Okay, so it doesn’t take some rocket scientist to see who the best players are on the ice in any game. I mean when you see a kid scoring goals, making plays, or stopping pucks, he is having a good game and its easy to see.
Now I am not some kind of expert when it comes to scouting. I will admit I am new to it, and only just began my field training as a scout a few weeks ago. But really kids, any 10 year old hockey fan can pick out the best player on the ice right?
So will someone explain to me then why the hell the best players on the ice at tryout camps are not being selected for the teams?! I mean really kids, my first full weekend in the field has me just completely baffled in how some teams are picking the players for their roster.
I watched more than 300 players this weekend at a few camps, took my notes, filled out scouting reports, made what I felt would have been cuts down to all star games, and then made what I thought would be 30 man rosters. Holy crap Chester did I get a bunch of players wrong!
So I’m sitting back at the hotel with my mentor, going over my list and all that stuff. Then we go over his list and it was definitely different in some ways, but in many ways it was similar. Turns out we both had a number of players making the all star games, and then 30 man rosters that didn’t even make the all star games. I was totally confused.
That’s when the learning began.
When we looked at who actually made the all star games and then cut downs to 30 or 25, it was like a light shined down and a choir of angels began to sing.
Some of the players I picked may have looked great on the ice, but the resume on paper was not something that got you excited. That’s right kids, turns out your resume is pretty damn important. Not only how you performed on the ice the last few years, but the program you are coming from and the competition you faced while in that program. Yep, your grade on paper for hockey is just like your grade on paper when it comes to school.
So, here I sit, and I am seeing a player who dominates another kid all weekend, not make a team and I am saying what the hell is going on here?
Then I compare the resume’s and I am told how some kids who are coming from traditionally high profile programs will get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to camps. Even after I watch some kid from a small program completely dominate another kid from a big time program for three days, the kid with the better resume makes the team!
All this happens because so many kids are picked at pee wee and bantam as players who dominate at that level and they continue to get pushed forward sometimes regardless of how they continue to develop. Yep, just like the football players in college who cant read but get on the deans list because people push them through. What a load of crap eh kids?
So I dug a little deeper on some of these kids. Some hadn’t gotten any better or any bigger for the last few seasons, but they were in high profile programs and they moved along. Some kids who dominated in smaller less known programs were always dominating, and didn’t make the team.
Its pretty messed up if you ask me when a good player doesn’t move along because of where he comes from. It’s like saying an honor role student from a public school in Flint Michigan doesn’t deserve a scholarship to Yale because some other kid went to Detroit Catholic Central, even though the kid from Flint has better grades and test scores.
The whole process is pretty screwed up if you ask me. Trying to project where some 13 year old is going to be at 18 or 20 doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for most people.
No one can accurately just predict growth. Shit when I was 13 I was 4’11”, a shrimp compared to a lot of my friends, but by the time I was 18 I was 6’1″. My mom was 5’4″ and my dad was 5’10”, think anyone would have predicted me to end up nearly 6’2″?
So you got a 50 goal scorer in first year bantam who is a 20 goal scorer in midget major. That show a lot of growth kids? Not to me. Shows me he dominated at an early age and has pretty much tailed off when going against the other kids who dominated at an early age.
Are things going to change? I doubt it. It will take a coach with some pretty big balls to cut the kid who has been pushed along and keep the kid who no one knows about on a consistent basis. It happens once in a while, but not regularly.
I am willing to bet though that if some coach came along who had the balls to do it, he would probably win a few championships. Some of the kids I saw cut are now going to play Tier III, or going back to play midget or will hang them up.
Just goes to show you mom’s and dad’s, it makes a difference where you come from and you cant cut corners if you want to reach the higher levels.
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.
