The sky is falling?

[skipperj]

Well, I have to disagree with you o-town. I think they should try out for whatever team they can make and get the most amount of money they can. They can pay for their own college later. I'm sure NHL teams need some good imports.

[O-townClown]

Remember the name Myles Harvey. Like Matt Gilroy before him, he's a bit of a late-bloomer. He's probably 23 and going into his Senior year at a Hockey East school. Anyway, it's a little confusing because he was born in Montreal and counted as an import for the USHL. Not good enough to make a Major Junior roster, he played NAHL and Minor Junior and then was able to make it to NCAA.

Pro prospect.

Degree.

Nice combo.

If anyone could show me cases of where the Major Junior (and no college) thing worked out I'd reverse my course. Guys out of pro sports are almost always better off with a degree.

Almost every hockey player is not NHL ready at age 20. If they are, NCAA doesn't ruin anything for them. Look at Leddy, Gardiner, Krieder, and others.

What's the problem with NCAA? I'm not seeing it.

[MNpuckBlog]

You also have to look at the fact that even if a player doesn't attend/finish college before heading for the NHL, most won't play past their mid 30's. I think it's in the best interest of a player to have a degree to fall back on after their playing days are over. Not everyone that makes the NHL can make a career out of hockey after they're retired as a player, and those who aren't big contract players will likely not make enough money to never work again. I may be biased because I don't know anyone personally who has taken the Major Junior route but I think NCAA hockey is the best way. If you're NHL material then you'll make it either way, why not get a degree from a school you can play hockey at?

[MrBoDangles]

Well, I have to disagree with you o-town. I think they should try out for whatever team they can make and get the most amount of money they can. They can pay for their own college later. I'm sure NHL teams need some good imports.

The graduation rate for a CHL player was around 14%, while the graduation rate for a NCAA player was around 84%.

Pretty easy to see that the normal CHL player isn't doing much after Hockey.

[Tigers33]

I am all in favor of the NCAA route. The main reason is I am in favor of keeping options open, the NCAA does that. Look at how many college players are playing in the NHL these days, and the number should only rise. Why do people think the NCAA is a bad path to take? Probably the same people that don't value education. There are no guarantees with either of the routes to their dream. So, why not enjoy college life in your teens and early twenties. Have some or all of the college paid for. And enjoy the things that are out there.

Kid from Rogers? Now what.
The other mn to go play major's got drafted in 5th round?
What's that do for him? Not much.

Who's giving these kids the advice to go play major canada? Advisor's?

[old goalie85]

Mom or dad w/rose colored glasses.

[deacon64]

Mom or dad w/rose colored glasses.

Right-on, hear more stories of kids that regret not staying in HS everyday. Yes their choice, but at 16, 17 or 18 choice might not be the best. With these players leaving simply creates opportunitties for others in HS, what a great thing.

Do look at some of the average age of some division one programs the second and third tier like Bemidji average over 22, believe the year the Beavers went to final four average age was over 23.

[The Enlightened One]

The kid from Rogers can attest that he probably wishes he had college eligibility. I think closing the door on the NCAA is not a very wise decision.

You are closing the door to a NCAA school taking you on for a shot at a team that might get them to pay for the degree of their choosing, not yours. You are not putting away a chance to get an education, you can do that anytime you want. If you want to go play Major JR in Canada and realize that down the road you will have to pay for college yourself, that is OK. Kids know up front that that is the choice that they are making and they are fine with it. The kid from Rogers has college eligibility left, he can go to any college that he can get into. Rather than having the hockey program figure out his schedule and limit his major choices so that he doesn't take on too full of a load to be able handle hockey (which is why he is really there) he is gonna have to rely on Pell Grants and student loans. He will be (lets say) 20 when he goes to college. He does the whole 5 year to get a 4 year degree thing when he changes majors and gets out of school at 25. Now (at this rate) he will work another 50 years in able to be able to retire, he will have his whole life to pay off his 40,000 in school loans, not a big deal when you think that when he is young, single, has no wife or kids to worry about, is healthy and basically has one shot (maybe) to "make it big".

