|
|
Post by Captain Obvious on Mar 29, 2017 12:38:54 GMT -4
Can only speak on behalf of PEI major midget, but this would probably help our kids. Moncton is the best or near best team every year. In my opinion, we should only have one team, but if we're to have two, I think it's only fair that Moncton does too. Last year alone, Charlottetown Islanders major midget (before they folded) had about 30 kids out for tryouts, while it was rumoured Moncton had 130. You just can't compete with that, especially with a lot of top PEI kids moving away. When Kensington was added, it was no longer feasible to have Cornwall and Charlottetown. |
|
|
|
Post by islandred on Mar 29, 2017 12:44:20 GMT -4
Can only speak on behalf of PEI major midget, but this would probably help our kids. Moncton is the best or near best team every year. In my opinion, we should only have one team, but if we're to have two, I think it's only fair that Moncton does too. Last year alone, Charlottetown Islanders major midget (before they folded) had about 30 kids out for tryouts, while it was rumoured Moncton had 130. You just can't compete with that, especially with a lot of top PEI kids moving away. When Kensington was added, it was no longer feasible to have Cornwall and Charlottetown. Cornwall folded, and Kensington won the Hockey PEI bid to take over that team. PEI's only had two teams the past several years, with the addition of the Pride this year. But IMO, both Pride and Wild are in great hands. Kenny MacDougall, a former QMJHL coach and scout is running the Pride, with Luke Beck, a great developmental coach and former Islanders coach, behind the bench. Kyle Dunn is coaching the Wild and has learned a lot and really proven he's a great midget coach. If all PEI kids stayed on the island, I'd honestly say that we could compete. Sadly, many kids go off to prep school, as that is the route Island hockey guru Allan Andrews recommends for kids from a very young age. League is diluted for sure, but especially here. |
|
|
|
Post by Captain Obvious on Mar 29, 2017 12:51:39 GMT -4
When Kensington was added, it was no longer feasible to have Cornwall and Charlottetown. Cornwall folded, and Kensington won the Hockey PEI bid to take over that team. PEI's only had two teams the past several years, with the addition of the Pride this year. But IMO, both Pride and Wild are in great hands. Kenny MacDougall, a former QMJHL coach and scout is running the Pride, with Luke Beck, a great developmental coach and former Islanders coach, behind the bench. Kyle Dunn is coaching the Wild and has learned a lot and really proven he's a great midget coach. If all PEI kids stayed on the island, I'd honestly say that we could compete. Sadly, many kids go off to prep school, as that is the route Island hockey guru Allan Andrews recommends for kids from a very young age. League is diluted for sure, but especially here. Newfoundland has the same issue, few top kids stay to play MAAA at 15 or 16, they are all at prep schools in the US or Ontario. NB and NS it's not nearly as bad...so far. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2017 12:58:02 GMT -4
Well if the league is all about development as they claim, 2 teams in the mctn area would make sense but if it's all about wining championships it will stay exactly the same. Mctn's policy of measuring the programs success by the banners they have collected over the years has alienated their 15 yr and 16 yr old prospects and some have completely turned the page on the programme and have gone the prep or hockey academy route. Although the programs directors have the best intentions in the world it's seems from the outside looking in that they are holding on to tight to the status quo and the development side of the hockey equation hasn't been a priority given the fact of the serious challenges graduating their players to the next level which in the maritimes the measure of success for a 16 or 17 yr old hockey player is playing in the Q. Generally if a kid is playing major midget as a 3rd year the Q isn't an option, and even more importantly he's taking up a roster spot from a 1st year kid who the programme could develop and graduate to the next level in a season or 2, or is stacking a team with 3rd year kids in order to get banners more important ? This applies to the league as well, whats more important  The above was generally about F and D, What about the G ? The mctn area has 2 bantam major teams who generally have 4 second year goalies who graduate to midget major every year. The same applies here as well if a 3yr goalie is on the roster and is undrafted he is only taking up development space from a 1st or 2nd yr kid. I truly believe 2 teams wouldn't be good for some mctn egos but would be extremly beneficial to the players development. |
|
|
|
Post by islander19 on Mar 29, 2017 12:58:55 GMT -4
On the topic of leaving to go away and play prep school...it seems like they all end up coming back at some point, and aren't really ahead of the game. Not going to mention names, but there's a few kids who went away for hockey and when they come back, they aren't dominating by any means.
|
|
|
|
Post by chsb on Mar 29, 2017 13:09:58 GMT -4
Bathurst will be applying to get the Northern NB franchise and IMO it will be fair to recover the team we lost 15 years ago.
