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Post by scotiahockey on Mar 29, 2017 21:35:59 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. I don't think a minor Midget league would be the worst thing in the world, some players could play high school and minor Midget, get on the ice more and improve their skills to go play Major Midget. If it's harnessed correctly, I think it could develop some players. Now if you had to pick between HS and minor Midget, I think it'll struggle because it could be a tough sell to get players to give up playing in front of friends, for minor Midget. Maybe the mindset of players is changing though? I see more players forgoing high school to play Major Midget (specifically the Valley program) where maybe 10 years ago, they'd all play high school. |
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Post by ysj28 on Mar 29, 2017 22:22:45 GMT -4
High School hockey is a dying breed. I remember 15 years ago, the arenas in Saint John would be packed to the rafters watching a High School game, now you are lucky to get 50 people out. It is too watered down, with players choosing to play elsewhere.
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Post by Captain Obvious on Mar 30, 2017 6:58:19 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. I have no issue with kids not good enough for J.A playing MAAA at 17, the problem is 17 year olds that Jr.A teams would gladly take and give regular ice time to deciding to play a 3rd year MAAA to try and win a championship. It's not good for development, neither for the team or the player. Guys that are "late bloomers", it's a bit different. |
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Post by jimmy on Mar 30, 2017 7:30:05 GMT -4
New Brunswick had minor midget up until a year or two ago, very few teams, they dropped it altogether recently due to lack of interest.
The issues being discussed here are legit, and I had heard rumblings this winter of discontent with the Flyers model for those exact reasons, being player development of 15 year olds - ironically enough, this year's Flyers feature several 15 year olds in key roles, however that has seldom been the case in recent years. Not sure what the solution is, but the goal has to be to keep as many of our top 15 year olds at home playing at an appropriate level for their development as possible ... right now, in an average year, you get 3-5 15 year olds playing for the Flyers, and the rest end up playing high school, or going away. For the high school route, the calibre of the different programs are vastly different depending on the school - some are so weak it is waste of development for the 15 year old who narrowly missed major midget ... on the other hand, schools like Mathieu-Martin and LJR ice strong teams lead by 17 and 18 year olds - making it tough for that talented 15 year old to make the team, let alone develop in a key role.
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Post by SteveUL on Mar 30, 2017 7:57:14 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. Probably ... but unless communities support them they are tough to keep afloat. |
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Post by Citris on Mar 30, 2017 12:49:43 GMT -4
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Post by SteveUL on Mar 30, 2017 13:34:08 GMT -4
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Post by scotiahockey on Mar 30, 2017 13:55:33 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. I have no issue with kids not good enough for J.A playing MAAA at 17, the problem is 17 year olds that Jr.A teams would gladly take and give regular ice time to deciding to play a 3rd year MAAA to try and win a championship. It's not good for development, neither for the team or the player. Guys that are "late bloomers", it's a bit different. If the team is the one holding them back then I think that's a problem but if the player wants to stay back, I have a tough time docking him because sometimes the player just isn't ready to leave home, or whatever other things that could be going on in a 17 year old kids life to make them want to hold off. Winning a championship is something they'll always have, it could very easily be the pinnacle of their hockey, I can't blame them for wanting that. |
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Post by SteveUL on Mar 30, 2017 14:16:47 GMT -4
Flyers beat NFLD (St. John's Maple leafs) ... 6-4 I think ... the phone range with less than a minute left and so I missed the end.
