College Decisions

[lcadad]

There is nothing wrong with the WSHL especially if you are using it as a stepping stone.

I know of a number of very good players who played WSHL and sustained serious injuries (breaks/fractures, concussions).  This is obviously something that could happen at any level of contact hockey, but I would question the risk/reward. 

[Hockeykid]

So true!

DAILY DISH: Veteran's Dilemma  Junior Hockey NewsPublished: Friday, 2 Aug 2019   
By: [/size]Stephen Heisler, JuniorHockey.com

 
 Mason is a nineteen year-old, 2nd line junior "A" defender. He has been playing junior hockey since he was fifteen and living away from home for hockey since he was twelve.
Mason has seen more than his fair share of coaches and systems. He has been able to execute his duties exactly as directed for every team he has played for. He is one of those guys that does not stand out, he just gets the job done, shift after shift, and night after night.
Hockey has taken a toll on Mason academically. He has been in nine different schools from the 6th grade until his graduation last year. Graduation was not easy, and he had to spend two summers at a community college to get it done. His overall high school GPA was 1.8. This season he was supposed to be preparing for the SAT, but instead he has enjoyed his first year off from academics.
Mason's mom called me yesterday asking why he has not had any NCAA Div I offers, like a lot of other players on his team.  She entered the conversation with fantasies about Mason going to play at Notre Dame. As we peeled off the doses of reality she became angrier and angrier. "We have spent so much money on getting Mason to this point in his career, it is just not fair!" Mom yelled over the phone.
What is not fair is the fact that mom let hockey get in the way of Mason's education. When I suggested that Mason spend the summer at an SAT camp mom immediately refused, "That is entirely too expensive," she quickly replied. "He always works with my dad each summer to pay for hockey."
Don't shoot the messenger but here are the facts about Mason. He is not going to play at Notre Dame. He might catch a break at another school IF he can get a good SAT or ACT number.
The other alternative is to go ahead and enter the world of minor professional hockey. Guys like Mason are needed at that level as well. Make the free-agent try-out rounds and maybe he will be able to stick. If not, he can always return to the Jr. "A" for his final year of eligibility.
The reality is that Mason may be able to play in the Federal Hockey League, or eventually the ECHL level of pro hockey. But that is it. Is this result worth the seven years of investment in his game?
The bottom line is simple. What happens in the classroom is every bit as important as what happens on the ice. Prospects that are hoping to play in college need to address academics from the sixth grade and beyond. Mason has always been a coach's favorite, that is great, but he should have been the teacher's favorite too.
Mason is an alias that we used to protect the player's identify... and his dignity.

[notTHATdad]

Really good story.


What people don't realize is that the better your marks are, the more chance you have at a college scholarship. It is the #1 criteria in determining how many openings are available to you. I'll get the numbers a bit off (because I'm working from memory) but it works sort of like this... For a given team they will have:


2 spots for GPA >= 1.5
8 spots for GPA >= 2.0
16 spots for GPA >= 3.0
25 spots for GPA >= 3.5


The one number I remember pretty well is the '2'.


Remember - it's a COLLEGE and hockey is not a money-maker like football. Basically, if your marks suck, there are only a couple of 'dummy' spots available on ANY NCAA team, and that kid is competing against every other player for those spots. If there is an equal kid, with better marks, you lose.


On top of that, each D1 team will have 18 athletic scholarships available for a 25 player roster. If you are not one of the lucky players to get the 'full athletic ride' then you will only get a partial athletic scholarship... BUT if your marks are decent they will be able to make that up with an academic scholarship.


So DON'T LET HOCKEY SCREW UP YOUR MARKS. I get super frustrated with coaches that pay lip service to giving/forcing teams time to study on the road during tournaments. It hurts them in the long run.


Masons parents were really poorly informed or idiots.

[gr8wrk]

Besides grades, your son's SAT or ACT scores will matter.  Our son went to New England Prep and after his Junior year he had several D3 schools talking to him but his SAT score was 25 points too low so he spent the summer in an SAP prep course and raised his score 80 points.  Some schools continued to talk to him after that but others had moved on.


A few notes: First, even if your kid goes to Prep school and gets a D1 offer, they will still likely play Juniors someplace for a year or two, it's really hard to go from high-school to college hockey (where you are playing against 25 year olds).  Second, Juniors can be quite an experience for a hockey player who is used to playing in front of their parents and a few others.   Our son played Juniors in the NA3HL and every game had 500 to 1,000 people watching and he was asked for autographs and everyone in the town knew who he was. 

[islandhockey]

At some point in the 16-17 age range, you (parents) and your son will have a huge decision to make if they are anywhere decent on the ice.  By decent, i mean capable of playing juniors or college.  I see so many kids playing juniors that frankly have no hope at playing college hockey, so they are just holding off starting college and onto adult life.  I really scratch my head at those kids and their parents.  Some juniors only have the skills to play DIII (no money) or college club hockey, which equates to 2-3 years of putting their college on hold and the sad thing is that a lot of these DIII schools aren't even in the top 300-400 academic colleges in the country.  I see a number of juniors moving to DI (Yea!  $$), but there are no full ride scholarships and many of these DI colleges are terrible academically as well.  I think we all see the best kids (USHL level and equivalent) go onto some really good colleges, but that number is incredibly low and they are competing with kids around the world. If you really want your son to play college hockey, you really don't choose the college....you have to see who wants you which is why your choices are often terrible in terms of academics and location. What I don't want for my son is to have no option other than to become a youth hockey coach, pressuring parents to pay for your clinics with no medical benefits and no retirement.  If you have a bright kid, who isn't going to turn pro, I would consider going to a good school to and play club hockey.  Some of the better schools have really top notch club teams that would give DIII hockey a run for their money and if they focus on their academics in high school, there is much more academic money out there than athletic scholarships.  Then, you kid starts college as a true freshman and will be in their senior year, with internships and travel abroad opportunities while their peers in youth hockey are just starting and old, 21-22 year old freshmen.  In the end, some 95%+ of all youth hockey players will not play pro, not get a DI scholarship, and wind up in the same place...the beer league.  Some will have great jobs while others not so great. Think about your kids future when you make these difficult decisions...not yourself.  [size=78%]   [/size]

