Shawn's Hockey Career

[Da King]

This shall be the thread where I live vicariously thru my 18 year old and his pursuit to play professional hockey.

Shawn is in his first year of prep school (repeating his junior year). His school is NOT GOOD at hockey. They had about a dozen seniors this year, and most of them were bad. I'm hoping that the team goes thru some "addition by subtraction" and gets better this year by shedding dead weight.

The first half of the year, the coach was constantly struggling to figure out lines, and Shawn was all over the place (3rd line, up to 2nd, up to 1st, down to 4th, scratched, etc). Finally the second half of the year, he settled in and finished 3rd on the team in scoring (behind a senior, and another junior who was in his 3rd season on the team). He was #2 in scoring for the 2nd half of the year. Good debut season.

We know that he has one year of hockey left at school.

Most colleges, at both the D1 and D3 levels, do not want hockey players until they are 20-21 years old. They want players who have grown into their bodies, matured, etc. That means most kids have 2-3 years to fill in between high school and college. Hence "junior hockey".

Shawn filled out a "player interest" form for both the NAHL (Tier 2 junior hockey) and USPHL (Tier 3). Ever since filling it out, we've both been getting form emails from teams inviting him to different tryout camps. These are mostly money grabs. Very few kids make teams coming out of these camps, but the teams make a lot of money!

Oddly, this afternoon, he gets out of baseball practice and has a missed phone call and a text from an unknown person. Turns out that it's an assistant coach for a team from Illinois wanting to talk to him. He called/texted the coach back, but they haven't been able to connect yet. It may still end up being a useless camp invite, but a personal call from a coach means a lot more than a form email.

The kid who is going to go #1 in the NHL draft this July is younger than Shawn. My kid needs to work harder.

[AArdvark]

Does he love hockey enough to continue to the NHL? My nephew loved it until college, then it became work and there were girls and beer

[Da King]

LOL. I'm pretty sure he'd be beyond ecstatic to make it that far. One step at a time. He will make a club hockey team without a problem. I'd be very happy if he got a D3 opportunity. D1 is elite. Every step is harder than the one before it.

That being said... he couldn't have less interest in drinking and the whole party scene. And he's had a girlfriend for about 18 months now, they survived his first year away at school, and she goes to Bonaventure next year. She is a D1 athlete (softball), and also not interested in the party scene. They could very well grow into two old homebodies together. I dont think college will derail his goals. (Pun not intended, but appreciated)

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Is he playing mostly center? Or some wing? Does he like one as opposed to the other?

[Da King]

He has traditionally played more center because he is very good at faceoffs and is defensively responsible. This year at school he got moved to wing because they had a center who was a bit quicker. (Unfortunately, that kid was WAY worse at faceoffs, and the coach never thought to let Shawn take more face-offs, even if he was playing wing....)

He enjoyed the move to wing though... it gives him a bit more offensive creativity, and he can jump in the offensive runs a bit quicker.

[Da King]

I was supposed to drive up to NH to get him from school next Tuesday (5/21), and bring him home on Wednesday. Simple trip, 1 night, cheap and easy.

Instead, we are now in Marlborough, MA for a junior hockey combine. Saturday/Sunday, 3 games involving a bunch of kids trying to play in the USPHL NCDC conference (Tier 2 hockey, comparable to Rochester's NAHL team).

Most of these kids are trying to find teams for next season. My kid is just here for the experience, to see where he needs to be for next season, if he wants to play at this level.

My trip is now about an extra 250 miles, and 4 more nights of hotels and food. And hotels in Marlborough (outside Boston) are expensive AF.

[Da King]

Wrapped up our weekend in Marlborough, MA.

It was a very confusing weekend. After each game, kids would get called out of the locker room to talk to coaches. We both swear, it was the WORST kids on the ice getting called out. I'm not saying my kid was amazing... but there were kids who couldn't handle a puck, or who were making terrible plays, and were talking to coaches. We were both so confused.

Now, dont get me wrong... he doesn't need a spot next season (he has one more year of prep school left)... but I thought he was one of the best 2 players on his team. There was a little kid who was AWFUL out there, but had lots of interest. We just wanted to see if he could play at that level (and he can), and hope to start some communication with coaches about the following season.

Drove him back up to school today. Tonight, he gets an email from one of the teams inviting him to their main training camp in July. By no stretch is it a guaranteed spot, but at least he made enough of an impression on SOMEONE. He was pretty demoralized after not getting any interest at the event itself. He's feeling much better about things after getting that email.

[Jizaboz]

Man, I wish I could have played hockey as a kid. The nearest facility to do it where I grew up though was about half an hour away and the equipment and such was expensive. I hope he looks back on the experience and likes the fact that he did it one day. If he goes on to do it more then awesome!

[Da King]

Today on the way home, he got another email with interest from a different team. It's a level lower than he wants to play, but it's always good to hear from coaches. More networking, more opportunities.

[Da King]

I hope he looks back on the experience and likes the fact that he did it one day. If he goes on to do it more then awesome!

I fully expect that he will be working in the sport when his playing days are over. Maybe as a coach, maybe as a trainer, maybe as something else. Who knows. But the kid's life is pretty much all hockey.

[Da King]

Oh, and IRONY.

GOAL: Go away to school to try and further your hockey career.