Chase the dream, MN Hockey is good for some kids but is not good for all of them. I think it makes perfect sense to go to anything from a Midget AAA club or to a USHL team or anything in between as long as the kid understands what is up. In some ways MN Hockey is great and in other ways it is not and for sure it is not one size fits all. If your school will not provide you with the opportunities you need or want then you change schools. There is no difference between hockey and math. If your school does not offer an AP math program and you want AP math you go find it, same for hockey.

I have way more problems with people who lay around and complain about how badly they are being screwed by "the man" and don't try to fix it than I do for that kid who takes a chance and tries to better himself/herself by doing something and possibly failing because it just was not meant to be.

[mom19]

I would just like to set the record straight on the kid from Rogers, I am his mom and am sick and tired of all of you judging kids and families for the decisions they have made when you know nothing about them!! #1 He does not regret his decision to give up NCAA eligibility for one second tigers33. #2 he would not be in the position he is if he would have stayed in Rogers HS program I am not bashing the program just a small school in Mississippi 8. at 18 he has been drafted and also 1 of 46 players invited to the world Jr camp. #3 Just because you go to the CHL does not mean you are stupid he graduated with a 3.7 GPA and could have gotten into any of the D1 schools who were talking to him prior to his decision to leave. #4 We are not bad parents because we let him leave we are parents that believe our children should set their goals high and go after their dreams, we are here to support them and love them!! he has a twin sister going into pre med. #5 "drafted what does that do for him" I am not even going to comment on that because it is such an ignorant comment. Also just so people know we do value education and our son has 4 years of college paid for in full at the UMN from the WHL and will also be doing classes on line the next 2 years that is paid for and does not cut into his 4 years at the U. Does all of this guarantee he is going to NHL Hell no but the last time I checked there are no guarantee's in life. I just wish people would not come on here and talk about things they have no facts on and bash other kids it is pretty sad, there is no one path that is right for everyone so quit judging others. I hope this helps set the record straight on the kid from Rogers!!! This is my first and last post, Have a Great 4th of July with your families.

[BBB]

Good for the kid from Rogers who is actually going after what he wants to do.
Tigers33 is like Cooke in the clip below...take a seat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae14gHQQHb0

[Joey (nine toes) Marcoux]

[O-townClown]

judging kids and families for the decisions they have made when you know nothing about them

So now you have to know everybody in order to have an opinion on various hockey progression paths?

[Tigers33]

One kid from MN that went to Canada did not get drafted. Is that correct? So, what's in store for that young man.

I have a son that is playing youth hockey, on an A team. I dont know how good he is, or how good he will be. As is father, he will attend high school through his senior year! He will attend college after high school, whether that be a CC or a University. These decisions will be made by his parents, myself and my wife. If he chooses to go to orlando cc or the university of texas it doesnt matter.

I think it's great that your son is chasing his dream. However, that also could have been done by playing college hockey for St. Cloud, UMD, or Bemidji. Are those kids than not chasing a dream? Both Suter and Parise are the two most paid free agents this year. They both come out of the NCAA. People need to realize the NCAA is a good route to take. So many advisor's out there tell these kids that they need to go to Canada.

Going the Canadian path closes doors on options, there is no DENYING that. To each their own!! Thats why we live in America. However, the college hockey route does not close doors on opportunities. Facts speak for themselves - graduation rate from each league is unbelievably different.

Someone told you Canada was a better route than NCAA. Dont lie!!!

[O-townClown]

Going the Canadian path closes doors on options...Thats why we live in America.

Great stuff Tiger, great stuff.

