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Guest wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 2:09 pm
It’s generating a lot of money too!
Along with the prep skate and birthday skates!!!!
Where is this money going? Rep fees certainly ain't going down.............
The whole tryout process will need to be streamlined somehow. It puts a lot of financial pressure on families to go to 3-4 or more tryouts for different centers, costing up to 200$ for tryouts. I bet some families paid 2-3000$ for tryouts if they had multiple kids. The whole rep model will need to be adjusted to account for this.
One way to fix it would be to have the AAA centers control all the rep from AAA to B, kids would enter the system for any AAA center they wanted and move down the line and end up at the appropriate level. AAA centers would then look at the amount of kids at an age group and figure out how many teams to make, and split them up geographically. For example, Peterborough would take the 5-6 smaller centers around them and make 1 AAA team, 1-2 AA teams, 2-3 A teams and 3-4 B teams. It would then be up to the organization to spilt up kids and place them appropriately, they would then need to balance teams by skill but also place kids with the kids that live closest to them, and use the facilities in that area. Organizations would then handle the parents and could deal with situations on an individual bases(ie. this kids doesn't get along with a coach, the org could move the kid to a different team). For something like this to work, OHF or OMHA would need to hire hockey directors for organizations that would be a paid position and give them a budget.
We are getting to the point now where we can't continue to run things strictly by volunteers, and money will need to be invested to make things work better both at the local level and provincially.
I think this is a good idea but there are too many fifedoms to make it work.
I personally believe that there are too many rep teams and that when you get to the bottom end of BB, they are really house league players with some of them not even being able to make a house league select team.
There should be consistency within organizations - each level should be represented AAA - AA - A - BB - B, in turn this would make smaller organizations amalgamate in to larger organizations.
This will never happen because there are too many people making money.
Guest wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 10:35 am
Having complete open border tryouts has caused further professionalization of rep minor hockey. Just like Junior hockey, minor hockey players are now moving all over the place just to play lower level (A/BB) rep hockey. Player movement has become a bit of a carousel. 50-60 players, 10+ goalies from multiple centres just to play A or BB hockey in the Lakeshore OMHA area. Continuity is lost. Loyalty is lost. Hometown pride is lost. Local teams can be made up entirely of players who don’t even live in the communities they’re playing for. Clubs can work at developing players, but the reality is players could end up being one-&-done. Players & coaches will both become cutthroat & ruthless. In my opinion they’ve let the pendulum swing too far the other way by letting the floodgates open. Allowing some free movement but having a set cap on ‘imports’ would have been a better option.
There definitely has to be some restrictions put in place to not have such a free for all
Some suggestions?
-a central tryout registration system
-a limit on the # of teams you can try out for
-a maximum import
-a multi year commitment
-can only try out for current level and 1 level up
I don't think that players should be restricted to their backyard arena but it's also not fair for 50 players and 10 goalies are able to try out for teams.
There has to be a happy medium somewhere but all I see if associations cashing in big time doubling and tripling the # of kids trying out.
Guest wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 10:35 am
Having complete open border tryouts has caused further professionalization of rep minor hockey. Just like Junior hockey, minor hockey players are now moving all over the place just to play lower level (A/BB) rep hockey. Player movement has become a bit of a carousel. 50-60 players, 10+ goalies from multiple centres just to play A or BB hockey in the Lakeshore OMHA area. Continuity is lost. Loyalty is lost. Hometown pride is lost. Local teams can be made up entirely of players who don’t even live in the communities they’re playing for. Clubs can work at developing players, but the reality is players could end up being one-&-done. Players & coaches will both become cutthroat & ruthless. In my opinion they’ve let the pendulum swing too far the other way by letting the floodgates open. Allowing some free movement but having a set cap on ‘imports’ would have been a better option.
There definitely has to be some restrictions put in place to not have such a free for all
Some suggestions?
-a central tryout registration system
-a limit on the # of teams you can try out for
-a maximum import
-a multi year commitment
-can only try out for current level and 1 level up
I don't think that players should be restricted to their backyard arena but it's also not fair for 50 players and 10 goalies are able to try out for teams.
There has to be a happy medium somewhere but all I see if associations cashing in big time doubling and tripling the # of kids trying out.
OHF did a rip the band-aid off approach with this. This year was a mess and hopefully in future years things will settle down. I've seen a lot of crazy things this year, including AA and AAA kids trying out for B teams. Kids trying out for 5 or 6 teams, and driving ridiculous distances for teams, it's been a wild tryout season. I think they will need to put some guidelines and rules in place to make this work for everyone. My guess is the eventual outcome is that we are left with 3 levels, AAA, AA and A and that will be it. Logically it will make sense to have teams move up and down levels depending on how well they do in the season.
The way things were done and letting kids choose whatever level they wanted was not the right approach in my opinion. There will be huge blowouts this year with some of the teams, many teams struggled to get kids out to tryouts while other centers had to divide kids up because there were so many. I love that families can choose where they want to play and organizations will now be held accountable with the decisions that they make, but it's going to take some time and and bit of tweaking by OHF to make this work best for everyone.
