usually two practices per week as well paired with that. So if we play 31 games (15 of which are home games) you have about 31 practices and practices ar ean hour so that is 31 hours of practice ice plus 15 home games and 15 to 16 away games. That seems like the normal amount for association hockey.