How to Proceed in These Crazy Times
By Scott Lowe – DMVProspects.com
It’s okay. I promise.
Take a step back. Relax. Take a deep breath. Take a couple of them.
Get to know your family again and try not to kill each other. Walk the dog. Focus on school or something else that will help you down the road. Read more. Learn. Become a more well-rounded person.
Talk to people.
This is not the end of the world as we know it. Life will go on and we will learn from this, move on and hopefully apply some of the lessons to become better people.
In fact, I would argue that this little corona-inspired break – and yes I would much prefer that it be a different kind of Corona-inspired break – may be good for us. And good for hockey. More on that later, and I also addressed some of that in THIS ARTICLE.
But what I want to do first and foremost is really assure you that there is no need to panic. We are just entering the month of April – thank God March is in the rear view – and are at the point where teams normally would have been packing up to head off to Nationals.
In a normal year we wouldn’t even have reached the point where AAA or Tier 3 junior tryouts had started yet. Most NCDC predraft camps were set to begin at the end of April, with many NAHL predraft camps scheduled throughout May up until the weekend after Memorial Day.
Yes, some teams are starting to make offers for next season, and that in many cases can mean that a team has seen you play and really likes you. Or it can mean they have two teams and 50 spots to fill and need to start collecting checks to pay bills and salaries.
There’s no reason to decline an offer that you like and think is the right fit, especially if you have others to compare it to, but how can you be sure it’s a sincere offer and legitimate opportunity? That’s part of what we’re here to address.
There’s no reason to decline an offer that you like and think is the right fit, especially if you have others to compare it to, but how can you be sure it’s a sincere offer and legitimate opportunity? That’s part of what we’re here to address.
And if you have Tier 2 aspirations or at least want to test the NCDC and NAHL waters, there is nothing wrong with accepting a good Tier 3 offer from a reputable program so that you know you have a great option as Plan B for next year. Then you can go out and pursue Tier 2 opportunities knowing that if you don’t get a shot at that level you still have a great situation lined up for next year.
That approach really takes the pressure off, but it’s also important to not chase the Tier 2 dream around all spring and summer at the expense of your development.
If your ultimate goal is to advance and play NCAA-level hockey or you hope to get to a higher level of juniors the following year, it will be very important to train this summer – on and off the ice – to get stronger and faster and be in peak physical condition when training camp or preseason practice begins at the end of the summer.
Your goal should be to be a bigger, stronger, faster and a better overall player than the coaches who recruited you remember when camp begins. If they saw you as a middle-six guy, you want to prove that you’re a top-six guy. That sets you up to have a great season and will go a long way toward helping you avoid injury.
It also will impress the coaches who will immediately see that you are serious and willing to put the time and effort in to be the best player you can be. That may set you up for a leadership role, which is something that will be attractive to many higher-level coaches. And you will win the trust of the coaching staff from Day 1.
“Many times a player is better suited to be a top-six player or to play in all key situations than the kids a coach has in those slots,” Janesville Jets NAHL assistant coach Lennie Childs said. “But what it comes down to is trust. Coaches don’t trust certain players enough to use them in those situations, so as a player you have to do everything you can to earn that trust.”
If you spend most of your spring and summer bouncing from one Tier 2 camp to another – assuming that we even have the camps this year – and playing in a bunch of camp games, it may help you improve in some ways, but you will not be able to put the necessary time in off the ice and to improve your skills that ultimately will make you a better all-around player.
And you’ll probably go broke between the camp fees and travel expenses.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves a little bit here. Let’s take a step back and talk about what you should be looking at right now as you try to figure out where you will play next year.
Level of Play and the Playing Opportunity
What is the appropriate level of play for you to continue developing and progressing toward achieving your goals?
Some players really struggle with this.
We’re not talking about trying to figure out the highest-possible level that you can get to and be in and out of the lineup as a fourth-line energy guy. You want to find the right level where you know that you will be in the lineup regularly and compete against players who are better, bigger, faster and possibly older than the competition you faced previously.
Just because you are an 18U AAA player doesn’t mean the next logical step is juniors. If you were a bottom-six forward or bottom-half defenseman and have a year of 18U left, it makes a lot of sense to strongly consider a second year of 18U, assuming that you will play in more key situations, move up the lineup, get more ice time and be able to produce more.
For the most part – probably more than 99 percent of the time – an 18U AAA role player is not going to make a Tier 2 roster and will likely assume a similar or even a lesser role on a strong and reputable junior team in a good Tier 3 league. And if you are a Tier 3 role player, the best that you can hope for in almost every instance the following year is to move into a more prominent role on a good Tier 3 team.
Tier 2 teams simply aren’t looking at EHL third and fourth liners when they are watching games in person or on video.
