Every kid (and sometimes parents) are chasing the dream of playing at the highest level and on the biggest stage. Its the nature of competitive athletics. Push yourself to be the best you can be and fulfill the goals you set out for yourself.
Oftentimes these days, in Junior Hockey’s crowded marketplace, unanticipated consequences come from playing at the Tier II level. Travel issues, housing issues, the process of being cut, and much more, are common and significant problems for young athletes.
Here are some negative outcomes that can occur for parents and players for athletes pursuing this level of play.
- Selling the Dream through camps and tryouts
Selling the dream through tryout and exposure camps is how many of these leagues and teams fund their businesses. Someone has to pay when the parents don’t and no fans are in attendance. Oftentimes these camps are filled with hundreds of players at a wide variety of levels. Some are truly invited and pose a real opportunity to make the team. Others are pure fillers for rosters who have no chance of making the roster. Be careful and navigate wisely.
2. Travel and Bus Issues
Leagues that operate under USA Hockey’s umbrella (or Hockey Canada) have high standards that could result in significant fines levied on operators who do not fulfill their organizational and ethical needs to provide travel for their players to games at certain distances from their home facilities.
When teams decide to break these rules, especially during the winter months, it poses a dangerous threat to the safety of the athletes. Weather conditions, young drivers commuting long distances, and oversight are significant concerns.
3. Fee Structure
Tier II hockey within USA Hockey has a formalized, laid out Fee Structure. Players pay their billets and the hockey is Free. In the USHL its all Free. With the introduction of the NCDC’s new pay to play model, what exactly is Free? Is the player registration fee (No)? Is the billet (No)? Is the Hockey (only in some cases)….
Sometimes poor operators in Canadian Tier II leagues (like the CCHL or NOJHL) which currently have a standardized pay to play model, operate outside of those basic parameters and charge fees for Gym Memberships and Skill Coaches or Skill Sessions. Our program had a player join us in the 2022-23 season who came from a program in the CCHL where he was being charged for the team skills sessions in addition to his player tuition. Oftentimes the skills would be open ice time for the players to do what they wanted but no coach was present.
Another example of fees are regarding meals on the road. A few years back the EHL’s Commissioner, Neil Ravin, was handed cash for the team meal from a player selected to play in the EHL’s All Star College Series. Each year the College Series take some of the top players in the league to compete against NCAA Division II and III opponents. College tours, meals, room and board are provided by the EHL to those players. Its a tremendous experience- All-Star Series
When the cash was returned by Mr Ravin to the player, the player said to him, “sorry I didnt know, that’s how we did it in Wilkes- Barre”.
4. Short term housing
Many players make the Training Camp roster for teams in the NAHL only to have the rug pulled out from underneath them. They pay their airfare, moving and travel costs. Parents take time off work. When the player arrives at the Training Camp and the September 1 roster cuts hit, they find themselves having to immediately say goodbye to their host family that they’ve been living with a few days, pack up their gear and go find a new team. This happens every year and has happened to hundreds of players.
Drake Adams was a player in our program who left to pursue U18AAA and then the NAHL dream. He played a season (1/2 season) with Mason City in the NA3 and then earned a Training Camp spot with North Iowa. He soon was cut from North Iowa and encouraged to return to Mason City. Was the North Iowa opportunity ever a real chance to be on the team? I cant answer that… but the short lived nature with which he was returned and demoted to the NA3 affiliate speaks a lot about the organizations long term plans for him.
Drake Adams – Stats, Contract, Salary & More
5. Left in the wilderness
Once a player is cut from a team it is the players responsibility to get home. This is not a standardized practice by any means, but once a player is no longer on the team, the team has little to no responsibility to provide that player with safe travel home or to their new destination. I have personally heard of players who have been cut on the road trip to Alaska, where the NAHL has several teams operating- NAHL Standings | North American Hockey League | NAHL
This is a difficult arrangement, where the team is not dealing with a pro athlete who has a union and financial means. Additionally, the teams themselves operate on limited and shoestring budgets with only so much staff and resources available. However, telling a U20 player to “find a way home” somewhere on the continent of North America is a scary and dangerous endeavor. There has to be a better way.
By Andrew Trimble
Andrew is the GM/ Co- Owner of the New England Wolves- www.ne-wolveshockey.com
To Purchase Andrew’s new book, The Hockey Planner, follow this link- The Hockey Planner: A Year by Year Plan to Assist You on Your Hockey Coaching Journey: From Learn to Play to Junior Hockey: Trimble, Andrew: 9781963743395: Amazon.com: Books
