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i was wondering how many out their see things going south on expenses for hockey. heres my sinario three kids in hockey squirt,peewee,bantam. ok your thinking of course its gona be alot. heres my problem lets say hypathetically my sons bantam team makes both state maha and state vfw (which is very possible) so i live in roseau. first trip for just these two tourneys starts in bemidji 2.5 hours drive one way. (hotel) the next weekend its east grand forks 2.5 hours drive one way. (hotel) the next weekend same team this is all one team not all three is in anoka 7 hours drive one way (hotel) one weekend off than its off to edina 7.5 hours drive one way. (hotel) next weekend white bear lake 7 hour drive one way (hotel) im not sure about the rest of the hockey world but im thinking way over kill on my wallet!!!!!!!!!!! with the price of everything these days gas,food,ect... how the hell am i gona keep doing this. so anyway this is everyones chance to vent it out so have at it.... dont hold back!!!!!

Now include spring and summer hockey that some people do with their children. I can't believe you are doing any of that if you are complaining about winter hockey, especially with 3 boys.

watchdog wrote:i was wondering how many out their see things going south on expenses for hockey. heres my sinario three kids in hockey squirt,peewee,bantam. ok your thinking of course its gona be alot. heres my problem lets say hypathetically my sons bantam team makes both state maha and state vfw (which is very possible) so i live in roseau. first trip for just these two tourneys starts in bemidji 2.5 hours drive one way. (hotel) the next weekend its east grand forks 2.5 hours drive one way. (hotel) the next weekend same team this is all one team not all three is in anoka 7 hours drive one way (hotel) one weekend off than its off to edina 7.5 hours drive one way. (hotel) next weekend white bear lake 7 hour drive one way (hotel) im not sure about the rest of the hockey world but im thinking way over kill on my wallet!!!!!!!!!!! with the price of everything these days gas,food,ect... how the hell am i gona keep doing this. so anyway this is everyones chance to vent it out so have at it.... dont hold back!!!!!

frederick61 says your peewees don't travel enough

Be thankful there isn't a squirt state tourney.

The cost of being a fan is often more that the cost of being a player. Out of town tourneys are costly in both time and $$. Maybe schedule less out of town tournaments during the season and save the $$ for the end of the year when it really counts. Also, I think it would be cool if tournaments would offer host families as cheap lodging alternatives for out of town families.

I am interested in other ideas to keep costs down. It definitely can be a wallet drain.

I like Spin-o-rama's idea for Northern teams coming to the cities...have a host family volunteer locally. I'm sure they would. If you start doing this with Squirts, by the time the kids are in high school, you'll probably forge some pretty good bonds..cudo's Spin-O

we used to do that with bemidji,furgus falls and grand rapids and yes it did forge some good friendships. yes i do the spring and summer stuff also once a sucker always a sucker. still doesnt stop me from complaining. heck i told the kids last summer that we could use the money for summer hockey on a fishing boat but didnt get any takers. i thought for sure that would work. well it would help if hotels were 40 a night instead of 80. well you cant put a price on all the memories. plus the one thing i can say of summer and spring hockey that has been great for kids and parents for forming some life long friendships.

watchdog wrote:we used to do that with bemidji,furgus falls and grand rapids and yes it did forge some good friendships. yes i do the spring and summer stuff also once a sucker always a sucker. still doesnt stop me from complaining. heck i told the kids last summer that we could use the money for summer hockey on a fishing boat but didnt get any takers. i thought for sure that would work. well it would help if hotels were 40 a night instead of 80. well you cant put a price on all the memories. plus the one thing i can say of summer and spring hockey that has been great for kids and parents for forming some life long friendships.

I too have three kids in hockey. Highschool, 12U, and Mites.

I think my kids would agree - we wouldn't trade the friendships made or the memories for anything in the world.
We have had the best times with hockey, throughout the year, and have taken advantage and made the trips into family vacations. I guess it's a good thing that we all enjoy it, because there is alot of it!
It's a definite strain on the pocket book, but we love it anyway!

ideal :::::::


can it happen::::

Family posts on MN Hockey site : room to offer to family:
For example Cloquet family comes to Edina for trny, needs space for 2 parents ( mom * dad ), player, and one sibling.

It could work......

it could work for sure but organizing it???? its like everything else its hard to get people to all come together and make it happen. heck for starters we need to start taking buses from here just for the team and that dont happen.