[BBB]

What if it wasn't the kids goal to play for the St. Cloud State Huskies? You seem like someone who is offended by anyone who has a different idea than you do.
I have no idea if it's true that he has 4 yrs paid to the U of M but if so, why is that any worse than a kid going to Orlando CC.
Canadian major junior gets the most kids drafted and provides the most players to the NHL. Their system is built around developing pro players and its too bad that offends you. Does everyone make it? of course not.
It's interesting how you use getting a degree as being important but then you use examples of kids who never step foot on campus by their jr year, sometimes sophomore. You should have thrown Erik Johnson in to beef up your argument.

[Gopher Blog]

Local kids flat out should not go to the CHL. I could maybe see the logic if a kid is very close to being NHL ready (like Seth Jones did) or if he is academically weak. Otherwise, stay the course in HS/USHL and keep your college hockey options open. Don't get sucked in by that BS about the CHL being the "better route". Ask Zach Parise and Ryan Suter if they regret their decision to play college hockey. They both inked close to $100 million dollar contracts today.

[O-townClown]

Here is a cautionary tale published March 25, 2010 on a sports website called The Good Point. It confirms the suspicion of some that "NHL dreams" cloud the decision making ability of some families.

Make no mistake, Smyth was considered a "can't miss" NHL prospect at age 16. He'd gone bonkerz in AAA Midget north of the border and was a very early pick in the OHL entry draft. A couple years later things looked quite a bit different.

Don't worry about reading the whole thing. I've bolded the relevant quote. For those that still want to sing the praises of Canadian Junior hockey, knock yourself out. It makes no sense to me. There is basically no upside and you concede a HUGE tradeoff.

In the case of Seth Jones, mentioned by Gopher: he's played his two years for the NTDP. No matter where he plays next year he's going to be drafted. If he's a standout in the Canadian Junior league he'll be a top five pick or something? As opposed to doing something else and getting taken 15th or 20th? That's a little different maybe. Maybe. I don't think anyone much cares what a kid like him does. He'll be in the NHL by age 20. But not because he went to a Canadian Junior league.

===

The old saying goes “Home is where the heart is”.

The Couchiching Terriers play at an arena complex called The MASK, just up the road from Casino Rama near Orillia, Ontario. It’s a multipurpose building, containing a library, school and an ice pad. As far as Jr. A arenas go, it’s pretty small, but for Terriers forward Matt Smyth, it’s home.

Smyth is currently the leading scorer on the team, and league, with 51 goals and 102 points and leads the team by nearly 40 points.

Not bad for somebody who grew up in the hotbed of hockey known as Orlando, Florida.

It seems like a weird convergence of fate, to some degree, that Smyth even began playing hockey. Sure, he says that growing up he was a fan of Pavel Bure and Wayne Gretzky.

But in Florida?

Hell, a hockey fan even in a city where come winter, basketball is the first thing on everybody’s minds?

That’s likely why Smyth fell into hockey in a roundabout way – through roller hockey.

Growing up, he lived in an apartment building that overlooked a roller rink and he took up rollerblading as a hobby. At the age of six, Smyth began playing street hockey with some local kids.

“My dad thought it was a cool thing to do,” said Smyth, who had the fortune of growing up and watching hockey, too. “I wanted to be like Pavel Bure and Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr… I wanted to be one of them.”

“I played other sports, but I never played in another league. I wanted to keep my focus on hockey.”

Within two years of first putting on rollerblades, Smyth moved to ice hockey and was soon playing “Double-A”.

On the ice, Smyth is not a dominating presence. He stands no taller then most of the players, nor is he bigger. He’s solidly built, a generous 5’11″ tall. But he’s a fast skater, has a hard shot and knows it.

“I use my speed and my shot to my ability and I open up the ice for other players.” He said ideally, he’d compare himself to Alexander Ovechkin. “His explosiveness is my style too.”

Like Ovechkin, Smyth said he can feed on a rush across the ice and create a scoring opportunity for himself or for his teammates.

The day I spoke to Smyth, he was watching them play from the stands, sitting along a crowd of maybe 200 people, taking a game off to rest a foot injury. Without his scoring ability, the team seems to be lacking a go-to guy. Without him, the Terriers lose 4-0.

