Interesting Read.

youngblood08 · Post by **youngblood08** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:44 am

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/2 ... ccess.html

Moose Jaw, SK · Post by **Moose Jaw, SK** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 4:06 am

Very interesting I really find this interesting because it affected me growing up with youth hockey here in MN.

Indians forever · Post by **Indians forever** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:16 am

Thanks Young for the article!!

HockeyHigh · Post by **HockeyHigh** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:46 pm

Wasn't Aaron Ness held back a year?

scoreboard33 · Post by **scoreboard33** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:35 pm

I've read Gladwell's book and wonder, in Minnesota, the age cut off is in the summer for squirts, peewees and bantams, but for USA hockey it is Jan. 1, so is it a bigger advantage to be born in the summer or in January?

Also, after watching Pond Hockey and hearing Gladwell's theory that it takes 10,000 or about 5 years of full time work to become truly proficient, is playing hockey on the pond the single best way to develop skill. Players handle the puck much more than practice are encouraged to make creative passes and often play for 4+ hours, while in practices the skills are developed. Is the amount of pond hockey a player plays from when he is young on up the biggest factor in the players development?

Just some food for thought...

youngblood08 · Post by **youngblood08** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:51 pm

It doesn't matter where you play weather it is USA rules or MN hockey rules. Advanced 15, 16 and 17s leave a lot of kids on the bench due to this.

Say you are born Sept. 1st of 1993, your buddy is born Jan. 5th of 1994 you play on the same team you out score him and are the better player all around but due to the fact he is a 93 he gets the Advanced teams and you sit at home. Even though you are in the same grade you are being compared to some 10th graders even though you are in 9th. The 94 age player will be in 10th and the oldest. If you look at some of the IIHF U-18 teams it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Of course there are exceptions to this but few.

scoreboard33 · Post by **scoreboard33** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:51 pm

youngblood08 wrote:It doesn't matter where you play weather it is USA rules or MN hockey rules. Advanced 15, 16 and 17s leave a lot of kids on the bench due to this.

Say you are born Sept. 1st of 1993, your buddy is born Jan. 5th of 1994 you play on the same team you out score him and are the better player all around but due to the fact he is a 93 he gets the Advanced teams and you sit at home. Even though you are in the same grade you are being compared to some 10th graders even though you are in 9th. The 94 age player will be in 10th and the oldest. If you look at some of the IIHF U-18 teams it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Of course there are exceptions to this but few.

Yes I agree with you, but I meant for someone's career, not USA hockey, Anders Lee is one of the oldest kids still in high school and he has always been one of the oldest at his level, but is young for USA hockey and hasn't made it to the higher levels.

Zach Budish is not quite a full year younger than Anders LEe and has been one of the youngest players in his group but always made it to the top of the USA hockey teams.

Which is better for your development as a player? Forget the fact that Zach has always been insanely big for his age and very talented, just think about it from the point of view of the situations of Zach and Anders.

goldy313 · Post by **goldy313** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:06 pm

It's a stupid argument, no matter where you set the age cutoff date someone will be 365 days younger than someone else and still be in the same age group. At least hockey does it right and go by ages, other sports go by grade and you end up having 20 year old seniors in high school competing against 15 year old sophomores.