High Schoolers, I need your help ICE TIME

[Bantamhockey]

My son will be moving into the HS program. We currently live in community that is a growing hockey community. We currently have one sheet of ice to share with the HS program, girls program and youth association. The youth association has gone to the school board because they are worried about the Bantams and Peewees practice times at 9:30 PM....Is there ANY HS programs that are forced to practice at 9:30 PM in favor of the youth program? In about 3-years the community hopefully will have a second sheet of ice and then there will be no worries for a while.

The HS boys program would get the ice right after HS until the girls need the ice, then the Boys HS program and Girls have been alternating between the 3:30 ice time and 5:00 ice time. The youth program wants that 5:00 ice time because they are saying they have to many late practices. So what they are proposing is that the HS boys program, girls program and youth split ice time and all have to take their turn at 9:30 pm. Do all the youths in your programs have to practice late. Do they utilize the outdoor ice? Is this right to have a HS team skate at 9:30 pm? I am looking for many opinions, can you please give me yours? It is greatly appreciated.

Please tell me what time you practiced as a youth player. Oh and the youth program doesn't want the 6:00 AM slots that are available.

[hawkfan70]

My son will be moving into the HS program. We currently live in community that is a growing hockey community. We currently have one sheet of ice to share with the HS program, girls program and youth association. The youth association has gone to the school board because they are worried about the Bantams and Peewees practice times at 9:30 PM....Is there ANY HS programs that are forced to practice at 9:30 PM in favor of the youth program? In about 3-years the community hopefully will have a second sheet of ice and then there will be no worries for a while.

The HS boys program would get the ice right after HS until the girls need the ice, then the Boys HS program and Girls have been alternating between the 3:30 ice time and 5:00 ice time. The youth program wants that 5:00 ice time because they are saying they have to many late practices. So what they are proposing is that the HS boys program, girls program and youth split ice time and all have to take their turn at 9:30 pm. Do all the youths in your programs have to practice late. Do they utilize the outdoor ice? Is this right to have a HS team skate at 9:30 pm? I am looking for many opinions, can you please give me yours? It is greatly appreciated.

Please tell me what time you practiced as a youth player. Oh and the youth program doesn't want the 6:00 AM slots that are available.

we practiced outside
more teams should try it

[Basil Chaps]

I assume you mean a 9:30 start time for practice. If this is the case and the practice is an hour and a half the team would get done at 11. The players would get home between 11:30-11:45 and probably won't get to sleep until 12:30 or 1:00. For high school students who have to be at school at 7 and probably get up at or before 6 this wouldn't make sense. No coach is going to leave his high school kids on 5 hours of sleep night after night. The little kids have the latest start times the next morning and should be able to handle being up later. If you mean ending at 9:30 then rotate.

[Reidy09]

My son will be moving into the HS program. We currently live in community that is a growing hockey community. We currently have one sheet of ice to share with the HS program, girls program and youth association. The youth association has gone to the school board because they are worried about the Bantams and Peewees practice times at 9:30 PM....Is there ANY HS programs that are forced to practice at 9:30 PM in favor of the youth program? In about 3-years the community hopefully will have a second sheet of ice and then there will be no worries for a while.

The HS boys program would get the ice right after HS until the girls need the ice, then the Boys HS program and Girls have been alternating between the 3:30 ice time and 5:00 ice time. The youth program wants that 5:00 ice time because they are saying they have to many late practices. So what they are proposing is that the HS boys program, girls program and youth split ice time and all have to take their turn at 9:30 pm. Do all the youths in your programs have to practice late. Do they utilize the outdoor ice? Is this right to have a HS team skate at 9:30 pm? I am looking for many opinions, can you please give me yours? It is greatly appreciated.

Please tell me what time you practiced as a youth player. Oh and the youth program doesn't want the 6:00 AM slots that are available.

We used to practice at 5:30 in the morning before school on Tuesdays. Otherwise it was at like 7:00p.m. Monday and Wednesday nights, and Sunday mornings from 9am till 1pm when open skate was on.