But if you play a second year of 18U and are a top guy who scores some points and gets time on the power play – and maybe even become an all-star – now you’ve put together a resume that may get a Tier 2 team to take an interest in you when you are contacting coaches next spring.
Of course, this is all relative.
I’m speaking to the majority of players that we come into contact with for these articles. The same concepts can apply to a player who is considered a strong Tier 2 prospect and wants to be in the Tier 1 conversation, but generally USHL prospects have received enough attention and accolades to know that route might be an option for them by the time they are 15 or 16.
If you haven’t spoken directly to an NAHL or NCDC head or assistant coach – via a phone conversation or text – you probably aren’t legitimately a prospect who is on their radar yet and will need to reach out and do some work to get noticed.
In most cases, emails are sent to many kids and are not really direct communication. If you receive an email and want to gauge a team’s actual interest level, try to engage them by asking questions or seeing if they will talk to you on the phone. If there is a phone number on the email, send them a text and introduce yourself. Ask where they saw you play and how they see you fitting in with their organization.
Go on the website and find a phone number if one isn’t on the email. Text one of the coaches. If they are unresponsive or don’t really seem to know who you are then you likely aren’t considered a prospect at this point.
“By this time of year I’ve been out to Chicago, Minnesota and other places so much during the season and watched so many games that I have a backlog of players I’ve seen and am interested in,” Childs said. “If I hear from a kid or see a kid play, I like to check them out in a game I can watch online where maybe they are playing one of the top teams in the country in their age group. That will show me a lot.”
The Coach
It’s imperative that you get to know the coach who is recruiting you and build a relationship so that you can figure out if you are going to like playing for him, whether you are a good fit for the style his teams play and if he has a history of helping players move on to higher levels More specifically, does he help players get to the level you hope to achieve.
This can be hard, because just like when you want to make a good impression on the coach, if you’re a player he really wants there is no doubt he will put his best foot forward with you. Some of the toughest coaches are some of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet off the ice. So the onus is on the player to do all that he can to figure out who the coach really is and if the situation is a good fit.
Not every player is a fit for every coach’s personality or system. This doesn’t make the coach or the player bad. It’s just the way the world works. Not every boss and company is a good fit for every employee. Learning how to navigate these situations will help you later in life.
Consistent communication with the coach and others who know him is the best way to figure out whether a coach will be a good fit for a player. Talk to him. Ask good questions that are important to you and will help you make a decision.
A coach that makes outlandish promises should send up an immediate red flag unless you are a stud whose door constantly is getting beaten down by high-level coaches wanting to talk to you. No coach who is being forthright will promise that you will be a first-line player who plays in all key situations. He will need to assemble all his players and see how the pieces fit – and how you respond as a player to pressure and various situations – before making that determination.
It is acceptable, however, for you to ask where he sees you fitting into the lineup, how many returning players he has at your position and what their roles were, how many players at your position is he looking to bring in, does he like to shorten the bench or roll for lines, what type of style do his teams play, etc.
You can also answer some of these questions by watching a team play some games on video, figuring out the style of play, watching how the coach behaves on the bench and seeing how the coach uses players in various situations.
Answers to these questions will give you a pretty good feel for the coach, but if you’re being recruited there likely will be some sugar coating. Talk to other coaches you know or hockey people you trust to get their opinions on the coach. Ask your last coach to reach out to him and see if the answers are different. Try to find a player you know who played for the coach or someone who knows a player who played for him.
Don’t be lazy. Communicate. Talk to people. The information is out there if you look for it. If you accept a coach at face value without asking him or others questions, you can’t complain if he’s not a good fit two months into your season.
It’s also important to investigate a coach’s resume – where he’s been and how he’s done – as well as his record for moving players on to higher levels. A simple Google search can uncover a lot of information.
No matter what level you are looking to play, the coach has to be a good fit for you to maximize your opportunity and development.
The Team and Organization
This is pretty simple, really. You want to look closely at the team’s final roster, its stats for the current and past few seasons and its record of moving players to college or a higher level of juniors.
Why?
Why?
The final roster will show you how many age-outs a team has at your position – no matter what level of play or age group you are looking at. This will help you narrow your choices down. Why reach out to a team that has 10 forwards returning when there are three other teams that have 5 forwards returning? Remember we want to find a situation that maximizes your odds of achieving your short- and long-term goals.
Then, by looking at the stats you can figure out many things. If it’s a junior team, how many players did a team dress this year? You’re looking for teams that choose their players, are patient and work hard to develop them over teams that are constantly looking for what they consider to be better players from higher-level leagues and shuttling guys in and out.
