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Originally Posted By CypressCity: Grew up playing in Minnesota and played college hockey at Iowa State. Hockey turned into a lifelong passion for me and I'm still playing beer league w/ the boys at 41 yrs of age and loving it. View Quote Sorry OP, I have no advice or help for you. Just wanted to say by his age, I watched @CypressCity play at Iowa State between drinking in the parking lot during intermissions. |
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Life is tough, it's even tougher if you're stupid.
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My kids don't play, but I have two full bags of kids gear from them giving it a shot. Most NHL teams sponsor the youth programs with free gear for their learn to play. I would recommend doing hand-me-downs from Facebook or something first until they get the hang of it. Do the NHL sponsored program to get the nicer free gear after that once they get serious because it'a nicer and they always want new stuff. It will probably last a little bit longer and you can go one size up on gear to make it last even longer if your kid is growing quickly.
The kids gear is insane and a lot of it costs more than men's gear, except skates. |
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Originally Posted By Jarcese: My kids don't play, but I have two full bags of kids gear from them giving it a shot. Most NHL teams sponsor the youth programs with free gear for their learn to play. I would recommend doing hand-me-downs from Facebook or something first until they get the hang of it. Do the NHL sponsored program to get the nicer free gear after that once they get serious because it'a nicer and they always want new stuff. It will probably last a little bit longer and you can go one size up on gear to make it last even longer if your kid is growing quickly. The kids gear is insane and a lot of it costs more than men's gear, except skates. View Quote kids gear is way way way cheaper than men's. Each bump from youth to intermediate to junior to senior comes with a nice little price increase. |
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Originally Posted By captblue1: kids gear is way way way cheaper than men's. Each bump from youth to intermediate to junior to senior comes with a nice little price increase. View Quote Then it's big $$$$ time. |
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A bunch of good info here, but I’ll add a few more things I didn’t see mentioned.
At your daughter’s age the pads are really there to protect against falls, no need for any thing extravagant. Will echo others that the rental skates are beyond bad for multiple reasons let alone for the fact they probably have zero edge. If she sticks with it, yes good skates are a must, but at age 5, a mid tier skate (cost wise) is perfectly fine. Get her signed up for an ADM program. This is USA hockey’s American development model. They’ve done a really good job of standardizing this across the country in terms of what skills the kids should be focused on at this age group. Cost really isn’t too bad when the kids are that young, but it’s a definite bait and switch as they get older and want to keep playing. My son is entering his first year of 14u, has played since he’s 5 and was on the ice a lot younger than that. I’ve been coaching since he started playing ADM and am heading into my 2nd year as head coach. I also played growing up, but things have changed immensely since then. If you any specific questions, shoot me a PM, happy to give you my thoughts. |
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Originally Posted By jasoncar40: Sorry OP, I have no advice or help for you. Just wanted to say by his age, I watched @CypressCity play at Iowa State between drinking in the parking lot during intermissions. View Quote lol what years were you there? I played in the early 2000's in the old and new rink. |
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Just spent the weekend down in Belgium for a U15 tournament. Definitely a different vibe than back home, but there was some good hockey.
