A great time in the home of the Great One

Wow.

Inside my head I've been saying that over and over for the past four days.

The family and I just returned from a whirlwind of a weekend in Brantford, Ontario and the 44th Annual Wayne Gretzky International Tournament. We were there with the Valley Forge Colonials Peewee A team, filling in for some of their regulars who couldn't (or didn't) make the trip.

The trip was incredible. We got there on Friday around noon, after a long drive and overnight stay in Buffalo. Our first game was at 2pm and from that point on there was hardly a second to breathe! There's so much to write about - I'll try to focus on a few things.

Survey Results! Youth Hockey: A Game for the Rich?

Results are in from the latest Beeski survey on the cost of youth hockey.

Inspired by an article by James Mirtle of The Globe and Mail, I asked you what you spent on youth hockey in a recently completed season. I wanted to find out if hockey has become, as the article says, "a game strictly for the rich".

Results after the jump.

Youth Hockey: A Game for the Rich?

A friend of mine, who happens to be an awesome hockey mom - and a goalie mom at that! - sent me a really interesting article about the rising cost of youth hockey and its impact on the game in Canada. It seemed like a great topic for a blog post, and it also inspired me to create the latest Beeski Survey!

DVHL Update - October 17, 2013

Well, I'm off to a terrible start when it comes to giving weekly updates of DVHL scores. This post should bring us up to date on the season so far. After the jump: a summary of DVHL action through October 13.

Meanwhile, I've been pretty active on the HBB Facebook page, sharing photos, scores, and game summaries from the DVHL. You may recall that I posted a blog about the social media presence of the DVHL and AYHL teams. Some of them are very good about posting updates, which is fantastic. Hats off to Palmyra, Lehigh Valley, Regency, Old York Road, Ed Snider Hockey, and others - but especially the Delaware Stars (I love their game summaries!) and Warwick Wildcats (tweeting in-game updates for many teams!). I'll keep sharing your updates as long as you keep posting them!

Don't forget to "Like" us on Facebook for on-the-fly scores and updates.

DVHL Weekend Recap - September 14-15

After the jump: a summary of DVHL action from the weekend of September 14-15.

What about non-league action you ask? Tell us all about your non-league games in the comments.

"Like" us on Facebook for on-the-fly scores and updates.

Saturday morning funnies

I'm at my USA Hockey coaching certification clinic this morning. Sure, I had to get up early and drive an hour to get here, but I actually enjoy these. Maybe I'm in the minority there, I don't know. I find it helpful to refocus and get the coaches on the same page in terms of priorities and expectations for the season - at least until tomorrow when 2/3 of the people here forget that we're only supposed to spend 10-15% of practice time on strategies and systems. 

Anyway, that's not the point of this post. They showed a couple of videos during the morning class that I thought I'd share. There's one for the parents and one for the players. Both of them may be good for some early season perspective - and a good laugh! I especially liked The Elite Athlete's Mom. Enjoy!

The Elite Athlete's Mom:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1dK0oH9ximg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1dK0oH9ximg

My Coach Sucks:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iymXdRQDISg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DiymXdRQDISg

Let's get social!

As I attempt to build this blog into a place you'll visit for youth hockey news and updates, something that's been really great for me is the social media presence of some of the teams in the area. Many of you know that I've started a Facebook page - and if not, you do now, so please "Like" it! I've been trying to share as many posts as possible from some of the area teams that have their own accounts. It's been really good so far - from my perspective at least. I hope you're enjoying the updates. I'm enjoying the experience of sharing them.

The Facebook page has been a nice way to share quick updates without having to create a whole blog post. For those teams/programs that have their own Facebook page or Twitter account, it's a really easy way for me to share news quickly, so please keep posting and I'll keep sharing. For the rest of you, I guess it's time that I be more explicit about what I'm trying to accomplish.

Beeski Bits - August 15, 2013

Wondering what the competition looks like in your league/division this season? So was I, so I put together some tables showing which programs are icing teams at which levels. Zoom in to see the detailed tables. Anything that's shaded in the darker blue means there's a team at that level. If the program is icing more than one team I included the total number of teams they'll have. I also pasted some summary graphs after the jump.

King for a day

This will be my first blog post from the air as I travel to St. Louis for work for a couple of days. I haven't posted from a mobile device before this so I apologize if anything is off - call it an experiment. I'll be back in Philly tomorrow night, ready for practice on Wednesday night. VFC Peewee AA is getting ready for a preseason tuneup against the Jr. Flyers Peewee Minor team on Friday night. Looking forward to some game action instead of practice.

I came across a couple of posts over on Mihockeykid.com that I really enjoyed. The subject is "If I were king," and the author goes on to list 20 things he'd change if he were given free reign over youth hockey. Definitely worthy of a read if you have a few minutes. More after the jump.

