A Look Back as We Move Forward
By Scott Lowe – DMVProspects.com
Now that DMVProspects.com has passed its third anniversary as an online presence in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia hockey market – and with a lot more time on my hands than usual for the better part of the current year – it seemed to be as good of a time as any to take a step back and analyze where we’ve been, where we are as a hockey community and where we should be heading as 2020 continues to rage.Before I do that in another article, however, there are some folks I must thank.
First of all, I have to say a big “thank you “to Rob Trantin, the head coach at Archbishop Spalding High School and hockey director for the Tri-City Eagles, and Tony MacAulay, the head coach at DeMatha Catholic High School. It was Rob and Tony who first suggested that the knowledge I had acquired and the network I had started to build as my son Devin was recruited to play junior and college hockey could be of use to the families of many area players who hoped to follow in his footsteps.
They made that suggestion as our family approached a major life crossroads. It was something I never had considered, but the opportunity presented itself at a perfect time.
Rob, Tony and I had worked together for two years continuing to build Tony’s Team DC high-school showcase program into a respected entity, which not only would be competitive at the annual USA Hockey national high-school tournament but also would serve as a valuable avenue of exposure to junior and college coaches for local players who were serious about wanting to continue their playing careers beyond youth and high school hockey.
While my son was a member of Team DC the first two years I was involved – and he was someone who was absolutely committed to achieving his goal of playing NCAA hockey – my objective was to use the contacts he and I had developed up to that point to help other local players get the same kind of exposure and attention had had already been receiving. For Team DC, the top priority always was promoting every player equally and providing each team member with an opportunity for exposure and to speak with scouts and coaches from programs at the collegiate and junior levels that might be a good fit for them.
To this day we have made sure that every player who has skated for that team – as well as many of the alternate players who didn’t get to go on the trip – has been approached by a coach or scout either during or immediately following the event about potential future opportunities. That is a goal that Tony established before I got involved with the program and one that I have been proud to help him continue to achieve for the five years I have been part of it.
I guess Tony and Rob must have noticed the passion with which I pursued opportunities for the players on our teams – not just for my own child – and also how important I felt it was to provide them with an experience that wasn’t just limited to what happened on the ice.
Having been in the same situation many of you find yourselves in now just a few years earlier – with a son who was a very talented hockey player and who wanted very much to play at the NCAA level and having absolutely no clue about the best way to help him get there – it was extremely important for me to ensure that our kids left that showcase with a solid understanding of the process as well as the various opportunities that might await them.
Tours of local college campuses that were home to both NCAA and ACHA hockey teams were set up, and coaches from those programs were asked to speak to the players about their teams, their schools and the variety of college hockey experiences they could pursue. Junior coaches I had met during Devin’s recruitment were invited to speak to the team about the various pathways junior hockey could provide for kids who wanted to play at the collegiate level.
It was shocking to me how many of our players – even as they were finishing up their junior and senior years of high school – thought they could play club and high school hockey, graduate and immediately move on to play at the college level for the school of their choice – even for schools with NCAA Division I and III programs. As I’ve tried to explain in articles, seminars and Tweets over the past three years, the road to college hockey – even for kids who want to attend schools with top ACHA D1 programs – can be a long, convoluted one.
Being around so many intelligent and hard-working kids who were chasing something with very little understanding of where they were going or what they were doing was eye-opening, concerning and motivating all at once. While our family already had navigated a good portion of the process, we still had a long way to go if Devin was going to play NCAA hockey. We had made some mistakes and bad decisions that proved not only to be a waste of time but also a waste of money, and I wanted to make sure that in my role with Team DC I helped educate the players in our program in hopes that they would not encounter the same issues.
It was then that it became painfully clear to me that there was a tremendous lack of information and resources available to players in our area who were hoping to continue playing beyond the club and high school levels. It also became pretty obvious that it was hard for many families to find someone locally to turn to for unbiased advice and information that could help them understand and better navigate the process.
The first priority in helping Devin on his journey toward NCAA hockey was for us to do everything in our power to make sure he got drafted by a Tier 2 junior team. Initially the focus was on the NAHL, but he was fortunate that during his second year of 18U the NCDC was formed, providing him with another reachable, tuition-free opportunity. The great thing about the NCDC was that it was based in the Northeast, which is where he already had built a strong reputation and where there is the highest concentration of NCAA varsity hockey programs in the country.