If there is potential for two teams on PEI, how about the North Shore with equivalent population?
|
|
|
|
Post by Captain Obvious on Mar 29, 2017 13:11:39 GMT -4
Well if the league is all about development as they claim, 2 teams in the mctn area would make sense but if it's all about wining championships it will stay exactly the same. Mctn's policy of measuring the programs success by the banners they have collected over the years has alienated their 15 yr and 16 yr old prospects and some have completely turned the page on the programme and have gone the prep or hockey academy route. Although the programs directors have the best intentions in the world it's seems from the outside looking in that they are holding on to tight to the status quo and the development side of the hockey equation hasn't been a priority given the fact of the serious challenges graduating their players to the next level which in the maritimes the measure of success for a 16 or 17 yr old hockey player is playing in the Q. Generally if a kid is playing major midget as a 3rd year the Q isn't an option, and even more importantly he's taking up a roster spot from a 1st year kid who the programme could develop and graduate to the next level in a season or 2, or is stacking a team with 3rd year kids in order to get banners more important ? This applies to the league as well, whats more important The above was generally about F and D, What about the G ? The mctn area has 2 bantam major teams who generally have 4 second year goalies who graduate to midget major every year. The same applies here as well if a 3yr goalie is on the roster and is undrafted he is only taking up development space from a 1st or 2nd yr kid. I truly believe 2 teams wouldn't be good for some mctn egos but would be extremly beneficial to the players development. There have definitely been examples of the Flyers doing arm twisting so players at 17 would not go play Jr.A, instead staying for a 3rd year of midget. As you said, great for banners but not for development, Moncton has not developed a ton of major junior players the last 4-5 years... |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2017 13:12:08 GMT -4
On the topic of leaving to go away and play prep school...it seems like they all end up coming back at some point, and aren't really ahead of the game. Not going to mention names, but there's a few kids who went away for hockey and when they come back, they aren't dominating by any means. When/if the leagues get the development side of the equation a priority the kids will stay and play locally. Bantam major players will graduate to Midget major for development and 3 year Midget major players should graduate to Jr A and Jr A should limit the number of 20 yr olds or not allow any at all |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2017 13:31:18 GMT -4
Well if the league is all about development as they claim, 2 teams in the mctn area would make sense but if it's all about wining championships it will stay exactly the same. Mctn's policy of measuring the programs success by the banners they have collected over the years has alienated their 15 yr and 16 yr old prospects and some have completely turned the page on the programme and have gone the prep or hockey academy route. Although the programs directors have the best intentions in the world it's seems from the outside looking in that they are holding on to tight to the status quo and the development side of the hockey equation hasn't been a priority given the fact of the serious challenges graduating their players to the next level which in the maritimes the measure of success for a 16 or 17 yr old hockey player is playing in the Q. Generally if a kid is playing major midget as a 3rd year the Q isn't an option, and even more importantly he's taking up a roster spot from a 1st year kid who the programme could develop and graduate to the next level in a season or 2, or is stacking a team with 3rd year kids in order to get banners more important ? This applies to the league as well, whats more important The above was generally about F and D, What about the G ? The mctn area has 2 bantam major teams who generally have 4 second year goalies who graduate to midget major every year. The same applies here as well if a 3yr goalie is on the roster and is undrafted he is only taking up development space from a 1st or 2nd yr kid. I truly believe 2 teams wouldn't be good for some mctn egos but would be extremly beneficial to the players development. There have definitely been examples of the Flyers doing arm twisting so players at 17 would not go play Jr.A, instead staying for a 3rd year of midget. As you said, great for banners but not for development, Moncton has not developed a ton of major junior players the last 4-5 years... In the end it's up to HNB,HNS,HPEI and NFLD to take a leadership role as they do own the KIDS DEVELOPMENT policy.
