That’s right kids, its time for me to call a spade a spade, or in this case call a liar a liar. See there are outright lies, there are half truths, and then there are lies by omission. Doesn’t matter how you do it, a lie is a lie when your recruiting, and holy crap batman there are some serious liars at work right now.
A couple of warning signs you might want to look for when you’re talking to a coach who is recruiting you at the Tier III or Pay To Play level…..
They talk about the “league” more than they talk about the “team”. Guess what kids, teams that don’t move kids along always talk about how many the “league” moves along. Then you guys usually walk away thinking that because the “league” moved kids on that the team you just spoke to moved kids on. Yeah, we like to call that success by association stories. Leagues don’t move kids on, people in organizations move kids on. I have a friend that won the lottery a few years ago but that don’t make me a freakin millionaire! Have you run into this type of coach yet this season? Oh yeah boy I bet you have.
How about the recruiter who talks about how many fans they get to games? You got to love this guy because fans don’t get kids moved up, scouts do. Try asking about how many scouts he has at games. Try asking what he does to get scouts to come to games. Yeah, a lot of them will have no clue and you got to ask these questions.
Here’s one I call the “History Teacher”. Yeah you know this guy, the one who lives so far in the past that he cant see the future. I coached so and so and he’s now in the NHL. I coached so and so and look at him now. See the problem is when he coached so and so it was when he was a freakin Pee Wee or Bantam and it was 10 or 15 years ago. No one cares what they did a decade ago, ask who they coached and moved on last year. It isn’t a lie to talk this way, but it sure doesn’t paint an accurate picture of the current state of the organization.
How about the guy who sells you on the dressing room being awesome. If you go for this one, you deserve to be on a shitty team. Sure you might hang out in the room a little hear and there, but you aren’t spending hours on end in the dressing room! Who cares. Weight facilities, film rooms and stuff like that is what you should be sold on. Sure Charlie we got an awesome room, but we have no clue how to even do a film session, don’t worry about that though we will put your name and number on that stall right there. Don’t forget to sign the contract and the check.
This one is for the young player……
How about the coach or recruiter who says its better for you to play against 20 yr old players than to play Midget AAA. Ok, this is the outright liar. If your 16 and can play AAA, you have no business playing Tier III. That’s right. Look at the USHL and NAHL draft kids. I mean really wake the hell up. Hell even the NAHL only drafted ONE player from the NA3HL this year and that’s their own league! They sure took a bunch from the NAPHL and other AAA programs though. The USHL took a bunch from AAA too. If you don’t have a AAA option, and you got cut from AAA teams, chances are you shouldn’t be looking to play junior anyway.
See the biggest lie in hockey right now is the one that organizations, coaches and players perpetuate all together. The biggest lie is that every player should have the ability to play junior hockey. Guess what kids, not everyone should because some of you are just bad hockey players. Some of you have parents that are still willing and able to keep writing checks, and that’s the only reason your playing.
Now before all you Tier III guys get your panties in a bunch saying I am against Tier III and start emailing like crazy. I am not against Tier III at all, I think its a great place for older players to get to school from and for a few players to use as a launching pad to higher levels of junior. But lets be real here, if your a good coach you know there are too many teams with too many players who don’t deserve to be playing.
Those teams can actually waste the resources of scouts who could be watching the good players and the good organizations. If one kid doesn’t get to school because resources are wasted scouting some bullshit team because the coach sold the scout on coming to watch, how is that right?
Parents and players better start doing the math. How many NCAA D-3 programs are out there? Go look it up. Now how many Tier III teams are out there? How many players on each Tier III team? Do the freakin math kids. And if you cant do the math you aint going to play NCAA hockey anyway!!! HA HA HA
David Wagner – The Angel Of Death – For Those Who Live Stupidly I salute You
*The Death Pool is a mix of comedy, and satire in connection with recent events. It is not an official report of current events although it may look as though the news is so accurate that it could one day happen or may be happening.
