Minor Hockey Talks - Hockey Forum

With all the talk in this forum about kids and or teams playing at the wrong level, should leagues institute independent mandatory spring evaluation camps?

If it is obvious that a kid doesn’t pass certain evaluations, then they would be prohibited from trying out for a level they cannot compete at.

Or should leagues have an early exhibition schedule and move teams that are not up to the level gets moved down.

Looking around different leagues and age groups there are several teams that may not win a game at the level they are playing at.

Would this protect parents from having to “make healthy donations to team budgets to get coaches to take their kid at a level they know they don’t belong?

In theory, this is a good idea but each association runs their own tryouts and a lot do have "independent evaluators".

During tryouts, the purpose is not to determine what level the kids are but to pick the best 15 payers and 2 goalies for that team.

Associations will field teams, even though it's clear the kids aren't at the level, for a variety of reasons (to "say" they are AA, for the money, etc)

What they really need is a relegation system so that teams and associations can be slotted properly.