My sons' team is basically a select team from three different Dutch teams. They were 6-1-1 on the weekend, winning the 1st place game against Antwerp. Games were 20 minute, running clock with no icing. So, the play was pretty quick given the larger ice surface. Our goalie will probably end up in Sweden, Germany, or maybe the NAHL in the US in the next couple seasons. The kid is probably 6'2" at barely 14 years old. Awesome skill and a good kid overall. |
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Originally Posted By ZitiForBreakfast: I grew up playing AA-junior hockey. I coached and trained. My son played AAA. Hockey is the best sport to raise a child in. Girls/ Women's hockey offers them a ton of options. Older leagues subsidize the younger leagues to keep the back fill coming in. If she doesn't plan on trying to take it far, let the off season be the off season and encourage other sports. Throw your wallet out, you're not going to need it anymore. View Quote Same, AA/AAA level growing up. Didn't bother with Juniors, I was going nowhere. I would recommend hockey to ANY parent with kids who could afford the costs. House leagues are great, and a LOT of fun! Once you get to more competitive levels, it will consume you and your families lives . Between the hotel stays, flights, long car rides, monday morning naps in class, annoying/asshole parents, and politics (especially with high level youth hockey), it is a LOT. But I wouldn't trade my time/memories with the boys for anything. The sport made me into the person I am today. I miss it. |
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Originally Posted By captblue1: kids gear is way way way cheaper than men's. Each bump from youth to intermediate to junior to senior comes with a nice little price increase. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By captblue1: Originally Posted By Jarcese: My kids don't play, but I have two full bags of kids gear from them giving it a shot. Most NHL teams sponsor the youth programs with free gear for their learn to play. I would recommend doing hand-me-downs from Facebook or something first until they get the hang of it. Do the NHL sponsored program to get the nicer free gear after that once they get serious because it'a nicer and they always want new stuff. It will probably last a little bit longer and you can go one size up on gear to make it last even longer if your kid is growing quickly. The kids gear is insane and a lot of it costs more than men's gear, except skates. kids gear is way way way cheaper than men's. Each bump from youth to intermediate to junior to senior comes with a nice little price increase. Understood. I meant they usually don't have lower tier of whatever brand equipment for youth in a store like Pure Hockey. The lower tier gear that most men like is cheaper than the gear your kids are going to make you buy. Of course you can buy men's gear that blows the price of every other gear out of the water. The youth and parents prefer expensive stuff with more padding while men prefer cheaper and less padding. Nobody has even mentioned sticks yet. The kids absolutely have to have the best sticks for some reason once they get past beginner. You're probably going to be into it for at least $400 a year in sticks once they get past 10 years old. |
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The gear is the cheap part. IIRC if they really get into it, the travel will kill you. Gas + hotels + restaurants + time. At one point it seemed like a job for my aunt and uncle. Cousin played in gradeschool and high-school. Traveling may have been caused by the lack of local teams?
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Originally Posted By SuperHeavy: The gear is the cheap part. IIRC if they really get into it, the travel will kill you. Gas + hotels + restaurants + time. At one point it seemed like a job for my aunt and uncle. Cousin played in gradeschool and high-school. Traveling may have been caused by the lack of local teams? View Quote Around here club is way more popular than town youth and there's a rink every 10 miles. The kids can play youth still, but the chances of playing with friends is diminished. The time commitment these days is insane. |
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If she is good you will be spending more on hockey than your house payment. It is pretty inexpensive in the beginning.
And you won’t mind it at all |
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Originally Posted By Jarcese: Understood. I meant they usually don't have lower tier of whatever brand equipment for youth in a store like Pure Hockey. The lower tier gear that most men like is cheaper than the gear your kids are going to make you buy. Of course you can buy men's gear that blows the price of every other gear out of the water. The youth and parents prefer expensive stuff with more padding while men prefer cheaper and less padding. Nobody has even mentioned sticks yet. The kids absolutely have to have the best sticks for some reason once they get past beginner. You're probably going to be into it for at least $400 a year in sticks once they get past 10 years old. View Quote They have lower tier for youth as well. I just looked, the cheapest youth shoulder pads on PureHockey is $10. As far as sticks, I know a guy that knows a guy. I can get high end sticks for $160-180. Me and my kids have Hyperlite2s and Hyperlites |
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Originally Posted By ZitiForBreakfast: I grew up playing AA-junior hockey. I coached and trained. My son played AAA. Hockey is the best sport to raise a child in. Girls/ Women's hockey offers them a ton of options. Older leagues subsidize the younger leagues to keep the back fill coming in. If she doesn't plan on trying to take it far, let the off season be the off season and encourage other sports. Throw your wallet out, you're not going to need it anymore. View Quote Dek hockey is more my budget. |
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“Liberalism, the noble annihilator, has hollowed out every institution, every binding force, every social failsafe and backstop, and its agents feign surprise when the liberating infanticide it promotes is taken to its next logical step.”
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Lots of travel and lots of money. Looks fun though, if you can handle the time and money involved.
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If someone ever says to you, "Can I connect you to Verizon Wireless Roadside Assistance?" They are making a direct threat on your life.
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Hey travel hockey parents, what's your craziest travel story as far as getting to a tournament or game goes?