We had no idea how to make that happen, but were fortunate to have built relationships with college coaches who were willing to offer advice as well as coaches and scouts in both the college and junior realms who were from our area and took an interest in helping players from the DMV. Having heard some horror stories about overpriced and unscrupulous advisors, spending thousands of dollars on something that wasn’t a sure thing made no sense. It took a lot of time and hard work, but Devin’s talent and work ethic paired with the advice and support of some great people, helped him get drafted in both the NCDC and NAHL.
That’s when Rob and Tony both approached me – each one not knowing that the other had reached out – and suggested that I should consider using what I had learned during the process with Devin and offering my services to area families of players who hoped to follow in his footsteps. It was an interesting idea, and one that I hadn’t really considered.
Hockey had always been a love of mine and a sport that I had been around since I was 5 years old, but I was a baseball guy who had coached that sport for 25 years and spent 10 years working for Cal and Billy Ripken. Why would anyone listen to me about hockey?
I also was concerned about the idea of being an “advisor” given some of the less-than-flattering stories I had heard about so many in that field. It also was a growing concern of mine that too many people were making way too much money off of unsuspecting players and their families, and I didn’t want anyone to see me in that light either.
But the more I thought about it – and the more I spoke to Rob, Tony and others in the hockey industry – it seemed as though there was a real need for someone like me who had a solid understanding of the sport and had experienced the process firsthand from the families’ perspective. My son had been there and done it with my help. I had built a network of trustworthy people who could provide opportunities for local players and assist with the educational process, and I had no conflict of interest in the form of any direct ties to a particular club or organization.
That summer I also had taken a group of AA and AAA players from various clubs and schools in the DMV to a AAA tournament in Philadelphia for the second time. Given all the local politics at the elite levels of youth hockey in our area, it always had been a vision of mine to allow the top kids in our area to play together in summer exposure events regardless of their club affiliation. If done properly I thought this could provide like-minded and talented players from the DMV with a chance to play together against top competition, get seen and change the negative image people from other parts of the country had about the level of play here.
The first year we went undefeated and lost in the semifinals when Little Flyers EHL coach Rocky Russo, now the head coach for Amarillo in the NAHL (another relationship built), brought in a ringer with my permission and knocked us out in overtime. The following year we beat a 19U team that boasted several OHL and prep-school players and won the championship at the 16U level.
Our teams included players from area club rivals such Team Maryland, the Little Caps, Howard and Tri-City as well as from other local clubs and other kids who had moved away to play for AAA or prep school teams out of the area. The kids bonded quickly, had a blast and proved that they could compete. Junior coaches from the Philadelphia area saw us play, and more relationship were formed. Some players even got offers to play juniors after that tournament.
Just for kicks I had started a website for that tournament and figured I might as well keep it running and use it to promote elite hockey in our area. So DMVProspects.com was born.
I also have to thank Stevenson University coach Dominick Dawes and the players in his program for helping DMV Prospects grow. Coach Dawes has been the NCAA Division III men’s hockey coach at Stevenson since the program’s inception, and Devin was just starting to get attention from AAA and junior programs in New England as Coach Dawes was getting his program off the ground.
Stevenson is literally 10 minutes from our house and plays out of Reisterstown Sportsplex, which is where Devin grew up playing, so I reached out to Coach Dawes to offer my support with anything he needed to help promote his team in the area. In turn, he offered to speak to Devin and provide advice as he pursued college hockey. Coach Dawes met with us on several occasions to assist us in navigating our way, and I’m sure that Devin would have chosen to play for him in college if Stevenson wasn’t located literally in our backyard.
Since then, Coach Dawes has provided advice for many area players, has run on-ice skills and training programs and spoken to clubs and teams about the various pathways to NCAA hockey. He is a tremendous resource and makes himself available to any local youth players and families seeking advice. I highly recommend that you take the time to reach out to him if you are a local family with a hockey player who has NCAA aspirations.
In addition, as I was trying to assemble a high-quality local spring and summer training group – and create an elite summer league – for the small group of players I was working with as well as those who live north of Baltimore, Coach Dawes was kind enough to recommend to the players on his team who stay in the area over the summer that they should skate with us. Many of them took us up on the opportunity, and when word spread of their involvement, we started to draw top players from all over the DMV.
In two summers, our Sunday Elite Hockey League for AA, AAA, junior, prep school and college players ages 16 and up has had more than 150 different players participate. Participants have included NCAA Division I and III players as well as Tier 1 and 2 junior players and even some professionals. Coach Dawes was one of the on-ice instructors for our COVID-shortened 2020 summer training program, and despite starting a couple weeks later than usual, we managed to provide opportunities for 90 different players to participate.