Guest wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 10:35 am
Having complete open border tryouts has caused further professionalization of rep minor hockey. Just like Junior hockey, minor hockey players are now moving all over the place just to play lower level (A/BB) rep hockey. Player movement has become a bit of a carousel. 50-60 players, 10+ goalies from multiple centres just to play A or BB hockey in the Lakeshore OMHA area. Continuity is lost. Loyalty is lost. Hometown pride is lost. Local teams can be made up entirely of players who don’t even live in the communities they’re playing for. Clubs can work at developing players, but the reality is players could end up being one-&-done. Players & coaches will both become cutthroat & ruthless. In my opinion they’ve let the pendulum swing too far the other way by letting the floodgates open. Allowing some free movement but having a set cap on ‘imports’ would have been a better option.
There definitely has to be some restrictions put in place to not have such a free for all
Some suggestions?
-a central tryout registration system
-a limit on the # of teams you can try out for
-a maximum import
-a multi year commitment
-can only try out for current level and 1 level up
I don't think that players should be restricted to their backyard arena but it's also not fair for 50 players and 10 goalies are able to try out for teams.
There has to be a happy medium somewhere but all I see if associations cashing in big time doubling and tripling the # of kids trying out.
OHF did a rip the band-aid off approach with this. This year was a mess and hopefully in future years things will settle down. I've seen a lot of crazy things this year, including AA and AAA kids trying out for B teams. Kids trying out for 5 or 6 teams, and driving ridiculous distances for teams, it's been a wild tryout season. I think they will need to put some guidelines and rules in place to make this work for everyone. My guess is the eventual outcome is that we are left with 3 levels, AAA, AA and A and that will be it. Logically it will make sense to have teams move up and down levels depending on how well they do in the season.
The way things were done and letting kids choose whatever level they wanted was not the right approach in my opinion. There will be huge blowouts this year with some of the teams, many teams struggled to get kids out to tryouts while other centers had to divide kids up because there were so many. I love that families can choose where they want to play and organizations will now be held accountable with the decisions that they make, but it's going to take some time and and bit of tweaking by OHF to make this work best for everyone.
Who cares how many teams or money spent trying out for specific teams? Teams like WW, APR, Quinte & Peterborough were made well before tryouts. That leaves many kids who are equal if not better that were left off due to the usual nonsense, not in the inner circle when they had bday skates. They move elsewhere and will have to drive so their daughters/sons can play at the appropriate level. Look at North Shore, they have 2 goalies who would challenge to make a BB center playing AAA? Where should all the other caliber goalies go? This is why parents wanted open borders to get away from coaches who have no idea how to select or evaluate player talent even at a U10 age. Not everyone wants to join every coaches hockey school to have an in at the tryout stage....how about centers not taking coaches who have conflicts with their private hockey schools. That the bigger issue than open borders...
Guest wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 10:35 am
Having complete open border tryouts has caused further professionalization of rep minor hockey. Just like Junior hockey, minor hockey players are now moving all over the place just to play lower level (A/BB) rep hockey. Player movement has become a bit of a carousel. 50-60 players, 10+ goalies from multiple centres just to play A or BB hockey in the Lakeshore OMHA area. Continuity is lost. Loyalty is lost. Hometown pride is lost. Local teams can be made up entirely of players who don’t even live in the communities they’re playing for. Clubs can work at developing players, but the reality is players could end up being one-&-done. Players & coaches will both become cutthroat & ruthless. In my opinion they’ve let the pendulum swing too far the other way by letting the floodgates open. Allowing some free movement but having a set cap on ‘imports’ would have been a better option.
There definitely has to be some restrictions put in place to not have such a free for all
Some suggestions?
-a central tryout registration system
-a limit on the # of teams you can try out for
-a maximum import
-a multi year commitment
-can only try out for current level and 1 level up
I don't think that players should be restricted to their backyard arena but it's also not fair for 50 players and 10 goalies are able to try out for teams.
There has to be a happy medium somewhere but all I see if associations cashing in big time doubling and tripling the # of kids trying out.
OHF did a rip the band-aid off approach with this. This year was a mess and hopefully in future years things will settle down. I've seen a lot of crazy things this year, including AA and AAA kids trying out for B teams. Kids trying out for 5 or 6 teams, and driving ridiculous distances for teams, it's been a wild tryout season. I think they will need to put some guidelines and rules in place to make this work for everyone. My guess is the eventual outcome is that we are left with 3 levels, AAA, AA and A and that will be it. Logically it will make sense to have teams move up and down levels depending on how well they do in the season.
The way things were done and letting kids choose whatever level they wanted was not the right approach in my opinion. There will be huge blowouts this year with some of the teams, many teams struggled to get kids out to tryouts while other centers had to divide kids up because there were so many. I love that families can choose where they want to play and organizations will now be held accountable with the decisions that they make, but it's going to take some time and and bit of tweaking by OHF to make this work best for everyone.