Up until this point mine was driving back to NoVA from Ottawa through a crazy ice storm just outside Ft Drum. It was around 19:00 and pitch black because it was January. Huge deer jumps right in front of us and I barely missed the damn thing. If we hit it we would have been screwed. In June we're headed to Sheffield, England and will be take an overnight ferry from Rotterdam to Hull so we can drive our LHD cars. Should be about 70 miles to Sheffield once we make landfall. |
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Originally Posted By helmet91: Hey travel hockey parents, what's your craziest travel story as far as getting to a tournament or game goes? Up until this point mine was driving back to NoVA from Ottawa through a crazy ice storm just outside Ft Drum. It was around 19:00 and pitch black because it was January. Huge deer jumps right in front of us and I barely missed the damn thing. If we hit it we would have been screwed. In June we're headed to Sheffield, England and will be take an overnight ferry from Rotterdam to Hull so we can drive our LHD cars. Should be about 70 miles to Sheffield once we make landfall. View Quote We played a tournament in Charleston. There was a small snow storm on the way home. I should have been home at around midnight. I didn't get home until around 4am. The area around DC had maybe an inch of snow. It was like the apocalypse. There were cars abandon on the side of the road. Cars off the road. Cars spinning out. My son's team made and won the championship earlier that day. If they would have lost the game in the morning, I would have made it home and missed all of that. Oh well |
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Originally Posted By helmet91: Hey travel hockey parents, what's your craziest travel story as far as getting to a tournament or game goes? Up until this point mine was driving back to NoVA from Ottawa through a crazy ice storm just outside Ft Drum. It was around 19:00 and pitch black because it was January. Huge deer jumps right in front of us and I barely missed the damn thing. If we hit it we would have been screwed. In June we're headed to Sheffield, England and will be take an overnight ferry from Rotterdam to Hull so we can drive our LHD cars. Should be about 70 miles to Sheffield once we make landfall. View Quote This year we played in an "outdoor" tourney in Buffalo. Very cool rink that was right on the Buffalo River. Our boys played a night game that was in the teens. The day we're supposed to come back we decide to run up to Niagra Falls (having never been there) We check out the falls and, as we're leaving, get a call that our flight from Buffalo is going to be delayed. Which means we won't make our connection at LaGuardia. But, that's ok, because we can just hang out in LaGuardia for 10 hours until the next flight. Umm...no. My wife spent 2 hours on the phone until we were able to change our flight to Detroit and home. Ended up getting home about 30 minutes later than we would've. Thanks United. |
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"You want perfection, or nothing. The revolution was never perfect....We fight because we believe, we leave because we are disilliusioned, we come back because we are lost, we die because we are committed.
- Jesus Raza, The Professionals |
She will go through gear quickly as she grows
Don’t worry about brand now, make sure it fits Don’t skimp on the helmet It’s fun and I and my kids love hockey. Prepare your checkbook though, it is not a cheap sport. |
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Originally Posted By bigbore:
The price for having a dog in your life isn't counted in vet bills and food, its a one time fee paid in tears. Worth every drop. |
Tattoo'd and Voted #1 in blind taste tests.
TX, USA
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Originally Posted By helmet91: Hey travel hockey parents, what's your craziest travel story as far as getting to a tournament or game goes? View Quote Having Chris Pronger back into my car at a Mexican Restaurant at Notre Dame. Our kids teams would end up playing against each other in the Final. We lost by 2. Our travels were pretty much uneventful...Got used to the white knuckle driving along Southfield Freeway making our way to Allen park |
(_@___]]~~ It is better to smoke here, than here after. Grab a cigar.
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Originally Posted By JLH3: This year we played in an "outdoor" tourney in Buffalo. Very cool rink that was right on the Buffalo River. Our boys played a night game that was in the teens. The day we're supposed to come back we decide to run up to Niagra Falls (having never been there) We check out the falls and, as we're leaving, get a call that our flight from Buffalo is going to be delayed. Which means we won't make our connection at LaGuardia. But, that's ok, because we can just hang out in LaGuardia for 10 hours until the next flight. Umm...no. My wife spent 2 hours on the phone until we were able to change our flight to Detroit and home. Ended up getting home about 30 minutes later than we would've. Thanks United. View Quote we played at that rink in a tournament this year too. It was extremely cold. Fun though |
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Buffalo River Works is awesome. We had a blast at a tournament there in late 2019. Pretty fun to bring up a bunch of Virginia kids to win the whole thing against NY and ON teams.
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