Thanks to the buy-in from Coach Dawes and his players, we have been able to provide unique high-level summer training and skating opportunities for DMV-area players that simply would not have been possible without Stevenson’s involvement.
The third group that I need to thank is everyone else, which includes most of you who are reading this but as well as all the wonderful coaches who have participated in our on-ice programs, coached our showcase teams, spoken to our players and parents at tournaments, presented at our events and participated in our Zoom sessions.
In particular, Joe Vonakis, Ben Hammock, Zach Vit, Jon Lounsbury, Mike Urgo, Clay Adams, Jim Candleana and Anthony Matarazzo have been involved almost from Day 1. And there have been many others – too many to name them all – but I have to mention a few of my junior hockey go-to guys.
Lennie Childs (Janesville Jets NAHL), Bryan Erickson (Northeast Generals NAHL), George Lewis (Amarillo Bulls NAHL), Jim Henkel (Connecticut Jr. Rangers NCDC), Vinnie Montalbano (Connecticut Jr. Rangers NCDC), Bill Weiand (Northern Cylcones NCDC/USPHL), Dan Hodge and Alex Drulia (Twin City Thunder NCDC/USPHL), Bill Zaniboni (Seahawks Hockey Club EHL), Jason Kilcoyne (New Jersey Rockets NCDC/USPHL) and Rich DeCaprio (Boston Jr. Rangers EHL) are coaches who have provided countless opportunities for players from our area to skate or play, agreed to come out and watch local players when they have games in their areas and generally made themselves available to players and families from the DMV who have questions about junior hockey or are looking for advice.
In addition, there have been numerous NCAA and ACHA college coaches, additional junior coaches from all levels and many prep-school coaches who have been willing to take my calls, talk to me about players or contribute to a presentation or article. These types of relationships are invaluable to providing local players and families with as much information and as many opportunities as possible.
Then there are those of you who have asked me to help your kids specifically achieve their hockey goals. It is truly and honor and a privilege that you have put your faith and trust in me to assist your children in pursuing their dreams. My objective since Day 1 has been to go above and beyond what others do at a much more affordable price. I don’t ever solicit business, nor do I ask for money, so the only reason I am able to continue to do this is because of your support and the positive things you must be telling others about my services.
The conversations aren’t always easy, and the road isn’t always smooth, but for me the No. 1 priority always is honesty, transparency and trying to find opportunities and provide advice that gives your kids the best possible chance of achieving their goals.
And last, but definitely not least, I need to thank everyone else out there who has allowed one or more of their kids to be part of any one of our programs, who has reached out via email or Twitter with a question or for advice and has provided an opportunity for one of our local players or been willing to spend some time helping kids from this area on our behalf in any way.
Thanks to social media and the internet our reach now extends far beyond the DMV, but helping players and families from this area and other non-traditional hockey markets always will be the top priority.
When I decided to start doing this it truly was a labor of love. With two kids heading off to college and all the time – and dollars – spent over the years to help both of them realize their athletic dreams, I just couldn’t envision missing out on the rest of their journeys because I had a job that conflicted directly with many of their games.
I decided to leave my position as a college assistant athletic director in hopes that I could piece together enough of an income through consulting, writing and any other opportunities that came along to pay the bills and provide the flexibility I needed in my life. Hockey being part of that income stream never really crossed my mind.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think that doing something as rewarding as helping kids realize their hockey dreams and guiding families away from the financial and other pitfalls that pop up along their crazy journey could be one of the many things that help me get by.
I’m sincerely thankful to all of you who have allowed me to remain involved in a sport that I love and have reasons to keep going to the rink, a place that has provided our family with so many wonderful memories over the years. From the days of the first DMV Prospects tournament team I vowed to always provide better opportunities – and do more for the kids I work with and who participate in our programs – at lower prices than anyone else.
Unfortunately, this sport – especially in our area – seems to be going in the opposite direction in term of its cost as well as the value and quality that often is provided for the money. It doesn’t have to be that way. If I can use this to help pay my bills, stay involved in the sport and help kids without gouging my customers, I think that’s a win for everyone involved.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do something I love the past three years. The support and interest that has been shown from the local hockey community has been overwhelming.
Some positive changes are coming and will be discussed in another article. For now, let’s be happy that the kids are back on the ice and do everything in our power to keep them there.