[PASTRAPIDSFAN]

My son will be moving into the HS program. We currently live in community that is a growing hockey community. We currently have one sheet of ice to share with the HS program, girls program and youth association. The youth association has gone to the school board because they are worried about the Bantams and Peewees practice times at 9:30 PM....Is there ANY HS programs that are forced to practice at 9:30 PM in favor of the youth program? In about 3-years the community hopefully will have a second sheet of ice and then there will be no worries for a while.

The HS boys program would get the ice right after HS until the girls need the ice, then the Boys HS program and Girls have been alternating between the 3:30 ice time and 5:00 ice time. The youth program wants that 5:00 ice time because they are saying they have to many late practices. So what they are proposing is that the HS boys program, girls program and youth split ice time and all have to take their turn at 9:30 pm. Do all the youths in your programs have to practice late. Do they utilize the outdoor ice? Is this right to have a HS team skate at 9:30 pm? I am looking for many opinions, can you please give me yours? It is greatly appreciated.

Please tell me what time you practiced as a youth player. Oh and the youth program doesn't want the 6:00 AM slots that are available.

we practiced outside
more teams should try it

Outside 10 rinks within 10 miles

[TPSKohoHockey29]

its a part of youth hockey to be practicing late at night, as a squirt, i used to look forward to being able to be like the older kids and practice at 9 oclock.

HS hockey is ten times more important than Rec hockey, anywhere, thats why they get the after school slot.

and just think, it is reducing car emmisions into the ozone, because they dont have to drive as much, because the practice is right after school.

its just a part of being a hockey parent, deal with it.

[Gov78]

I run the ice for one of the largest youth programs in the metro and your situation is the way it works. We often have peewees and bantams (and U12s and U14s) skating until 10:00 or 10:30pm as there's only so many open hours between 5:00-9:00pm when you have 30+ teams (plus mites). HS has priority.

Nearly every team has shared ice M-F and solo ice on the weekends.

We are working to expand and organize our available outdoor ice as that's the only cost effective way to get more teams ice at a reasonable time and for less cost.

[Can't Never Tried]

Only the few and the lucky have not had to deal with early morning and late night practice at youth level.
Throw in a 45 min drive each way as well.
If ya love it, it doesn't hurt!
HS players earned their time slot IMO.

[WatchDog'sRight]

You are correct CNT. In Roseau the Bantams and PeeWees practice before school. Varsity and JV right after school. At night its the squirts, mites, and old guys.

[Bantamhockey]

Thanx for the responses. They youth want the HS team to split 9:30 PM practices with the youth program. They need to utilize the outdoor ice or use available mornnig ice.

[hckynuts]

Thanx for the responses. They youth want the HS team to split 9:30 PM practices with the youth program. They need to utilize the outdoor ice or use available mornnig ice.

Same discussion, new set of parents. Rely on experienced hockey folks from your program or in area so your association doesn't waste effort on rehashing old problems. Direct the new parents toward spending all that time and energy to get a new sheet of ice($raising about $2 million minimum) and accessing all the hidden, quality coaching available from local hockey alumni not being utilized.
The answer is definitely outdoor ice. Very valuable and underutilized.

[packerboy]

The HS teams take those 3:00 PM ice times that the youth programs cant use. Most youth coaches are dads who have jobs and they cant get to a 3:00 or even 4:00 practice. Most youth kids take the bus home and cant get to practice that early. HS kids drive.

So,switching times might not be possible.

But even if you could , how do you tell a HS player that he has to practice at 9:30 because the bantams dont want to do what he did for 2 years?

Sound like an interesting group of parents.

[packerboy]

PS. I dont agree that outdoor ice is the solution. Somebody has to buy those 9:00 hours or hockey gets even more expensive.

Plus, I dont believe in scheduled outdoor ice. Show up and play with whoever is around. Also , although its been a good year this year , the last few have been bad weather wise. You cant rely on it.

[Bantamhockey]

PS. I dont agree that outdoor ice is the solution. Somebody has to buy those 9:00 hours or hockey gets even more expensive.

Plus, I dont believe in scheduled outdoor ice. Show up and play with whoever is around. Also , although its been a good year this year , the last few have been bad weather wise. You cant rely on it.

