2011 AAA Summer Hockey

[HockeyDad41]

So who's going to be better this year? Blades or Machine?

[trippedovertheblueline]

So who's going to be better this year? Blades or Machine?

neither your yuro nationals team, next topic

[5thgraders]

[HockeyDad41]

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

I really would love to see some other programs emerge this year. As much fun as it is reading the banter between the Machine and Blades, it would be nice if a couple more teams could compete against them.

[jjackson]

Here we go again. Same old same old. Blast me for this, don't care. They need to develop Tier 1 AAA and put Blades Machine and Icemen in there so the the rest of the kids can play in summer games and learn.

[old goalie85]

The Wolfpack.

[WB6162]

Kids should be playing baseball in the summer.

[muckandgrind]

So who's going to be better this year? Blades or Machine?

Which birth year?

[seek & destroy]

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

I really would love to see some other programs emerge this year. As much fun as it is reading the banter between the Machine and Blades, it would be nice if a couple more teams could compete against them.

There are plenty of teams that can compete with them depending at what year. If it works like most AAA stuff, eventually you will have a group of parents leave one team (say the Machine) to join another (say the Icemen). They'll do this for a variety of reasons (coaching, too much practice/not enough practice, prestige etc.). Then that new team will compete with other teams. AAA hockey is based on birth years and no one program is the best at every birth year. It is parent based hockey with the team that does the best recruiting of players winning at any give birth year. Some of them aggressively have parents pursue players and others let players come to them.

Many of the best players are also out playing other sports in the summer so you may not even have the 'cream of the crop'. Enjoy your summer hockey and have fun but don't get to wrapped up in who's the "best"...it rarely means anything more than a few extra trophies in your kids room.

[HockeyDad41]

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

I really would love to see some other programs emerge this year. As much fun as it is reading the banter between the Machine and Blades, it would be nice if a couple more teams could compete against them.

There are plenty of teams that can compete with them depending at what year. If it works like most AAA stuff, eventually you will have a group of parents leave one team (say the Machine) to join another (say the Icemen). They'll do this for a variety of reasons (coaching, too much practice/not enough practice, prestige etc.). Then that new team will compete with other teams. AAA hockey is based on birth years and no one program is the best at every birth year. It is parent based hockey with the team that does the best recruiting of players winning at any give birth year. Some of them aggressively have parents pursue players and others let players come to them.

Many of the best players are also out playing other sports in the summer so you may not even have the 'cream of the crop'. Enjoy your summer hockey and have fun but don't get to wrapped up in who's the "best"...it rarely means anything more than a few extra trophies in your kids room.

So many of the best hockey players don't even play in the summer?

[observer]

So many of the best hockey players don't even play in the summer?

Through PeeWee, some of the best players don't even play in the summer.

Bantam and up, almost all of the best players skate year round.

Hard to generalize and you know that which is what makes you so annoying. The metro is full of single sport specialists when they reach high school. Several of the top metro HS hockey teams have just 1-2-3 kids that play more than one sport. The small town kids are much more likely to be involved in 2 and even 3 sports.

[seek & destroy]

So many of the best hockey players don't even play in the summer?

Through PeeWee, some of the best players don't even play in the summer.

Bantam and up, almost all of the best players skate year round.

Hard to generalize and you know that which is what makes you so annoying. The metro is full of single sport specialists when they reach high school. Several of the top metro HS hockey teams have just 1-2-3 kids that play more than one sport. The small town kids are much more likely to be involved in 2 and even 3 sports.

I disagree. Most players from Bantam and up do some form of clinics in the summer including full time clinics like FHIT or some of the other offerings but AAA league dies off for many players after Peewees. High School doesn't even have much AAA. The biggest benefit of AAA hockey in my mind is that during the early years kids get a chance to know kids from other associations and, for some from smaller communities, it is a chance to play with some better competition. Other than that, most AAA stuff is more for the parents to feel that their kid is better than others then it is about developing the players.

Summer clinics are way better for kids and they cost a lot less too. This is true for Bantams and H.S. players as well. The players who want even more ice are best served by applying to places like FHIT or some other full time program that also allows them a chance to schedule around other interests they may have including other sports, jobs or just being a kid.

[HockeyDad41]

Summer clinics are way better for kids and they cost a lot less too. This is true for Bantams and H.S. players as well. The players who want even more ice are best served by applying to places like FHIT or some other full time program that also allows them a chance to schedule around other interests they may have including other sports, jobs or just being a kid.

