quote:

HGP Fan said:
I hope not, that would not be good for AAA high school hockey. Compared to NJ Gordon, the league needs better teams. This year Delbarton, CBA and St Augustines were all in the same ballpark as Lasalle. Eustace, Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco, and Seton Hall were probably a little stronger then Malvern and HGP. The goal for the next 5 years would be to have a similar talent level to NJ Gordon.

I lived in North Jersey for 20 years Delbarton and CBA are real recruiting prep schools with no pretending to follow any "league values". They get the best and do "post grad" years for public school grads who want to enhance their exposure. St. Augustine is practically the only game in town in South Jersey so they have that advantage. Bottom line - we're not playing to that level around here. Except one school is trying.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Friar00,

quote:

Originally posted by Friar00:

quote:

HGP Fan said:
I hope not, that would not be good for AAA high school hockey. Compared to NJ Gordon, the league needs better teams. This year Delbarton, CBA and St Augustines were all in the same ballpark as Lasalle. Eustace, Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco, and Seton Hall were probably a little stronger then Malvern and HGP. The goal for the next 5 years would be to have a similar talent level to NJ Gordon.

I lived in North Jersey for 20 years Delbarton and CBA are real recruiting prep schools with no pretending to follow any "league values". They get the best and do "post grad" years for public school grads who want to enhance their exposure. St. Augustine is practically the only game in town in South Jersey so they have that advantage. Bottom line - we're not playing to that level around here. Except one school is trying.

They dont have post grads, and since they are governed by NJSIAA or whatever it is, they technically cant recruit. They probably have kids repeat a year, but so do schools around here. If you do transfer in NJ from another state eligible school, you sit out 30 days.

If they had post grads they would be lumped into the prep league, which is PDS, Mo-Beard, Hun. They defintely dont have high school graduates going there for a 5th year, but in some cases they may have kids in their 5th year of high school before they graduate. GA and Malvern have had this before though too.

Yea, St A's has no competition. BE isnt as close as you would think. BE is really putting a good team together too.

quote:

Originally posted by hgp fan:
They dont have post grads, and since they are governed by NJSIAA or whatever it is, they technically cant recruit. They probably have kids repeat a year, but so do schools around here. If you do transfer in NJ from another state eligible school, you sit out 30 days.

You may be right but all I know is that those 2 schools have more pro hockey player grads than our whole area combined.

quote:

Originally posted by hgp fan:
So there will be some parity now?

I hope not, that would not be good for AAA high school hockey. Compared to NJ Gordon, the league needs better teams. This year Delbarton, CBA and St Augustines were all in the same ballpark as Lasalle. Eustace, Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco, and Seton Hall were probably a little stronger then Malvern and HGP. The goal for the next 5 years would be to have a similar talent level to NJ Gordon.[/QUOTE]

I have a problem with this. Having elite and expensive schools like this competing for the AAA Flyers' Cup means that only the families with money can send their kids to these schools. Hockey in this area is a rare sport in that having money allows a player to develop faster because there is more ice time. If you live in the mid-west, New England or Canada, money isn't as much of a factor for ice time because there are out-door rinks everywhere.

I think if LaSalle, Ghost, Malvern, G.A., et. al. have the ability to recruit then they should not be permitted to compete in the Flyers' Cup. These clubs have the means $$$$ to travel and play top notch competition just like The Hill School, Lawrenceville and other elite prep schools. You don't see The Hill School or Lawrenceville competing for the Flyers' Cup because they would a "favorite" to win the tournament every year.

It will be interesting to see how LaSalle and St. Joe's Prep will manage in football now that the Catholic League is joining the P.I.A.A. and will have to follow all of their rules. Maybe the Flyers' Cup should adopt the P.I.A.A. rules.

Well your point that more money you have means you will be a better hockey player is wrong. I know alot of kids who had tons of money, and tons of resources, and they werent talented and didnt play with heart. I know alot of kids who werent well-off, and were tremendous hockey players. It comes down to athletic ability and practice. You can play open hockey 6 days a week at the Northeast Skatezone for under $10 a day. I will agree that school districts with more affluent residents tend to have better hockey teams, especially when they are close to a rink, because a good hockey team needs more then one good player.

Did you ever think that the parochial schools have an advantage over the private schools, because they charge less tuition, and have lower standards on admitting kids to their school, and have more kids in their school? That would mean they can reach the largest population of hockey players out of publics, privates and parochials. Maybe parochial schools have weaker coaching and a weaker board committee. I know several parachial schools who could be just as successful as some privates if they had better people running the program. Many of the privates have good players at the school. They also have great coaching, and thats not even getting into the education factor.

Hill and Lawrenceville have PG's. This is the reason they are not in the PIAA and one of the reasons they dont compete in the Flyers Cup. Plus, Hill and Lawrenceville are boarding schools. They can have kids on their team from anywhere in the world. Privates may have the ability to recruit, but the only kids they can recruit are the kids who can go to the school as day students.....the same kids who can attend parochials.

Anyone can recruit. For example, if a kid goes a parochial school, and lives in a district that should have a good hockey team the following year, the public school would be crazy not to "recruit" that player, to transfer to the public school and make them stronger.

Friar00 et al,

The "one school that is trying" is riding a high cycle from two strong classes, their current Jr's and Sr's. Particularly the top jr's all came from one club program, when their team decided not to continue on at the club level (91 minutemen), they all decided to go to the same HS. Originally their VFMM coach was going to coach them their freshman year, then he backed out at the last minute. They are kids that played together for many years and wanted to stay together, they chose to go there along with some of the 90's they played with over the years. When some of those jr's leave for prep schools at the end of this year, you'll see the program drop back next year. If you noticed there are only 4 freshman on the top two teams, two of which have brothers that were already playing in the program. If there was heavy recruiting going on, you would expect to see that group as much larger, looking to replace this years seniors after a year in the program.

The current run is from a group of very good players who wanted to stay together, a coup for the school. Beyond that, I don't see the heavy recruiting you are talking about, no different than the recruiting you see for MP,HGP etc. MP had their association with the JF through Graves, which brought them multiple flyers cups. LaSalle had theirs with the VFMM through the boys that came from that organization, which now will appear to end this year.

quote:

Originally posted by ralphy:
Friar00 et al,
The "one school that is trying" is riding a high cycle from two strong classes.

I wasn't complaining, my son plays with LCHS two sophomores on club team. It is what it is. The very gaudy 4 varsity team last year suggests a little more. At MP the most we had was 3 and now just 2.

This whole topic is a matter of degrees of recruiting.

Boarding Schools (full recruiting): Hill, Lawrenceville, Wyoming Seminary
Day Preps (hush-hush recruiting for some sports): Inter-Acs, Salesianum, Quaker Schools (George, Westtown, etc.), Academy of the New Church, St. Joe’s, LaSalle, HGP, etc.
Parochials (some minor recruiting)
Publics (supposed no recruiting) [in Western PA if you were good at football you dad could get a job in another school district]

There’s a reason for AAA, AA, & A in hockey and it doesn’t work that badly.

No problem Friar00, just as an FYI, last years 4 varsity teams wasn't the intent of LS, Suburban League forced the last team to be Varsity instead of JV (note that team won 4 games all year in an overall weak Varsity A league). This year LSCHS is the same as MP, two varsity and 1 JV, which just shows you that the cycle is beginning the downside.