Smyth worked his way up through assorted leagues in the city until he was 14. That year, on the suggestion of a friend, he entered into a prospects tournament in Canada.

“I think I led the tournament in points,” remembered Smyth. “I had a good tournament.”

That’s when things started moving into place for Smyth’s career. Shortly after the tournament, he signed with an agent and began to play for the Markham Islanders. It was a big change in scenery for Smyth, who was used to Florida’s warm winters.

“It never snows in Florida, so the cold was a lot different,” he remembered. “But the first year I was here, I was loving it. I could play pond hockey, snowmobile, things like that. It was a pretty cool change.”

Despite the change from flipflops to snowpants, the biggest change might have been in the quality of his opponents.

“There’s a thousand kids up here that are good,” said Smyth. “Down home there’s only a couple and they’re few and far between… That’s why I wanted to stay here and pursue my career here.”

The next year, Smyth was drafted 14th overall by the OHL’s Belleville Bulls. While he had only seen them play twice before he was drafted, he felt at the time that going straight to the Bulls was the right move.

“It’s a great feeder to the NHL,” said Smyth.

There was another reason, too: his agent, who Smyth said pushed the OHL as the best option. Still, he has his regrets about jumping straight to the OHL.

“Looking back, there’s a few different things I could have done,” said Smyth. “I could have played for Team USA and then went to the OHL or played “Jr. A” then went to the OHL. There were so many options that I didn’t know about. I could have gone to school.”

Instead, he spent the season playing with the Bulls. In total, he played two seasons with the team, racking up a less then stellar 11 goals. Before the next season, he was traded to the Sarnia Sting and appeared in 24 games; it was then that he began playing for the Terriers. Last season he landed with the Barrie Colts, where he appeared in just nine games.

If he had to do it all over again, he’d go another route.

“I’d play provincials for a year and try to sort it out for team USA,” said Smyth. “It was a great learning experience for future things I’d do, don’t go into things before you research it, don’t go in blindfolded.”

This season marked Smyth’s third season with the Terriers.

“It’s great,” said Smyth, “I like Rama. It’s not too big, but it gets supporters.”

He arrived just in time to be on a team making it’s own comeback. The season before, the Terriers did not participate in the OPJHL. He joined the team halfway through a 29-15-5 campaign. In the 12 games he played with the Terriers, he scored 10 goals and 19 points. The next season, he led the team in scoring with 41 goals and 89 points in 43 games, plus 15 more points in 10 post-season games. Overall, the Terriers won 10 more games that season and scored more goals than they had in a decade.

This season it’s a little different. Smyth finished the season scoring at a goal-a-game rate (51 goals in 51 games) and the Terriers won 30 of 56 games. Still, it’s enough for the team’s third consecutive playoff berth.

In the first round, the Terriers played the Trenton Golden Hawks, a team that they beat three times this season.

They were swept in four games, with the Golden Hawks scoring five goals in each game.

After this spring, Smyth’s finished with the Terriers. At 21, Smyth is in his last season of eligibilty for both the Terriers and for the OHL. So what comes next? Currently, he’s got his eyes set on playing overseas.

“I was born in England, so I have a British passport. I’d like to try and get a shot over in Europe… Austria, Germany, Italy,” said Smyth. “It’d be an interesting experience. Not just to play hockey, but to see how they live.”

If home is where the heart is then Matt Smyth better start packing.

[urban iceman]

A kid that leaves MN HS to play in for USA 18's, USHL or Major JR Canada makes perfect sense. But the ones that leave for Midget AAA, NAHL, or Tier II Jr is puzzling. The only "traitors" are the kids that grow up playing youth hockey for an association then open enroll to a high school 30 miles away because they offer "better opportunities".

AMEN BROTHER!!

[urban iceman]

As long as a kid finishes out the season with the team he started it with, I think that he is loyal. After that, all bets are off.