The whiners wanted open borders, they got it.
the only people upset with open boarders are the so called "volunteers " who now have lost their ability to control people , power tripping exec's and coach's now have to either step up their game and provide a decent place to play or they won't be able to ice a decent team
Guest wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 10:35 am
Having complete open border tryouts has caused further professionalization of rep minor hockey. Just like Junior hockey, minor hockey players are now moving all over the place just to play lower level (A/BB) rep hockey. Player movement has become a bit of a carousel. 50-60 players, 10+ goalies from multiple centres just to play A or BB hockey in the Lakeshore OMHA area. Continuity is lost. Loyalty is lost. Hometown pride is lost. Local teams can be made up entirely of players who don’t even live in the communities they’re playing for. Clubs can work at developing players, but the reality is players could end up being one-&-done. Players & coaches will both become cutthroat & ruthless. In my opinion they’ve let the pendulum swing too far the other way by letting the floodgates open. Allowing some free movement but having a set cap on ‘imports’ would have been a better option.
There definitely has to be some restrictions put in place to not have such a free for all
Some suggestions?
-a central tryout registration system
-a limit on the # of teams you can try out for
-a maximum import
-a multi year commitment
-can only try out for current level and 1 level up
I don't think that players should be restricted to their backyard arena but it's also not fair for 50 players and 10 goalies are able to try out for teams.
There has to be a happy medium somewhere but all I see if associations cashing in big time doubling and tripling the # of kids trying out.
OHF did a rip the band-aid off approach with this. This year was a mess and hopefully in future years things will settle down. I've seen a lot of crazy things this year, including AA and AAA kids trying out for B teams. Kids trying out for 5 or 6 teams, and driving ridiculous distances for teams, it's been a wild tryout season. I think they will need to put some guidelines and rules in place to make this work for everyone. My guess is the eventual outcome is that we are left with 3 levels, AAA, AA and A and that will be it. Logically it will make sense to have teams move up and down levels depending on how well they do in the season.
The way things were done and letting kids choose whatever level they wanted was not the right approach in my opinion. There will be huge blowouts this year with some of the teams, many teams struggled to get kids out to tryouts while other centers had to divide kids up because there were so many. I love that families can choose where they want to play and organizations will now be held accountable with the decisions that they make, but it's going to take some time and and bit of tweaking by OHF to make this work best for everyone.
The whiners wanted open borders, they got it.
the only people upset with open boarders are the so called "volunteers " who now have lost their ability to control people , power tripping exec's and coach's now have to either step up their game and provide a decent place to play or they won't be able to ice a decent team
should have happened years ago !
I don't think they are actually upset with open borders as from what I'm hearing is that tryouts have been packed with a ton of kids, which means more money. They will give up the control for the money in a heartbeat.
I'm sure there will be a few adjustments to open borders because you can't have 50+ kids trying out for a handful of spots.
AA tryouts at our centre consisted of almost 80 kids. Kids trying out for AA when realistically a lot of them were A players at best. Should a new rule be, you can only tryout for a level one above from where you played the previous year? The current set up allows familes to pay the single tryout fee and get upwards of 6 skates if your kid is a BB/House league player. The associations don't care because it just lines their pockets. I am sure the OHF will make a few adjustments as they said they would be in the initial open borders announcement.
Guest wrote: ↑Thu May 22, 2025 11:18 am
AA tryouts at our centre consisted of almost 80 kids. Kids trying out for AA when realistically a lot of them were A players at best. Should a new rule be, you can only tryout for a level one above from where you played the previous year? The current set up allows familes to pay the single tryout fee and get upwards of 6 skates if your kid is a BB/House league player. The associations don't care because it just lines their pockets. I am sure the OHF will make a few adjustments as they said they would be in the initial open borders announcement.
Too many soft players trying out for AAA, same kids over and over again. I’m embarrassed for the kids.
Guest wrote: ↑Thu May 22, 2025 11:18 am
AA tryouts at our centre consisted of almost 80 kids. Kids trying out for AA when realistically a lot of them were A players at best. Should a new rule be, you can only tryout for a level one above from where you played the previous year? The current set up allows familes to pay the single tryout fee and get upwards of 6 skates if your kid is a BB/House league player. The associations don't care because it just lines their pockets. I am sure the OHF will make a few adjustments as they said they would be in the initial open borders announcement.
Too many soft players trying out for AAA, same kids over and over again. I’m embarrassed for the kids.
Some parents also do this so their kids get cheap ice time with good instruction. I think it's totally wrong to attend when you are not legitimately trying out for the team.
I've seen this with house league select tryouts and it's frustrating because while the extra ice time will help the player, it takes time away from evaluating 2 or 3 players who I may have to chose between. As a coach and evaluator, I'd rather have 20 kids tryout and have to pick my last 2 spot between 7 kids than to have 50 and make a few thousand bucks. Guaranteed with 50+ kids, I'm going to miss on a few of them, and have a weaker team.
I could care less about making extra money. Looking to put the best team possible on the ice. If I have 30-35 players, but know more than half of them, it's not too bad but having 35 players and you only know less than 10 is still difficult to evaluate.
Too many house league kids are trying out for rep. and even these house league kids wouldn't make select. Such a waste of time for the coaches.