Beeski Bits - August 10, 2013

Updates from around the DVHL:

O Captain! My Captain!

Great advice here on what it takes to be a good team captain! We see it all the time in hockey where the player who puts up the most points -  or *gasp* the coach's kid - gets to wear the "C".

Now don't get me wrong - sometimes it's deserved. But sometimes it's not, and if that's the case it can be bad for the whole team.

To most (not all, but most) of the kids I've coached or been around, having a letter on their jersey is a thrill. So players, take note - start to show these qualities and you might just get that "C" or "A". No matter what, if you do these things in hockey and in life, you'll be a great leader!

My favorites:

1. Always put the team in front of yourself

4. Lead by example and be a good role model (responsibility, integrity, and willingness)

6. No matter what, stay positive. 

10. Be willing to take the blame 

Here's the link to the full post. What do you think, readers? Do you agree with this list? Which ones are your favorites? Would you add anything else?

 

Beeski Bits - July 29, 2013

Random updates from around the DVHL

DVHL News - July, 2013

Looking around the hockey sites and I came across this update on the DVHL website. Who knew they updated that thing??

**SPOILER ALERT**

Survey Results - Conclusion

Stay or Go?

Ok, parents. You've waited long enough. The last section of the survey cuts to the question at hand - how many families are moving to a new hockey program next year, and why? Let's get right to it.

(You can find results from Part 1 of the survey here and Part 2 here.)

Local prospects selected in NHL Draft

Every young hockey player dreams of getting drafted to the NHL some day. Sometimes dreams come true - local prospects Eamon McAdam and Jimmy Lodge were selected in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft on Sunday!

McAdam, a goalie, played with Team Comcast before moving on to the USHL. He was selected in the third round (70th) by the New York Islanders. From the Team Comcast website:

"The Team Comcast Youth Hockey Club congratulates former goaltender Eamon McAdam on being drafted 70th overall, in the third round of the NHL Draft. Eamon is a 1994-born goaltender who spent four of his formative years with the Club, backstopping Coach Rob Badger’s teams to much success."

Lodge is a Downingtown native who moved to Toronto at age 13 to play minor hockey. He plays with Saginaw in the OHL and was drafted by Winnipeg with the 84th pick overall. I wasn't able to find out where he played youth hockey before moving to Toronto. If any of you readers know the answer, please share in a comment.

Survey Results - Part Deux

Welcome back for more results from the Hockey Parents' Satisfaction Survey. This is the second installment of survey results. You can find the first part of the survey results here including some background information on the survey and the respondents. 

The first post was a summary of the "How satisfied were you" questions. I originally intended to release the survey results in two blog posts, but as I was preparing this one I decided to make it three. There's so much information that this post was getting too long. And this way I could get the second installment to you sooner.

This post begins with parents' priorities. I wanted to see what it is that drives parents to a certain program. After that we explore the parents' view of the coaches' priorities. The next post will pick up from there with the reasons for leaving or staying with a hockey program.

Impact of the ADM

Good article here from ESPN The Magazine about the impact the ADM is having on youth hockey in Michigan. I know the ADM is everyone's favorite topic.

Personally, I'm a fan. Smaller ice means more touches and more emphasis on skating and puck skills. There's a reason that most other sports adjust the size of the playing area to the size of the players. Maybe I'm biased since my older son is small for his age and at the mite level he was one of those kids trying to keep up as the bigger kids rushed up and down the ice.

But I will admit - I don't enjoy going to watch cross ice games nearly as much as I used to like watching the mites play full ice. And I know my little guy will have to make a big adjustment when it comes time to play on the full ice.

What do you think, parents?

Click here for the article.

What not to do!

While you eagerly await the rest of the survey results, here's something else for you to chew on. I posted this article on Facebook awhile back so I thought I'd share it here too. It's called Older and Wiser: Hockey Parent Don'ts. It's a handy list of all the things we parents shouldn't be doing or worrying about, based on the experiences of a father of "three boys and 16 years as a hockey Dad." The website is geared toward hockey parents, and while I've only quickly scanned the rest of the site it looks like a lot of good content there.

Survey Results are here!

Hockey parents are tough. We’re dedicated. And we’re not afraid to tell you what we think. It was no surprise then that I got so many responses to the first of what I plan to be annual surveys of hockey parents.

Welcome!

Welcome to Hockey by Beeski!

This blog is dedicated to all things youth hockey in eastern PA and the surrounding areas.

I started this blog as a means to publish the results of the first annual Beeski Hockey Parents' Satisfaction Survey. In the future, my goal is to make this a central resource for youth hockey parents, coaches, and players to visit for scores, schedules, news, and updates on local youth hockey teams.

Check back later for updates!