All of the above have a problem with kids leaving for prep but haven't taken an internal look as to why they are leaving at 14 or 15 yrs old players. Some have even banned prep teams from playing in their sanctioned tourneys so the kids could not be evaluated by scouts only to have reversed their decisions after it was pointed out that prep teams are included within the CHL's mandate.
The CHL mission statement is to develop hockey players and if you can win some banners along the way well that's pretty sweet as well but some leagues and provincial associations get the 2 mixed up.
|
|
|
|
Post by scotiahockey on Mar 29, 2017 14:11:38 GMT -4
I have no issue with them taking as many 3rd year Midget players as they deem necessary. Their hand shouldn't be forced by limiting the number they can take. A lot of the 3rd years, while not good enough for Major Junior, can go on to play Jr. A somewhere. I've also seen lots of players who didn't play Major Midget or Prep, their first year go on to play in the Q/Jr. A. It's hard to say it's not right for their development or that playing Major Midget would have helped them more because some players just develop differently and need to play at that lower level and learn how to do certain things.
Similar to the NHL/AHL debate or CHL. Lots of those guys can play in the league but there is the little things they need to work on or get more ice time. G Blackmore is a fine example of this recently. He didn't play Major Midget his first year, developed himself for a year in high school, went to Major Midget and had a solid year and this year dominated Major Midget. Now he's at the very least a Jr. A player and from all accounts showed well in Moncton and can battle for a spot next year. Could he be even better if he played Major Midget his first year.. maybe. Hard to say but it's different for every player.
|
|
|
|
Post by SteveUL on Mar 29, 2017 14:16:18 GMT -4
Yeah that doesn't make sense to me. Moncton while consistently the best team, would struggle if it was split into 2 teams. I think the league could use another team but I don't think that team should be in the Moncton area. Moncton is normally in the top 3 of the league every year ... a league of 6 teams with two Island teams included. But Fredericton is also always in the Top 3. Moncton and Fredericton were back and forth year to year as Champions a while back as their building cycles were off by a year. Saint John has improved their program and become more of a competitive team now, while the past 10 years they were not. |
|
|
|
Post by SteveUL on Mar 29, 2017 14:33:10 GMT -4
There have definitely been examples of the Flyers doing arm twisting so players at 17 would not go play Jr.A, instead staying for a 3rd year of midget. As you said, great for banners but not for development, Moncton has not developed a ton of major junior players the last 4-5 years... In the end it's up to HNB,HNS,HPEI and NFLD to take a leadership role as they do own the KIDS DEVELOPMENT policy.
All of the above have a problem with kids leaving for prep but haven't taken an internal look as to why they are leaving at 14 or 15 yrs old players. Some have even banned prep teams from playing in their sanctioned tourneys so the kids could not be evaluated by scouts only to have reversed their decisions after it was pointed out that prep teams are included within the CHL's mandate.
The CHL mission statement is to develop hockey players and if you can win some banners along the way well that's pretty sweet as well but some leagues and provincial associations get the 2 mixed up.
CHL Coaches and GMs keep their jobs by putting banners in the rafters. The CHL is fairly big business and the business has become all about winning. Midget Coaches get promoted to the CHL because they win at the lower level. Its hard to get rid of that mindset with the team braintrust. |
|
|
|
Post by MikeC on Mar 29, 2017 18:32:12 GMT -4
Personally I'd like to see this. I tend to think the flyers are generally a bit too strong and don't use their 15s as much as they could. I think in terms of player development it'd the right move. Halifax has 3 major midget teams, so I think Moncton can probably handle 2. Just to add to that, NS has 8 MM teams while NB only 4, and the population is not a 2:1 ratio. NB should have more teams. |
|
|
|
Post by downthemiddle on Mar 29, 2017 18:58:45 GMT -4
NS should have less teams when you consider that Quebec has 16.
|
|
|
|
Post by Citris on Mar 29, 2017 19:42:59 GMT -4
NS should have less teams when you consider that Quebec has 16. I think you're counting espoir, which, don't look now, but I heard NS is forming a minor midget leagle with another 6 or so teams. I don't know enough about midget in NB as a whole, but I do know Fredericton and SJ seem to produce more major jr guys, while Moncton seems to win more tournaments. Monot on relies heavily on second and 3rd year players, and I have trouble believing the area couldn't support another team. It would force them to lean more on the 15 year old players, and would likely be better for development in the long run. |
|
