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MTH

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Damn, this is a tough one. I 'd say if you're okay with the $$ aspect of it and he's agreeable to play for the lower team, go for it. Kids are pretty resilient and this might be a good teaching moment/sacrifice/hard work, all that. Any chance they'll move him up if he tears up the low A team?

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agree with @motowngoalie  whether its a fair assessment and a chance to improve for next season, or the coaches made a mistake and he's good enough already, it won't dictate how good he actually is or how much he improves this season (**Playing better competition by nature should help make you better but at that age he can make huge improvements just working on fundamentals - in the driveway, body weight training, skating ,etc.

Hope he's able to see the A1 team as his next big goal vs a missed opportunity 👍

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So going along with your glass half-full outlook:

I am assuming he  will be at the top of his team skill-wise- this will hopefully allow for more ice time, allowing further improvement - I know a lot of people who said the drop for them was the best thing that happened to them.

This may also be an opportunity for him to practice some leadership among the less experienced/ lesser skilled players - that is always a good thing for both performance and life skills...

 

 

 

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Back in my midget 16 (2016-18) days, I was bumped down from the very competitive 16AA team, to the A national to A American team (the equivalent of B, in this case) all in the span of a few weeks (My father wasn't big on the idea of the extra travel of the 16AA team, and made it known). At the time I didn't realize it, but this would actually be beneficial in the long term. While we did lose just about every game that season and I later had a much greater appreciation of defenseman that actually played defense, learned how leadership works, and I earned the prestigious title of 3rd string goaltender of the 18AA team at age 17! 

I also had a major breakthrough in my development where I had learned to become consistent. Previously, while I was pretty good at stopping pucks, I was nowhere near as consistent as I am now and I suspect it was due to the fact that because of the setback that I had encountered, I took a step back and looked at it from another angle. If someone had told 15 year old me that getting put on a team that was not competitive would allow me to advance in my development, I probably would not have believed them.

A situation like this can be interpreted as a setback or an opportunity to improve. (mind you my knowledge on parenting is limited at best on account of being 20)

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Don't know if you are still having that conversation with the missus, but if you pull him and he doesn't play this year, he would be that much further behind for the bantam year. Echoing the other comments (from experience as well), playing at that lower level can help him to develop.

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Another thing to note, how is his patience with the puck? Does he throw it off when he gets pressured? Learning to hold on to the puck a little longer under pressure will help making that jump and hopefully stand out in bantam. He will have a better chance on working on his patience, controlling the play at that lower level.

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5 hours ago, MTH said:

He's good with the puck as for time wise. He needs to improve protecting the puck. He tends to lose the puck quite easily if under pressure. It's a skill he needs to work on. He's quick and all just can't maintain when in traffic as well as he should.

Another one - bane of many hockey parents - skating/standing with one hand on his stick when on offense and in the other team's zone. Kills me. Yelling, discussing, etc... helps. But he'll quickly return to doing it.

I told him that it's like standing in the batter's box with just one hand on your bat. 

He's just sloppy (like most kids). 

Lower level should help. I hope.

 

5 hours ago, MTH said:

Funny, my wife did say that but that my little dude would do private sessions through the year instead. Sounds feasible now, but I noted that we don't do many private sessions now. Without being on a team, I think he'd grow bored of skating around in circles with a coach two times a week. Hockey is more than that.

Just caught this thread and wanted to chime in.

Dropping down a level is not a bad thing, if he's getting a lot of playing time.  Dominating at a lower level is huge for confidence. 

He's going to be working with a bunch of freshly graduated squirts?  Sounds like a great opportunity for him to become a leader in the locker room and on the ice - a key skill that will help him in as he becomes a young adult.

Not having to see him play, it sounds like there's a great opportunity here for him to work with a private coach and eliminate bad habits/reinforce good ones.

As a kid that did goalie lessons once a week, I loved working with my goalie coach, but I was reinforcing the lessons with team practices and games.

Just curious, how close are you to NJ?  I've got a buddy who's running lessons out there with a good background that I can link you up with.

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Sounds like this is going to work out for you and your son - and I’m really glad for you! We went through a similar thing last year, for Novice house league (!!) where the sort out authorities were so busy watching the kid whose parents bribed him (not making this up), that my kid was not noticed at all, and relegated to the C team in his 2nd year of Novice. He’s no superstar, but all his friends from hockey and school were on B. I was livid, wanted to quit as volunteer coach (bribery parents don’t volunteer for anything either), and say “don’t insult me by saying you evaluated my kid; tell me you just didn’t look at him”. 
Anyway, he was fine - it was me that was upset (still am!) - and while I stopped counting, I think he had over a hundred goals in that year - easily averaging 6-7 a game. Huge boost to his confidence... though it was hard to shake hands with other team coaches, and be accused of stacking our Novice C house league team, with comments about my son being a ringer. Wanted to say “our hockey association failed us, sorry - I don’t want to be here wasting my son’s time against your little shits either “

Anyway, he’s back with his friends this year - a much improved player overall!

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