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Author Topic: How far do you drive each way for Hockey practice?  (Read 17217 times)

The Hun

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Re: How far do you drive each way for Hockey practice?
« Reply #30 on: September 14, 2017, 11:53:24 AM »

Kindly make sure you are never playing on my kids team!  We all signed up for this knowing damn well what is expected... and tournaments are just a part of it.  We had kids bail on us last Xmas tourney and we had to play bantam hockey with 9 players.  You sign up to be part of the team.. that means all team events, not just the ones that are convenient.


I agree. Once you are on the team, no excuses, except major emergencies.
I remember years ago, as a squirt, my kid had a math-field day and a playoffs game almost at the same time. He represented his school in a math competition, so my wife was going to divorce me, if hockey took precedence. On the other hand, this was the game we had to win, to qualify for the next round of playoffs. He did the math competition, missed the last 30 minutes of it (we left early), drove to Valencia as if we were in a car chase, we missed the first half of the period but played for the rest, and he scored the game-winning goal in OT against the Express. Then we went back to the school and collected the medals his team won in math. It was exhausting, but unforgettable. We did everything in our power, to make it work, and I wouldn't do it any other way. And now, this kind of commitment to hockey is starting to pay dividends in many different ways.


(Btw this was the team that beat us 12:1 in the regular season, but we beat them in the playoffs. Had my son taken the easy way out, we would have been elinimated.)
« Last Edit: September 14, 2017, 12:04:49 PM by The Hun »

goonhockey

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Re: How far do you drive each way for Hockey practice?
« Reply #31 on: September 14, 2017, 01:01:31 PM »
nothing (not much anyway, in terms of youth hockey) worse than coming back the practice after a tournament and that's all the kids are talking about, whilst wearing their new hoodies.  most forget what the scores were even as early as one year ago, but they will always remember the shenanigans around the hotel or the team meal or insert fun activity here.


understand your position regarding family, but holiday tournaments, especially at A/B, are essentially a given.  not participating is a disservice to your player, the team, and frankly, yourself in what ends up being a too short youth hockey career...

Asteroidea

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Re: How far do you drive each way for Hockey practice?
« Reply #32 on: September 15, 2017, 09:47:04 AM »
10-15 minutes depending on traffic.  I know families that drive over an hour, passing rinks on the way, to play A/B hockey.  I don't get it, never understood it, and would never do it.


I understand when a family drives because their kid is playing tier and their closest rink doesn't have a team, etc.  Driving an hour to play A/B, when you could drive 20 minutes is asinine.  Only other reason I could see is if my kid got cut from the team at our closest rink, and we had to drive just so he could play.


The things families do for youth hockey is ridiculous.  Our family has instituted a no holiday tournament policy as well.  Too many Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays have been wiped out by meaningless tournaments.  This is the second year of that policy.  We respectfully tell the coach we won't be there and don't really apologize for it.  The team survived, my son survived, life went on.  Some of the other parents were flabbergasted, like they couldn't process or understand what we were telling them, "What do you mean you won't be there, but, but, we have a game at 700AM the day after Christmas."


If your player is Bantam age, I would suggest glorified in house AKA High School Hockey
« Last Edit: September 15, 2017, 10:37:56 AM by Asteroidea »

5lap5hot

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Re: How far do you drive each way for Hockey practice?
« Reply #33 on: September 15, 2017, 10:13:24 AM »
Funny to post something like that on this forum.  Interested in being part of the hockey conversation, but not interested in actually playing when needed?