I agree. This year it will be a mix of a camps and clinics and a smaller less demanding AAA program. We are going to work on the golf game this summer.

[nahc]

One very positive aspect of summer AAA that my son experienced for 4 years. He got to experience differant coaches and players from around the metro area. Our AAA coaches were so superior to our association coaches (on the whole) that is wasn't even close. My son would learn more in the first 3 weeks of AAA hockey than he did for the whole association year. He now gets a kick out of playing against his AAA teammates and its nice to see the kids talk to each other on the ice after the games with smiles on their faces..........also the banter from the benches when kids skate by, again, is pretty cool......now I know this isn't the case for all programs and know there are a LOT of AAA programs around but it aint all about the Blades, Machine, Icemen, etc.. So MANY good players who do not play on these teams, especially the late birthday of the year kids..........

[silentbutdeadly3139]

So many of the best hockey players don't even play in the summer?

Through PeeWee, some of the best players don't even play in the summer.

Bantam and up, almost all of the best players skate year round.

Hard to generalize and you know that which is what makes you so annoying. The metro is full of single sport specialists when they reach high school. Several of the top metro HS hockey teams have just 1-2-3 kids that play more than one sport. The small town kids are much more likely to be involved in 2 and even 3 sports.

I disagree. Most players from Bantam and up do some form of clinics in the summer including full time clinics like FHIT or some of the other offerings but AAA league dies off for many players after Peewees. High School doesn't even have much AAA. The biggest benefit of AAA hockey in my mind is that during the early years kids get a chance to know kids from other associations and, for some from smaller communities, it is a chance to play with some better competition. Other than that, most AAA stuff is more for the parents to feel that their kid is better than others then it is about developing the players.

Summer clinics are way better for kids and they cost a lot less too. This is true for Bantams and H.S. players as well. The players who want even more ice are best served by applying to places like FHIT or some other full time program that also allows them a chance to schedule around other interests they may have including other sports, jobs or just being a kid.

Maybe its just me but it drives me crazy when people bash summer hockey cause its too expensive ( its not your money ) or isn't tier I ( who cares what its called if its fun and competitive for most ) or isn't developing players in your eyes, although many/some AAA teams do. It is what it is. It provides something for people including allowing kids to be kids because kids like to play games. I have a thought, perhaps your love of clinics is so you can feel you and your child are better than others ?

[old goalie85]

The best thing about summer hockey is that it is a whole new group of parents to drink beer with.

[big orange]

this would be my rankings
97-blades
98-blades
99-machine
2000-machine
2001-machine
2002-who knows
am i correct?

[dogeatdog1]

Summer clinics are way better for kids and they cost a lot less too. This is true for Bantams and H.S. players as well. The players who want even more ice are best served by applying to places like FHIT or some other full time program that also allows them a chance to schedule around other interests they may have including other sports, jobs or just being a kid.

I agree. This year it will be a mix of a camps and clinics and a smaller less demanding AAA program. We are going to work on the golf game this summer.

Never thought that I would see that quote from you. Good to see. When you came on this board you were soo gung ho about your kid and how he was going to be the next Gretter... Don't go too far the other way or he will fall behind )

[forreal]

this would be my rankings
97-blades
98-blades
99-machine
2000-machine
2001-machine
2002-who knows
am i correct?

No

[big orange]

Then whats yours forreal?

[InigoMontoya]

Summer clinics are way better for kids and they cost a lot less too.

Please share some examples of camps that are better and cost a lot less.

I'll throw out a national example (so as not to offend) to get the ball rolling:
Robbie Glantz
$279
4 days
2 hrs/day
That's about $35/hr; the other 86 days of the summer are undeveloped.

[old goalie85]

Summer STP programs w/ high school coaches cheap and good development thruout the summer.

[InigoMontoya]

Summer STP programs w/ high school coaches cheap and good development thruout the summer.

You throw that out there like every child has access to a high school coach giving him everything he needs for the price of a couple skinny lattes. Which STP program are your peewee and mites participating in this year?

[old goalie85]

Mite skating with the squirts, squirt skating with the squirts, pee-wee with pee-wees, highschool with yes,the highschool. I was told most highschools offer a stp type progam.

[old goalie85]

Forest Lake STP.