Exactly. The team has a tryout every year. The assumption is that no one's made it until that's completed.
To denigrate a young athlete for following his dreams is ridiculous.

Disagree on the so-called try out for kids leaving one PUBLIC school for another. Seems like there would have to be a spot held for him on varsity of the new school for the parents to up and sell (or rent) former home and buy (or rent) one in the new community! Would be a gamble on the parents end of it.

[BBB]

suter and Parise? I am guessing that maybe the best forward and defenseman in the US probably are not your typical players and probably would have had a shot at the NHL had they chosen the major junior route. What about Dustin Brown who played his 3 years of high school in the OHL and just captained the Kings to the cup? Do you think he wishes he would have kept his options open or did he benefit from playing in 150-200 challenging games as 15-18 year old?
What about Ryan Callahan who is already the captain of the Rangers at age 27? he played 3 years of Jr B and 4 yrs in the OHL but if you watch him play he is not a great skater, not very big, and I wouldnt say he is overly skilled relative to the NHL. Why does a guy like that score 35 goals this year as a former 127th overall pick? Do you think he wishes he would have maybe taken a scholarship to Clarkson or Cornell?
I think it's cause he developed playing against bigger and stronger players and if he was going to score, it was probably on a pretty good goalie. Why doesn't MN produce goal scorers in the NHL? Every other hockey state and province along with European countries are producing them.

[BBB]

I think when generalizing about NCAA route their is a difference in what schools players choose. It's pretty obvious what school are known for doing a good job with players (from a hockey standpoint) while they work towards their degrees for a year or two. Other schools might only produce a single career NHL'er every 5-6 years.
North Dakota and Wisconsin are probably the big two where NHL teams have confidence that a draft choice will develop their. North Dakota has had a ton of forwards like PArise, Toews, Stafford, Zajac, and Oshie go there and Wisconsin has been a good place for defenseman to ready themselves for the NHL. Suter, Drewiske, McBain, Smith, Goloubef, McDonagh, Gardiner and Shultz are the most recent ones I can think off.

[O-townClown]

B, 2003 draft is an interesting one. To me it shows that you don't have to play Junior hockey in Canada. Most of these guys have played 500 NHL games by now and they all are in a similar spot career wise.

Eric Staal (CHL)
Thomas Vanek (NCAA)
Ryan Suter (NCAA)
Dion Phaneuf (CHL)
Andrei Kostitsyn (Russia)
Dustin Brown (CHL)
Zach Parise (NCAA)
Ryan Getzlar (CHL)
Brent Burns (CHL)
Mark Stuart (NCAA)
Ryan Kesler (NCAA)
Mike Richards (CHL)
Brian Boyle (NCAA)
Corey Perry (CHL)

The fates of those kids sure doesn't change my opinion one bit. Past the first round you will see David Backes, perhaps the type of guy that could have been drafted earlier if he played in the WHL and did well. Despite this missed opportunity he's doing alright.

[Tigers33]

BBB - you are right. Argument over. I am glad to say I have been able to be in the same thread with the smartest man ever. I know hockey players personally and have never met someone that regret playing college hockey. However, I have met some that regret going the other direction.

The major junior route can get you far but it can also get you to a dead end in the hockey world at a younger age. To say a 18 year old kid doesn't regret it would be popoisterous (sp?). Ask that kid when they are 30 years old. I can tell you my kids won't be going to Canada at 16-17. So we can agree to disagree. But the argument saying they are chasing their dream would be false cause so are the kids that go to NCAA. Maybe you have regrets

[keepyourheadup]

I think Boston College has done a pretty good job too. To each their own guys! College route or major jrs no matter what we think the choice is not ours. I guess if you want to hedge your bet college is the safer way but don't forget this is still Canada's game and they have the utmost confidence in their system. Its a individual choice pure and simple.

[BBB]

I can tell you my kids won't be going to Canada at 16-17

Does anyone want them?