Shawn's Hockey Career

[AArdvark]

My nephew still plays on a men's league. Hell, my brother still plays on a men's league and he's 60. Hockey will still be there if he wants it

[Da King]

I would love if this was my kid someday.

https://www.today.com/video/at-96-years ... 6585795556

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Cross checks > Social Security checks

[Da King]

Went up to NH for the boy's Senior Night game this weekend. It's very bittersweet seeing it all come to an end.

His team this year is BEYOND awful. I didnt think we graduated much SKILL last year (other than our leading scorer), but we definitely graduated some grit. We did not add any skill OR grit this year. The team is horrid. One of the worst in New England.

The coach is a jackass. They get to games two hours early, with no plan on what to do with al that time. The team does zero proper warmups. (IMHO, the kids should be fixing this themselves, but nobody wants to step up and be a leader). The team just has no direction or passion. It's so awful to see. Shawn has gone from scoring 23(ish) points last season to scoring *3* this season. He's mired on the 3rd line playing with kids with zero offensive skill whatsoever.

I'm trying to understand the coach's thinking. "I graduated my top scorer, but I returned my #2 and #3. So I think I'll break them up, put them on the 2nd and 3rd lines respectively, and build my #1 line out of a freshman, a sophomore, and the lowest-scoring returning senior". BRILLIANT. The team struggles to score every game. Does he shake up the lines? Nope. Just keep doing the same thing over and over again. Insanity.

So if anything 'good' comes of this... Shawn has realized that he's not going to the NHL. He's not going to play Division 1 NCAA hockey. Previously, MAYBE he had an outside chance at a low-end D3 team. But to get there, he'd have to play 2 years of juniors. His thinking now.. why should I grind out 2 years of juniors to TRY and get a shot at a D3 team, when it wont lead anywhere after that?". I cant argue with him.

So he has decided to just make the jump to college near year. He said he's proven he can go away to school and enjoyed the experience, but he wants to come home and go to school. I think the plan now is to come home, get a job, live at home, and attend St John Fisher. On the upside, they have a really strong club team that he should thrive on.

Its sad to see him give up the dream, but as a parent, I can appreciate him figuring this out on his own and being at peace with the decision.

[Da King]

Well, the 2nd year of hockey at prep school was an unmitigated disaster. The head coach MAY very well be the worst coach in the history of hockey.

Let's say that in season 1, you have a top line that scored 60% of your team's goals. Your top player graduates. What do you do with the other two players on that line in season 2? Well, of course you split them up, and put them on the 2nd and 3rd lines, and give all of the top line minutes to an entirely different group of kids. Makes total sense. Its a great formula for a... 3 win season I think?

Shawn got buried on the 3rd line, playing with kids with much less offensive skill. They were decent players (one was great size and very physical, but does not complement Shawn's strengths), and the other was very fast but had zero hockey sense (also not complementing his strengths). Totally demoralized my kid.

On the upside... he realized maybe this hockey thing wont lead to an NHL gig. He COULD have played junior hockey (ANYONE can play junior hockey, there are so many teams at so many levels). After 2 more years of that, MAYBE he could, at best, get a division 3 offer. And while playing D3 hockey would be awesome, in the end, he'll just end up getting a job like anyone else. D3 hockey isn't leading to a meaningful career in hockey. So he has decided to go to college.

He's going to be coming home and going to St John Fisher, studying Data Analytics with a Sports Management minor. His dream job would be getting into analytics with a pro sports team. I think that'd be awesome for him. Who knows!?

So he's been gone for most of the last 2 years at prep school, but he'll be back home with us for the next 4 years while he attends Fisher. And on the upside, they've got a REALLY good club hockey team that won nationals 2 years ago, and lost in the national championship game this year. He knows 4-5 kids on teh team already, and we hear it's a lot of fun. Hoping he finds success with it again, while getting a great education.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Is there a very good chance he is able to get onto St. John Fisher's club hockey team? Is it a done deal, basically?

[Da King]

Is there a very good chance he is able to get onto St. John Fisher's club hockey team? Is it a done deal, basically?

One of the kids on the team is a kid that he played with waaaay back when he was 6 years old. Shawn went on to play high level travel hockey and prep hockey, the other kid played house hockey his entire life. The other kid has played every year in college so far. So yeah, I'm pretty confident Shawn is making the team.

He thinks he's going to step up and lead the team in scoring. I think he's in for a bit of a surprise.. it'll be tougher hockey than he thinks. But I think he'll succeed and have fun, so thats all that matters.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Do they play in OCTOBEr???

[Da King]

They do!