Can anyone tell me how the 18uAAA Valley Forge Minutemen have such a great year, go to nationals and do very well, get home and fold up the 18u division. You think they would try to build on this, possibly their Jr. program which struggles. What is the sense of getting high rankings if there is no longer a team.
gatesb75, that team existed because of the LaSalle connection. At least half of that team is either graduating HS this year or moving on. It was a HS friendly team that didn't practice much during the HS season. With the boys leaving, Wally about to become a father, I don't think they could sustain a team without that connection. Look at how their U16 team has struggled as an open tryout team???? With Junior teams continuing to grow, there are just too many teams and not enough talent (or talent with the money to pay the fees) to keep all these teams afloat without having some type of arrangement like this years U18 team had.
ralphy it is amazing how only 3 to 4 players moved on to possibly prep school. I know at least 4 signed by the jr. flyers 3 to 4 trying out for comcast. there are other options for getting coaching out there if they wanted to keep a core group together. As far as wally its great that he is having a kid but he doesn't make or break an organization. Don't want to get in any debates with you but Wally was lucky to to have a majority of AAA players on his team, usually a high school team is lucky enough to get 2 to 3 AAA players. I believe that teams like holy gost,roman,ryan and others would have had as many quality players to work with lasalle might not have run through the league that easy. just my opinion. Also you seem to forget that Wally had several quality players not on the lasalle team.other teams are also high school friendly. so where do you suggest all these 16 u players move onto. Because there is no lasalle connection you are saying the minutemen are done. Other teams in the 18u division also lost players does that mean they need to fold also.
It is very disappointing that JD either couldn't or wouldn't find a new caoch for the U18 team. Even through the U16 team didn't fare well there were a few kids on that team that were looking forward to the chance to move to the U18 team.
jerry will always be an enigma. he has repeatedly chased off good teams, coaches and kids for no apparent reason. oaks used ot have the colonials with 2 teams at each division along with the vfmm with a team at every major and minor fom squirt to mm. now he has two programs that are shells along wiht a junior program that is inconsistent at best. in the end it has hurt youth hockey in this area but there is nothing anyone can do.
My point was this years VFMM U18 team existed mainly because Wally/LaSalle used it as a way to keep more of their AAA players playing both club at a high level and HS. If it wasn't for that, I don't believe there would have been a VFMM U18 team this year in the first place. (Was there a VFMM U18 team in the 2006/07 season, I don't think there was).
Yes, 8 of the 19 players were not from LaSalle. And of course without Wally willing to continue as the coach, there are a few LaSalle players looking to still play club somewhere also.
Without the connection, It's simply not likely Domish would try and run a U18 team that would compete against his Junior teams for players. If the remaining players would have come up with a coach and enough players to make it run, JD is a business man, if it sells ice and doesn't interfere with his Jr teams, I'm sure he would have listened (don't know any of this for a fact, just a conjecture on my part.)
I never said the VFMM are done as an organization without that connection, not sure where you draw that conclusion from.
Look at how many U16AAA teams there are and how many U18AAA teams there are. Other than VFMM this year, Only the Junior Flyers have both Juniors and 18AAA, that's because of Bud and the JF ability to draw players. The Little Flyers dropped their U18 team when they added Junior teams. The other 4 18AAA teams do not have junior teams in their programs. If as an organization you're putting your efforts into a Jr program, you're not going to have a U18 team that competes against your jr program for the same players. Pretty soon I would suspect that U18 division of the atlantic league will disappear because of the Jr teams.
It's a shame for the U16 players that want to continue. Because of the lack of 18AAA teams across the board, there are alot of players that have to find other options. Junior B is one, the few remaining U18AAA is another. There are a lot of very good U18AA teams out there too.
In my opinion jr.b is only a way to get more money out of parents and parents fall right into it. there are many 18u teams that would beat most jr.b and some jr.A programs. most parents want there kids to play under a Jr. name so they can brag a bit. why get rid of 18u. They SHOULD BE LOOKING TO GET RID OF jr.B Look how many of them are around. is it really that hard for a kid to make a jr. B program. A kid can play JR.B anywhere within a close radius from home. Is the quality of kids really in the jr.b programs or should these so called scouts be looking at the 18u programs. Just my thoughts.
Don't mean to knock the jr. program. It's just having a son that is small with limited skills and coming off a 16u team his options are limited after being dedicated to one program most of his hockey days.
gatesb75, I don't disagree with you on the Jr/U18 programs. However, that's the way it's moving. On cost, Buds U18 team is $5300 for 08/09, that's a lot of cash (but Bud does a real good job getting exposure for his players), JF Jr B is $6000 (as are most Jr B programs). Jr B does cover travel and hotel expenses for the team. I didn't read through the JF U18 team to see if that is similar. I'm guessing there is still some travel involved not covered in the fee. The other U18AAA are probably about $4,000, but do not include travel expenses and hotels. Add in travel and hotels and you are still in the $5K to $6K range anyway. It's still alot of money no matter how you look at it.
My opinion, play 18AA for under $2K and save the rest for college. Good luck with your choices for your son.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: ralphy,
I agree, hit the 18AA route lots of teams and prices are fair.
I think your #'s above are off for Buds team or any other midget AAA team for total cost. Your talking 4-5K just tuition, with game travel for league and all those tournaments AAA teams especially buds your talking $5-10K more depending on if you travel with them and the family that much higher than Jr's. Most midget programs only give 2 practices a week also, most Jr teams get 3 practices a week.(Hotels, tournament fees, tolls, gas, food, etc) My sons old youth teams traveled like buds for years I have seen the damage it does to your pocket.. not saying it isnt worth it because lots of experiences in hockey and outside of hockey came along with the price tag.
Originally posted by Snipe: Got to agree with Ralphy about going the AA route for most. The team VFMM beat 3-2 in the quarterfinals lost to Hershey over President's Day weekend. The difference in level is not all that much anymore.
Snipe I seriously doubt this was the same Phantom team Hersey played. Mahoning Valley has a Midget Minor AA and a Midget Major AA as well. The team VFMM played are players who tried out for their NAHL team and did not make the cut.
Cost breakdown for Bud's team $5300. Includes cost for summitt training. All tournament fees, bus fees and airline ticket, practice jerseys, video of games, trainer for every home game. What is not included is hotels, Game uniform, transportation to games when not bused.