Certainly injuries can play a factor, so go back a few years and look at each team. Tier 3 teams that use well over 30 skaters a year might not be the type of program you are looking for. Some Tier 2 teams will use as many as 60 players in a season. Many of those organizations run their teams as a business, so if they aren’t winning guys are getting moved out pretty regularly. This past season, the average NCDC team dressed more than 43 players, while the average NAHL team dressed more than 42.
Any coach or GM can tell you that they believe in developing their players, but the numbers do not lie. Stats also can tell you what types of players are returning. If you are being told you’re a top-six or first-line forward and the team’s top six scorers are coming back, you may want to look elsewhere or at least ask the coach where those players fit into the equation relative to you.
If you are looking at a AA, AAA youth team or at a prep school program, checking rosters and statistics can be just as important. While 99 percent of youth teams don’t scratch players, you do want to know what the real opportunity looks like and what you are up against. Prep schools carry extra players on their rosters, so players can be scratched or sent to varsity 2 or JV teams.
Checking a team’s statistics and record for the past several years also will help you determine if it is a competitive program. As you move up the ladder of development in hockey, the main concern is to find out the best situation for you personally in terms of playing time, potential development and achieving your goals.
Playing on the best team shouldn’t be a requirement, and in fact if a team is stacked you might not get to show what you can do or develop as much. Sometimes playing for a weaker team can help a player stand out and get more opportunities to play in more situations.
But at the other end of the spectrum, playing for a club that is not competitive can be incredibly frustrating and a huge strain mentally and emotionally. Really bad teams tend to bring in a lot more players in a given year, too.
Finally, spend some time researching each organization’s record of moving players on to higher levels of juniors as well as college hockey. This information is out there, but we also are going to help you do a lot of this homework and provide a lot of it to our clients and members over the next weeks and months.
Weigh all these different factors and make every effort to find your best fit. If you have several options for where to play, you want to make sure you do everything you can to make the best possible decision that gives you the best chance of achieving your personal goals.
What Do We Do Now?
Remember, it’s April 1.
There is plenty of time left to be thorough, do your homework and let the process play out. We have been in touch with coaches at all levels over the past few weeks to gauge what is going on and how they are handling the situation.
Here is a sampling of what we’ve heard:
“We have plenty of time. We are working through a couple lists now, talking to kids via phone text and email to gauge interest and see who they have been speaking with. It’s part of the new life of recruiting. A lot of phone conversations and text messages. A lot of kids are in panic mode and have no idea how to handle any of it.”
Jim Henkel – CT Jr. Rangers NCDC/Premier Head Coach
Jim Henkel – CT Jr. Rangers NCDC/Premier Head Coach
On a side note, the Jr. Rangers already had to cancel one preseason predraft prospect camp and are likely to have to postpone their April predraft camp. Vinnie Montalbano, their general manager, told me they are watching a lot of video and relying on scouts and people they trust who know their program to recommend players they should be strongly considering.
“We are watching lots of video and having lots of phone conversations. We want to be able to see many areas of their game {on video} rather than just goals and assists. It helps showcase them as a more we-rounded player in my opinion.”
Cam Robichaud – Maine Nordiques NAHL Assistant Coach
“We are using video a lot more than we would normally and relying on that to pick out who our top guys are most likely going to be. We hope to stay on pretty much the same schedule as usual so that if we come out of this in May or June and can get on the ice we will have all but four or five of our guys signed.”
Rich DeCaprio – Boston Jr. Rangers EHL Head Coach
There are some common threads here, obviously. Phone conversations. Text messages. Video.
If players want to find the right place to play and open doors for themselves they are going to have to work on their communication skills, be proactive in reaching out to coaches and general managers and be more responsive.
Kids who don’t reply, can’t carry on an adult conversation and don’t advocate for themselves will be left behind. I’ve even found in trying to help some players over the past couple months that even when I have what I think is really good news or a really good opportunity for them, they often are slow to respond or don’t respond at all.
Being unresponsive makes coaches think you are not interested. There are many more players out there for them to talk to, so if you don’t seem interested they are not going to waste much time on you and will just move on to the next player on their list.
This has actually been hurtful in some instances as opportunities that may have been there previously are at least temporarily off the table now because of coronavirus restrictions.
So what can you do now to help yourself as you try to figure next year out?
1)Be proactive in reaching out to teams to make an introduction and share your “resume.”
2)Communicate – be responsive, follow-up, advocate for yourself.
3)Get good video together of you playing in all situations and include it in a follow-up email. Video should include all shifts for a few games as well as clips of you playing in all situations. Highlight reels are nice and can be part of your initial introductory email, but are not what will get you an opportunity.
There are other things you can be doing as well to get ahead of the game in terms of off-ice workouts, skill development, video analysis and breakdown, etc.
We will be addressing those areas as well moving forward in other articles and other areas of the website.