[Knuckle Puck]

going back to the 95s, on average only around a dozen kids from socal per birth year get to ncaa d1, including girls. similar numbers per year to d3. chasing the dream is great, but academics should always come first because the kid is going to need that.

[notTHATdad]

At some point in the 16-17 age range, you (parents) and your son will have a huge decision to make if they are anywhere decent on the ice.  By decent, i mean capable of playing juniors or college.  I see so many kids playing juniors that frankly have no hope at playing college hockey, so they are just holding off starting college and onto adult life.  I really scratch my head at those kids and their parents.  Some juniors only have the skills to play DIII (no money) or college club hockey, which equates to 2-3 years of putting their college on hold and the sad thing is that a lot of these DIII schools aren't even in the top 300-400 academic colleges in the country.  I see a number of juniors moving to DI (Yea!  $$), but there are no full ride scholarships and many of these DI colleges are terrible academically as well.  I think we all see the best kids (USHL level and equivalent) go onto some really good colleges, but that number is incredibly low and they are competing with kids around the world. If you really want your son to play college hockey, you really don't choose the college....you have to see who wants you which is why your choices are often terrible in terms of academics and location. What I don't want for my son is to have no option other than to become a youth hockey coach, pressuring parents to pay for your clinics with no medical benefits and no retirement.  If you have a bright kid, who isn't going to turn pro, I would consider going to a good school to and play club hockey.  Some of the better schools have really top notch club teams that would give DIII hockey a run for their money and if they focus on their academics in high school, there is much more academic money out there than athletic scholarships.  Then, you kid starts college as a true freshman and will be in their senior year, with internships and travel abroad opportunities while their peers in youth hockey are just starting and old, 21-22 year old freshmen.  In the end, some 95%+ of all youth hockey players will not play pro, not get a DI scholarship, and wind up in the same place...the beer league.  Some will have great jobs while others not so great. Think about your kids future when you make these difficult decisions...not yourself.  [size=78%]   [/size]

I think that's right.


But I'd balance that with the fact that we tend to rush kids into college, when a lot of them are not ready for it. That was certainly my generation - the idea of taking time off to 'chase a dream' for a couple of years was not to even be discussed.


But that may be a mistake, and I think thinking has changed a bit. You only get one chance to chase a dream sometimes. If my kid wants to go off for a year or two on some silly quest, I may be ok with it, as long as the conditions are ok, and the plan realistic.

[SkatingDad]

At some point in the 16-17 age range, you (parents) and your son will have a huge decision to make if they are anywhere decent on the ice.  By decent, i mean capable of playing juniors or college.  I see so many kids playing juniors that frankly have no hope at playing college hockey, so they are just holding off starting college and onto adult life.  I really scratch my head at those kids and their parents.  Some juniors only have the skills to play DIII (no money) or college club hockey, which equates to 2-3 years of putting their college on hold and the sad thing is that a lot of these DIII schools aren't even in the top 300-400 academic colleges in the country.  I see a number of juniors moving to DI (Yea!  $$), but there are no full ride scholarships and many of these DI colleges are terrible academically as well.  I think we all see the best kids (USHL level and equivalent) go onto some really good colleges, but that number is incredibly low and they are competing with kids around the world. If you really want your son to play college hockey, you really don't choose the college....you have to see who wants you which is why your choices are often terrible in terms of academics and location. What I don't want for my son is to have no option other than to become a youth hockey coach, pressuring parents to pay for your clinics with no medical benefits and no retirement.  If you have a bright kid, who isn't going to turn pro, I would consider going to a good school to and play club hockey.  Some of the better schools have really top notch club teams that would give DIII hockey a run for their money and if they focus on their academics in high school, there is much more academic money out there than athletic scholarships.  Then, you kid starts college as a true freshman and will be in their senior year, with internships and travel abroad opportunities while their peers in youth hockey are just starting and old, 21-22 year old freshmen.  In the end, some 95%+ of all youth hockey players will not play pro, not get a DI scholarship, and wind up in the same place...the beer league.  Some will have great jobs while others not so great. Think about your kids future when you make these difficult decisions...not yourself.  [size=78%]   [/size]

I think that's right.


But I'd balance that with the fact that we tend to rush kids into college, when a lot of them are not ready for it. That was certainly my generation - the idea of taking time off to 'chase a dream' for a couple of years was not to even be discussed.


But that may be a mistake, and I think thinking has changed a bit. You only get one chance to chase a dream sometimes. If my kid wants to go off for a year or two on some silly quest, I may be ok with it, as long as the conditions are ok, and the plan realistic.

For men, there is plenty of time to go to college and work in corporate.  I believe everyone should delay that dreary existence for a long as possible. Chase your dreams first, father time catches up with everyone...