Its mid August, and players are preparing to head around the world to there respective teams for the upcoming 2024-2025 season. The sun is shining and arena managers are working hard to make sure that the ice is maintained and ready.
And then you have the teams who worked hard from April through early August preparing and recruiting to have a successful season.
On the other hand, you have teams that didnt work hard or get to work on time recruiting who are now struggling to fill rosters.
While having the CAJHL go dark this season certainly helped some teams in Western Canada fill rosters with local players, it didnt even measure a ripple on the big lake of pay to play teams across the rest of North America. With no less than a dozen expansion teams in pay to play, that we know of, the annual player crisis is arriving to teams near you now.
TJHN is aware of no less than sixteen teams at various pay to play locations that could not put a team on the ice if they had to play a game today. And those are just the teams that we are aware of.
Dont be fooled by long standing team reputations this year players and parents. There are teams you would never imagine having roster issues. Then again there are also several of the annual stragglers that we can rely on who will carry six goalies in order to keep them afloat and payroll made.
Also contributing to the last minute scramble for players, are the players and parents who are needed to fill these roster spots. Unlike in years past when teams could be blamed solely for bad recruiting and ineptitude, players and parents have been holding out for better financial offers on tuition.
In the United States, one team we are aware of is holding on to a tuition price tag of $15,000.00 USD for tuition. The team was bad last year, and will be bad again this year. While the competition in their own league has discounted tuition down to $7,000.00. Even better is that competitors in rival leagues within their footprint are now down to $5,000.00 in some cases.
Imagine how quickly players and parent will decide between the $15,000 and $5,000 teams. There is no way anyone can cost justify being ten thousand dollars better than the competition. Oh, and did I forget to mention, players have to drive themselves to games?
If you’re thinking “WTF?”, you’re not alone. Many teams now, are cutting costs with the elimination of coach buses. While I would agree that a leasurely drive twenty minutes down the road doesnt require a bus, anything an hour or more should require one.
Word to the wise? Be careful. Read the fine print. Know exactly what you are paying for. A deal, is not always a deal when you have to give up quality. It is now a buyers market. Make sure you understand exactly what you are buying, or the purchase you make in August could be one that simply vanishes in September or October.
