Large showcases and recruiting opportunities are coming up this weekend and these next few weeks in the Junior Hockey World. Your prospective Jr player will be spoken to at these showcases by a variety of coaches, recruiters and scouts. In order to do your due diligence as a player or a parent, its important to peel back the onion and find the truth in each and every program you are being recruited by. Here are some helpful hints and red flags to avoid…
- Watch out for Organizations that Over Recruit. Look at past rosters on the leagues website for the team that is talking to your athlete. If their roster exceeds the league standard, (in USA hockey it is either 23 or 25) and outside of USA hockey hockey (USPHL, NCDC, EHL) it is 30 or slightly higher, then the coach who is recruiting for that team either takes more players than he is allowed to, or cut a number of kids to make room for another handful of players at some point in the season. Either way, its not a positive culture to have your son playing for a coach who enters the season knowingly breaking the league rules, and lies to you about his roster.
- Crazy Fact… one team in the EHL has 48 players on its regular season roster. Look it up. 2024-25 Regular season.
- Watch out for False Commitments. Some organizations list commitments or alumni without telling the full story. Some of these players “practiced” with the team or only played in “summer teams” with that organization. True Story. So look at Alumni and do a quick google search on some of the players they claim as their own.
- Crazy Fact… One USPHL South team lists players as Division 1 advancements who never played a single game at those Division 1 NCAA Schools.
- Look up Past Coach Histories. Ask your coach how long he has been with that organization. Where was he prior? If your coach has bounced around from place to place making lateral or descending moves with each stop, something is preventing him (or her) from having stability and long term success. If your coach was a disaster in one place and now is new in another place… whats to make you believe he can turn it around in this new place?
- Crazy Fact… One EHL Premier coach, who now coaches further south in New Hampshire, had this record when he coached in the Lakes Region of NH:
- 2005-06 season 3-36-0-3. 2006-07 season 5-37-0-2. Last place each season. WOW.
By Bill James