If they did run buses, how many parents would actually just send their kid and not make the trip.
We use to bus the kids with one of the coaches driving and it got to the point that every parent went on the out of town trips it did pay to have the bus anymore. Couldn't parents car pool and divide up the tournaments to help with the costs? How much does it cost for the kids to play?

Jancze5 - you added a nice benefit to the host family idea - the bonding. It could really help sportmanship if players and parents know each other a little and have shared a roof and broke bread together.

Council Member - Great idea to have threads / posts for hosting.

I'm in the SW metro.

it cost nothing for the kids to play. as for the bus it would have to be team buses large enough for parents and players but who is going to make that investment? its a tuff situation with no clear cut or easy answer. atleast its a topic to ponder.

three boys in hockey, peewee, squirt and mite, so it is really just the beginning. we "lucked out" and don't have any overlapping tournaments but have one every weekend between now and the playoffs. "traveling" baseball was the same way. We will have eight nights in hotels this winter, I told them that is a week in a hotel at disneyworld----no takers.

It's been said before, "you better be in this because it is FUN now and not for any payoff down the road".

The friendships are undeniable and my boys wouldn't have it any other way. BYW we compromised and just got a new motor for the old boat.

I have three in the game at various levels and wouldn't trade any of the experiences for them or my wife and I. We've made some lifelong friends through this game. People we never would have met otherwise. My oldest son has also made friends throughout the state that he keeps in touch with on a regular basis. Looking forward to the next 10-12 years as my youngest is just starting out. The places hockey can take you are well worth any dollar amount put on it. The memories created and the places seen will last forever no matter far you advance in the game.

HOCKEY : The best sport ever thought up.

Right now I have no kids or grandkids in hockey.

I have been on the road for hockey 3 times in the last 4 weeks - 21 hours of driving. Fortuantely, 90% of my expenses are reimbursed, unfortuantely in that same time I saw 4 periods of hockey, and 21 hours of meetings plus 6 - 7 hours of prep and about 40 hours of after meeting work. Another meeting coming up on Saturday.

However, I get to a lot of hockey games from squirts to college in between and see alot of people that I consider friends (because of hockey).

My family has made a lot of friendships throughout the years through hockey, and my kid likes it too much to even explain how much it costs for him to play. I think that the rising cost of hockey is beginning to drive people away from the sport. It already is considered a rich man's sport and with the rising cost of hotels, gas, etc. It makes it very hard for a low income, or even middle class, family to afford to play. I have heard people say that they were going to try to push their kids into basketball because of hockey's costs. Is the cost becoming a problem?

Costs pushing families to talk B-ball or swimming isn't anything new.

Watchdog you have a unique situation with all the tournaments, and travel involved. We've played in Roseau and I can't imagine your regular season travel, much less times two or three.

Ride/room sharing, busses and any other way to cut costs along with personal driving time are all good ideas. What ever you can do to support the kids and their teams will be worth while.

spin-o-rama wrote:Jancze5 - you added a nice benefit to the host family idea - the bonding. It could really help sportmanship if players and parents know each other a little and have shared a roof and broke bread together.

Council Member - Great idea to have threads / posts for hosting.

I'm in the SW metro.

I am glad you took the positive spin on the sportsmanship because there can be a negative too.

Player A's family hosts player B's family for an away tournament. Player A and player B play against each other and end up scrumming in front of the net. Player A gets mad at Player B and gives an extra shove at the whistle. Player B gets mad that Player A has shoved him and shoves him back...

How about an awkward feeling for both sets of parents and players at the end of the game while going back to the house...

Not saying this will happen but eventually it has to right?

Honestly I'm not sure how anyone affords having more than 1 kid in hockey. It's good to hear that our state has so many people dedicated to there kids and the game of hockey.

newsguy35 wrote:

spin-o-rama wrote:Jancze5 - you added a nice benefit to the host family idea - the bonding. It could really help sportmanship if players and parents know each other a little and have shared a roof and broke bread together.

Council Member - Great idea to have threads / posts for hosting.

I'm in the SW metro.

I am glad you took the positive spin on the sportsmanship because there can be a negative too.

Player A's family hosts player B's family for an away tournament. Player A and player B play against each other and end up scrumming in front of the net. Player A gets mad at Player B and gives an extra shove at the whistle. Player B gets mad that Player A has shoved him and shoves him back...

How about an awkward feeling for both sets of parents and players at the end of the game while going back to the house...

Not saying this will happen but eventually it has to right?