ACHIEVEMENT: Get recognized as all NEPSAC (New England Prep School Athletic Council) in baseball. :facepalm

[Jizaboz]

Oh, and IRONY.

GOAL: Go away to school to try and further your hockey career.

ACHIEVEMENT: Get recognized as all NEPSAC (New England Prep School Athletic Council) in baseball. :facepalm

ROFL I mean, if he has the reflex then fuggit. He could be a Bo Jackson of both baseball and hockey. That would be awesome.

[Da King]

ROFL I mean, if he has the reflex then fuggit. He could be a Bo Jackson of both baseball and hockey. That would be awesome.

I keep joking with him that he's going to end up with an offer to play collegiate baseball instead of hockey.

His response?

PASS.

[Da King]

Shawn is declining an invite from Team #2 to their "Identification Camp" in Michigan. It might be a good experience, and he'd definitely go if looking for a place to play next season.. but it's just not necessary.

He also got a text from the team in Utica today. Utica is the armpit of New York State. But its also in the division that provides some of the least travel in the entire league, so its somewhat appealing. He'll talk to the coach tomorrow. Should be an interesting conversation.

[Da King]

We are at a tournament in Niagara Falls this weekend. The team went 3-1 in round robin play, playoffs tomorrow AM. The boy has 3 goals and an assist on the weekend. Should be better, could be worse, whatever.

Lowlight: One of the teams that we played is a group of kids from Buffalo that we know well. One of them goes to Brewster with Shawn. Others on the team are total knuckleheads. A couple of them are straight up dicks. I've always resisted calling teenage kids "dicks", because it's not really their fault, it's parenting. But they are 18 now, and a dick is a dick. One kid was kicked out of 2 of his 3 games (he was suspended from the 4th because of his ejection in a previous game). Kept starting fights with kids who were not interested. Cross checking kids in the throat. Broke one kid's helmet. Blew Shawn's girlfriend a kiss in the rink parking lot, then followed her on Instagram. These kids are amazing.

Highlight: After one game (probably his worst of the weekend), a coach from a D3 school in Ohio pulled Shawn (and two of his teammates) out of the locker room to talk to them about collegiate plans, etc. Not saying this would turn into anything, but it's the first D3 coach that has started a conversation with him. Most colleges dont want you until you're 20. So that was kinda cool.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I'm not taking the jerk's side, but I would have followed the girlfriends of so many dudes at high school. I would have. Out of innocence. But still.

Am I a bad person? Probably?

[Da King]

I'm not taking the jerk's side, but I would have followed the girlfriends of so many dudes at high school. I would have.

Oh, me too. No doubt. But he was doing it purely to be a dick.

We lost in the tournament semi-finals. 3-2, to a team that we'd beaten the night before. It was a bummer of a loss, but we lost to the team that eventually won the tournament. No shame in losing to the eventual winner.

The boy also had a D3 coach pull him out of the locker room and talk to him about his future plans. That was a first.

[Da King]

It's been a rough year for his final year of HS hockey. They've played an absolutely ridiculous schedule, and the team is just NOT GOOD. They've given up 10 goals twice in the first 10 games... they went 5 straight without scoring a single goal. He's playing against teams that have multiple kids committed to Boston College, Boston University, Providence, etc. It's just been brutal.

So we were talking about "life" while he was home for Xmas break, and I think he's backing off the idea to play junior hockey. If an opportunity comes knocking, maybe he takes advantage of it, but he's not pushing it anymore. The reality is, maybe he plays 2 good years of juniors. MAYBE he gets a D3 opportunity. Even that is a stretch, because kids who now play Canadian juniors will be allowed to play NCAA D1 hockey, pushing other D1 kids down to D3, raising the talent level even more. Anyways, his take is "Even if I play D3 hockey... where is that getting me afterwards?". So I commend him for coming to this conclusion on his own. I'm sure the fact that his girlfriend is already in college plays into his thought process. He would be a a freshman when she's a senior. He'd be starting college a year after his sister, who is 2 years younger than him. I think he's just ready to move on with life.

Right now his leading college contender is St John Fisher. It's a great university, a good education close to home. He'll likely play club hockey there, so he won't give it up completely. And their team is good.. they won a national championship a couple years ago. He even has a couple friends on the team already.

Fun corollary story: Our local junior team just had a player quit the team. This player was the son of Patrik Stefan, #1 overall pick in the NHL back in 1999 (and a huge bust). He was committed to Sacred Heart University to play D1 hockey, and had his scholarship offer rescinded (see comment above about Canadian kids now being allowed to play D1 hockey). He was a fringe D1 player.. maybe could have caught on someplace else... but just decided he was done, and wanted to move on with his education. So there ya go. Sounds like kids of all ages come to this realization.

I'll be sad to see it come to an end, but I respect him seeing the writing on the wall, and making the decision on his own. He has friends with a lot less skill chasing the dream and going nowhere. its tough to give up on.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

He has a lifetime skill though, he'll be the best player on the rink for most of the rest of his life and wherever he goes there will be hockey available! I stopped playing, albeit roller, at 32 when I tore up my knee and I regret not going back to it. I enjoyed every game I ever played in a parking lot or frozen field and whatever else.

[Da King]

That'll be the interesting thing. I wonder if he'll play beer league, even if he has no interest in drinking? He's full on Walrushitty at this point. Maybe he'll come to the dark size before he hits 45?