Minor Hockey Talks - Hockey Forum

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:45 am

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:41 am

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:24 am My eyes are burning reading the same post about physical maturity. Small kids can play they have to figure out how to be effective or go to tennis or golf.

Yes true , but you likely just don’t understand the topic and have not participated at a level that would facilitate more knowledgeable critical thinking! You’re opinion on small kids and how they can play if very simplistic.

Late maturation kids have an advantage if they can hang on for that 1-3 year gap until they fully grow. When I say hang on, I mean if they can stay in the mix, be competitive and keep the drive and motivation while being a small kid, they will bypass all the early maturation kids when all things balance out.

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:59 am It's nice to read sensible posts about maturation etc. This is all great stuff and very true. Playing vs watching is so obvious. Parents looking for status get their kids on the AAA team or the top AAA team only to sabotage their kid's development. Playing time is so important at this age. It builds confidence, IQ, compete, skill, etc. I don't worry about the early maturation kids because I know things will eventually even out and when that happens, then we see who has it and who had it due to early maturity.

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:59 am It's nice to read sensible posts about maturation etc. This is all great stuff and very true. Playing vs watching is so obvious. Parents looking for status get their kids on the AAA team or the top AAA team only to sabotage their kid's development. Playing time is so important at this age. It builds confidence, IQ, compete, skill, etc. I don't worry about the early maturation kids because I know things will eventually even out and when that happens, then we see who has it and who had it due to early maturity.

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 11:16 am

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:59 am It's nice to read sensible posts about maturation etc. This is all great stuff and very true. Playing vs watching is so obvious. Parents looking for status get their kids on the AAA team or the top AAA team only to sabotage their kid's development. Playing time is so important at this age. It builds confidence, IQ, compete, skill, etc. I don't worry about the early maturation kids because I know things will eventually even out and when that happens, then we see who has it and who had it due to early maturity.

It is interesting that coaches like top 2 teams coach build teams around super mature athletes. While all the experts contend the best thing for the athlete is to play up with athletes of the same maturity level. Why would a coach want to hinder an athletes ability to reach their potential?
Is it lack of knowledge or strictly their own ego that drives their coaching, not really doing it for the kids?

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:22 am Wrong. What I said is the truth. Development comes from playing, not sitting on the bench. Everyone knows that, yet you have parents who put their kids on top AAA teams thinking they're doing them a solid, but if they're not playing, they're not developing. U16 is the only year that matters, so why not put your kid on a team where they will get a ton of minutes? Those kids will pass the kids on top AAA teams who sit on the bench and watch.

This is a big problem for Canadian hockey. Development is the whole point of minor hockey. Chasing a logo or trophy or whatever is totally pointless.

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 4:25 pm

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:22 am Wrong. What I said is the truth. Development comes from playing, not sitting on the bench. Everyone knows that, yet you have parents who put their kids on top AAA teams thinking they're doing them a solid, but if they're not playing, they're not developing. U16 is the only year that matters, so why not put your kid on a team where they will get a ton of minutes? Those kids will pass the kids on top AAA teams who sit on the bench and watch.

This is a big problem for Canadian hockey. Development is the whole point of minor hockey. Chasing a logo or trophy or whatever is totally pointless.

You develop more in practice, against better players. So the 3rd line kids taking reps against the top line guys on the top teams 2-3x a week are developing more than playing on a lousy team and getting smashed in a 2.5 team league.

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 9:38 am

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:50 am

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:22 am Wrong. What I said is the truth. Development comes from playing, not sitting on the bench. Everyone knows that, yet you have parents who put their kids on top AAA teams thinking they're doing them a solid, but if they're not playing, they're not developing. U16 is the only year that matters, so why not put your kid on a team where they will get a ton of minutes? Those kids will pass the kids on top AAA teams who sit on the bench and watch.

This is a big problem for Canadian hockey. Development is the whole point of minor hockey. Chasing a logo or trophy or whatever is totally pointless.

Fully agree with this. If your kid is not getting playing time how will he develop and build confidence. He will keep thinking he’s not good enough. The mental aspect is very important.

You guys are correct, as you may know it actually goes way further than this for development. From your posts, you can see that it is a given that hockey culture has accepted "get a ton of minutes" as the way it works! And this is absolutely true, the strongest players will play more....the big issue with this culture is that the strongest players (99%) are just the most mature players, as reported by Sports Science in about 2000 studies across all sports and countries! They are not the most talented or the most skilled, just the biggest, strongest and fasted due to being an adult. This is particularly true of physical sports like hockey, football etc

We are a country of 40 M and if the opportunity to reach your potential only applies to the early maturation athletes, we are really a nation of 1/5 (bell curve) that or 8 M. That is huge and it is why Finland can out develop us as a Nation of 5 M.

If you would like the link to the Swedish Hockey player study showing how early maturation is correlated with Junior success (drafted) and negatively correlated with professional level success, please let me know i would be happy to post this 16 year study!

Guest wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 4:44 pm

Guest wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 2:52 pm Nats lose a AA tournament in the USA

Too bad your kid didn't make the cut, it was a fun weekend.

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 4:25 pm

Guest wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:22 am Wrong. What I said is the truth. Development comes from playing, not sitting on the bench. Everyone knows that, yet you have parents who put their kids on top AAA teams thinking they're doing them a solid, but if they're not playing, they're not developing. U16 is the only year that matters, so why not put your kid on a team where they will get a ton of minutes? Those kids will pass the kids on top AAA teams who sit on the bench and watch.

This is a big problem for Canadian hockey. Development is the whole point of minor hockey. Chasing a logo or trophy or whatever is totally pointless.

You develop more in practice, against better players. So the 3rd line kids taking reps against the top line guys on the top teams 2-3x a week are developing more than playing on a lousy team and getting smashed in a 2.5 team league.