But there surely would be nothing wrong with outdoor ice it if it was scheduled through the city and there is other ice for the community. It would only be for about 3-4 years. And whats funny is they want nothing to do with early ice either!

[Charliedog]

Outdoor ice is fine, but some coaches hate it because the kids tend to lose focus and screw around.

I think most associations practice their bantams at 9 pm and having gone through it, I will say that it wasn't as bad at I thought it would be. It is actually less disruptive to the family than a 7 o'clock practice because the kids have time for a good meal and can get their homework done ahead of time. It does take the kids a while to wind down once they get home, but unless they go to a private school with an early start they should be okay.

[packerboy]

PS. I dont agree that outdoor ice is the solution. Somebody has to buy those 9:00 hours or hockey gets even more expensive.

Plus, I dont believe in scheduled outdoor ice. Show up and play with whoever is around. Also , although its been a good year this year , the last few have been bad weather wise. You cant rely on it.

But there surely would be nothing wrong with outdoor ice it if it was scheduled through the city and there is other ice for the community

I think outdoor ice should be left for kids to throw their skates over their shoulders and head down to the rink without gettng there and seeing it is reserved for some practice.
If you can talk the City into adding an outdoor sheet for scheduled practices, fine but I dont like using the available facilities for organized hockey.

[Neutron 14]

If I may add to what PB said, I think often its more valuable to play shinney vs an hour of practice anyway.

[BIAFP]

If I may add to what PB said, I think often its more valuable to play shinney vs an hour of practice anyway.

Instead of producing these hockey school robots that are roaming our rinks today?

[packerboy]

If I may add to what PB said, I think often its more valuable to play shinney vs an hour of practice anyway.

You may.

[tomASS]

If I may add to what PB said, I think often its more valuable to play shinney vs an hour of practice anyway.

You may.

is that because it's Lent?

[The Best 4th Liner]

its a part of youth hockey to be practicing late at night, as a squirt, i used to look forward to being able to be like the older kids and practice at 9 oclock.

HS hockey is ten times more important than Rec hockey, anywhere, thats why they get the after school slot.
and just think, it is reducing car emmisions into the ozone, because they dont have to drive as much, because the practice is right after school.

its just a part of being a hockey parent, deal with it.

How does a town who does not take care of their youth programs get good high school programs?


When I was younger the high school would get the ice after school because they had cars and could drive the the rinks, youth would get the ice after that when the parents can give kids rides to the rink. Youth would also take turns going in the morning. Peewee A's one week PW B the the Bantams would take their rotation, and finnaly the girls.

[Gov78]

We get outdoor ice from 4-5 communities that are all part of our school district and the ice is reserved for the hockey association in blocks that we than offer to the teams.

Mites get first pick as they use the outdoor ice on a regular schedule to keep costs down. After that it's open to all traveling teams but they need to register to prevent mutiple teams from showing up at the same time.

Not all coaches/players/parents like using outdoor ice but with teams expecting 4-5 ice times a week there's only so much indoor ice available.

As for the youth teams wanting the HS to take some of the late ice I say "Good Luck with that" as usually the HS has a signed contract with the facility that guarentees them ice selction and often the HS signed on before the rink was built and promised to buy a fixed about of ice for many years. This type of agreement is how many rinks are now being built as cities or the associations themselves need a primary tenent.

[rams80]

If I may add to what PB said, I think often its more valuable to play shinney vs an hour of practice anyway.

Instead of producing these hockey school robots that are roaming our rinks today?

Only in the metro.

[smashmouthhockey7]

We've praticed numerous times at 6am in the morning before school and at 10pm at night because ice is so sparse around the duluth area. Also we, as a bantam team, practice outdoors once a week because there is no ice. We've traveled to Carlton and Two Harbors, both 30 min away to practice at 8pm.

[dipseydoodle17]

Back when i played we would frequently have practices at 9:10pm as a Peewee and Bantam, and occasionally practices at 6:00am. Some cases we would have practice at 9:10-10:10 at night, then at 6 the next morning, those were the worst.