No, it doesn't have to. That only happens if we don't teach or kids the right way to do things at home.

Home is where it starts, and all the responsibility goes directly back to us as parents.

The coaches have these kids for between 5 and 10 hours a week. The game officials see them about an hour every so often. When bad behavior strikes, you can look squarely in the mirror for what went wrong.

my newest pet peeve are the three game tournaments

travel to grand rapids/rochester/duluth/alexandria/red wing/ hermantown/albertlea/and just about any tournament in the cities and you get three games for your money. So, you book the hotel rooms, you have a friday night game--back to the hotel, Saturday afternoon game, say 3pm and a Sunday game. how is that work $300 in hotel fees. Could have booked three scrimmages on regular weekend home ice and had just as much hockey.

i'd like to hear from every association hosting a tournament with the possibility of a four game tournament, with stop time, now that's worth a trip out of town.

with one parent going and one staying home to run the other sibs to hockey, it isn't even about family time anymore, just about making money for local hotels and restaurants, which I am all for if they support their local hockey association through sponsorships, etc.......

I know there is grumbling (in our association at least) about cutting back on attending tournaments.

DMom wrote:my newest pet peeve are the three game tournaments

travel to grand rapids/rochester/duluth/alexandria/red wing/ hermantown/albertlea/and just about any tournament in the cities and you get three games for your money. So, you book the hotel rooms, you have a friday night game--back to the hotel, Saturday afternoon game, say 3pm and a Sunday game. how is that work $300 in hotel fees. Could have booked three scrimmages on regular weekend home ice and had just as much hockey.

i'd like to hear from every association hosting a tournament with the possibility of a four game tournament, with stop time, now that's worth a trip out of town.

with one parent going and one staying home to run the other sibs to hockey, it isn't even about family time anymore, just about making money for local hotels and restaurants, which I am all for if they support their local hockey association through sponsorships, etc.......

I know there is grumbling (in our association at least) about cutting back on attending tournaments.

Tough to schedule an 8 team - 4 game guarantee.

GR3343 wrote:

DMom wrote:my newest pet peeve are the three game tournaments

travel to grand rapids/rochester/duluth/alexandria/red wing/ hermantown/albertlea/and just about any tournament in the cities and you get three games for your money. So, you book the hotel rooms, you have a friday night game--back to the hotel, Saturday afternoon game, say 3pm and a Sunday game. how is that work $300 in hotel fees. Could have booked three scrimmages on regular weekend home ice and had just as much hockey.

i'd like to hear from every association hosting a tournament with the possibility of a four game tournament, with stop time, now that's worth a trip out of town.

with one parent going and one staying home to run the other sibs to hockey, it isn't even about family time anymore, just about making money for local hotels and restaurants, which I am all for if they support their local hockey association through sponsorships, etc.......

I know there is grumbling (in our association at least) about cutting back on attending tournaments.

Tough to schedule an 8 team - 4 game guarantee.

Not that tough, 2 four team pools, three round robin games starting mid-late afternoon on Friday and two games on Saturday, crossover championship rounds on Sunday. We do it for our Bantam As and Bs, Pee Wee As and Bs, and Squirt As. Both our Pee Wee tourneys only drew six teams so we played a cross-over game during round robin, all teams got four games.

Are the away tournaments attended for the players or parents?

One game per day isn't out of line for a three day tourney. Aren't there other activities the kids can do while there? Pools, game rooms, and so one?

Adding a game, will add cost. If cost is a deterent, that will not help. Ice time, officials, arena workers and so on. We try to fill the away tournament time with a team movie or something along that line.

How much can the kids give when they are on the road? Even though they are young, they only have so much quality energy to offer. Playing games to play games doesn't always equate into fun.

in fairness, I did not take the time to figure out which associations do offer four game gaurantees....I knew there would be corrections offered from any town I offered up in error, and it's good to let people know that you have a good value, such as egf offers.

the out of towners are for the kids, definitely, but why even have the discussion about whether kids are allowed to go swimming(and you've all been involved in those), with four games there isn't time. There's time for a few team activities, a potluck or pizza party, kids go to bed, a few beers wake up, check out and go to the last game and head home.

I guess I'd have to change my opinion mid-post, tourneys (in your home town or out) are about hockey, and I just believe the kids should get a little more than they would with practice ice. A great argument could be made for those 17 minute stop time periods, that's a lot of hockey squeezed into three games and worth a trip