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Post by jimmy on Mar 30, 2017 15:13:23 GMT -4
I have no issue with kids not good enough for J.A playing MAAA at 17, the problem is 17 year olds that Jr.A teams would gladly take and give regular ice time to deciding to play a 3rd year MAAA to try and win a championship. It's not good for development, neither for the team or the player. Guys that are "late bloomers", it's a bit different. If the team is the one holding them back then I think that's a problem but if the player wants to stay back, I have a tough time docking him because sometimes the player just isn't ready to leave home, or whatever other things that could be going on in a 17 year old kids life to make them want to hold off. Winning a championship is something they'll always have, it could very easily be the pinnacle of their hockey, I can't blame them for wanting that. 17 year olds are typically still in high school ... plenty of kids and families would prefer to finish high school at home rather than move away for grade 12 to play Jr A. Slightly different story for major junior, especially if the player is a pro prospect of any kind, but for 99% of kids breaking into Jr A at 17, pro is not in the cards and hockey should be secondary to education ... it would be in my house. |
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Post by Captain Obvious on Mar 30, 2017 15:27:56 GMT -4
If the team is the one holding them back then I think that's a problem but if the player wants to stay back, I have a tough time docking him because sometimes the player just isn't ready to leave home, or whatever other things that could be going on in a 17 year old kids life to make them want to hold off. Winning a championship is something they'll always have, it could very easily be the pinnacle of their hockey, I can't blame them for wanting that. 17 year olds are typically still in high school ... plenty of kids and families would prefer to finish high school at home rather than move away for grade 12 to play Jr A. Slightly different story for major junior, especially if the player is a pro prospect of any kind, but for 99% of kids breaking into Jr A at 17, pro is not in the cards and hockey should be secondary to education ... it would be in my house. A lot of the players that played MAAA at 17 in Moncton were Commandos picks. |
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Post by jimmy on Mar 30, 2017 15:41:50 GMT -4
17 year olds are typically still in high school ... plenty of kids and families would prefer to finish high school at home rather than move away for grade 12 to play Jr A. Slightly different story for major junior, especially if the player is a pro prospect of any kind, but for 99% of kids breaking into Jr A at 17, pro is not in the cards and hockey should be secondary to education ... it would be in my house. A lot of the players that played MAAA at 17 in Moncton were Commandos picks. That would be a mitigating factor ... but still not the only one. Some kids choose not to play competitive hockey past high school so they can get on with a full time education ... so perhaps they have no plans to play Jr A at all ... looking at their likely last year of competitive hockey as 17 y/o's, they can be a rookie in Jr A with limited ice time, or one last year as a star in MAAA - for some, MAAA would be appealing. There are plenty of good reasons a 17 year old should play Jr A rather than midget AAA from a development standpoint, don't get me wrong - but each situation is different depending on the kid involved, family situation, academics, who owns the jr A rights, etc ... |
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Post by scotiahockey on Mar 30, 2017 16:28:05 GMT -4
I'm not sure of the costs associated with Moncton Major Midget but could the $5000 fee deter some players from going to Jr. A early? You have to pay and then could be traded, if you wanted to finish school at home and get dealt, what do you do? Not report to the new team and go pay to play Major Midget too?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2017 17:13:50 GMT -4
As per an article in the paper yesterday the edza east rep Louis Gaudet stated that there are big changes coming along at the midget major level and that mctn will have 2 midget major teams and then went on to add there would be 3 bantam major as the feeder teams for the midget major programs.
This would be a very bold move coming from HNB and the midget and bantam major leagues. I think they should go 2 steps further and limit the amount of 3 yr kids in midget major and limit the amount of 20 year olds in Jr A this will emphasis development in midget and Jr A and graduate kids into major junior and the cis. This might even keep the local talent here at home.
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Post by viper on Mar 30, 2017 17:19:26 GMT -4
As per an article in the paper yesterday the edza east rep Louis Gaudet stated that there are big changes coming along at the midget major level and that mctn will have 2 midget major teams and then went on to add there would be 3 bantam major as the feeder teams for the midget major programs. This would be a very bold move coming from HNB and the midget and bantam major leagues. I think they should go 2 steps further and limit the amount of 3 yr kids in midget major and limit the amount of 20 year olds in Jr A this will emphasis development in midget and Jr A and graduate kids into major junior and the cis. This might even keep the local talent here at home. The Junior A teams would be against that. It would put them at a disadvantage with all the other junior A leagues across the country. |
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