Kids Don't Realize Who Hard It Is To Make The NHL

Edit: Sorry for that. That was just really bugging me yesterday and I just had to vent it somewhere.

 

Dude, when I was in grade 8 I gave up on hockey because I was playing house league and getting smacked around because of my size.

Given the amount I grew, if I had worked on skating and strength in high school, I would've been good enough to play Junior D on a bad team.

Maybe not. Who cares.

Don't be such a hater. Let people realize the ends of their own dreams.

 

People will always be like that. Kids will hold onto their dreams as long as humanly possible, and will always imagine things working out even if by the most convoluted and improbable circumstances.

Parents will always believe the best and have nearly complete and total faith in their kids no matter what. Those that live vicariously through their kids will always be the last bastions of hope because they simply cannot let go of the last chance to see their dream realized.

I know exactly what that is like. There was a guy that I attended high school with whose dad believed that he was going to be an NHLer, and that the scouts were attending his games to watch him play. I checked his name at hockedb.com, and if the listing there is the same person (it lacks biographical info), he played 3 games with Seattle in the WHL, and nowhere else that had its stats tracked (which should include the BCHL jr A league)

His other two brothers both quit hockey because their dad pushed them far too hard that they couldn't have fun with it anymore.

 

If he made it as far as the WHL, it's pretty likely that he did have scouts specifically coming to watch him, or at least him and maybe one or two others, at some point.

 

I quit in 2003 when I was cut from my midget AAA team, that was one hell of a blow. I could have at least played major junior hockey I think had I not been a lazy *******.

 

I remember playing hockey with this kid years ago, whom we all thought was amazing and would almost certainly make the NHL. He made it all the way to the WHL and even scored 57 points as a defenseman in 2001/02 (4 fewer than Bouwmeester had the same year, although he was younger), yet was never even drafted. To see that a player of that calibre isn't good enough to get drafted (and that most players who do get drafted don't make the NHL) is a pretty good indication of how incredibly good you have to be in order to play in the big leagues.

 

You know David Selthun...?

 

Who cares? I had some pretty wild dreams as a kid. Thats the great thing about being a kid, you don't know your limits. Don't worry, at some point between now and age 25, they'll get a reality check. As
for me, I'm still young enough to make some kind of team(Yep, I'll try anything once!) in the 2010 or 2012 Olympics

 

Sorry for that. That was just really bugging me yesterday and I just had to vent it somewhere.

 

I'm 14.. and I don't know how to get onto a team in the first place.....someone help me out.. *** is AAA and stuff... me so confused. It ticks me off, I know that I'm probly good enough.. I seriously am sure. I played house league the last two winters.. I was running over people MY age.. I was outright the best player.. (no lie)

 

Yep, that's him.

 

There are 2 ways to make the NHL.

1 - Be 1 in a 100 million babies that has god given talent;
2 - Work your ass off all day, every day, everywhere, including school. This gives you hockey/life options. If you are the hardest worker on the ice every shift you will succeed. Make sacrafices...including girls and cars, at least until you make the show .

 

I think people are mislead because the superstars make things seem so easy.

People don't realize that Wayne Gretzky spent years practicing his skills (didn't his dad have him stickhandle with super bouncy balls and whatnot since they'd be much more difficult to stickhandle?).

Michael Jordan got up early every day to go to his school where his principal had agreed to run him through drills to improve his game and everything.

 

One of my buddies ( Kevin Lavallee: guy who habs drafted from making the cut) was so talented when we were young. I was the second fastest skater on the team, him being the first, and it was by a far margain. This guy had/has all the talent in the world yet doesn't look like he'll make it. seeing someone who we all thought would be in the NHL for sure and not make shows how hard it really is. I kinda had NHL aspiration for a while... played Junior AAA and everything... but i just didnt have the abilities at that high a level. I was centering the 3rd line.

 

Somebody has watched Rudy too many times. Get back to the real world, if you try, you might fail, so never try

 

I quit playing after losing eligibility when I was 18 because of my age. The top level I reached was AA for a team in Atlanta. Besides that, the travel is absolutely ridiculous for club teams in the southeast and I needed to concentrate more into getting into college than hockey because I knew the chances of a scholarship was virtually nil even to a DIII school. It's amazing how much my skill level have dropped since I've stopped playing competitively four years ago.

 

I think kids very much do know how hard it is, Maybe a small few think its easy. But since kids can barely make bantam and midget teams, or even when on the team their not the best or don't get the ice time, or just quit. I think kids know it's incredibly hard to make it.

 

I'm 16, I know I'm not gunna make it anywhere in hockey, but I still will try and play competitively, try out for some teams and probably will play till I'm old and gray.

 

No, people realize hockey is VERY hard to make it in. It's especially hard when you're an american or easterner.. let alone in nontraditional markets compared to canadians who bleed hockey.

What some kids forget is how hard it is to make the NBA, or NFL. Look at a guy like Maurice Clarette, he's the 5th stringer in Devner and got more press than the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd combined. He's finding out the hard way that it takes a lot more than just raw talent to make it in pro sports.

 

That's different though. Those are the people with the talent who believe that a career is somehow owed to them (god I hate people like that). What I think this discussion is about are the delusional kids who play on the 3rd line of a second-rate team and still believe that they have a legitimate shot of making the NHL.

 

No, not really. I know plenty of people who go to my D1 Football school who say they could crack the football lineup... they just have to "get in training"

That's a more publicized view of things.

 

1, it's hard to make it to the elite level in ANY professional sports.

2, actually, it's hard to make it to the elite level in anything in life. (engeer, artists, singers, broadcasters, etc, you get the point)

3, (in response to: 2 - Work your ass off all day, every day, everywhere, including school. This gives you hockey/life options. If you are the hardest worker on the ice every shift you will succeed. Make sacrafices...including girls and cars, at least until you make the show) no, that's not it. it requires hard work and talents. even the hardest working NHLer has quite a bit of talent comparing to the ones that don't make it to the show.

 

Look for teams in your town or around it, email the coach asking about tryouts, go tryout and make it, it isn't hard, i had about 3 tryouts lined up (all open tryouts... which you pay to go to) with differant teams around my area or a state away. Too bad i didnt go, it was Junior B, but i wanted some more experience, just didn't have the time now that im in the real world and im a working stiff

 

It's great to have dreams... and even you can hold onto your dreams until they're gone..

but try being a girl.. where you don't even get these dreams cause of being born a girl.

Now what. sucks.

you could work just as hard and not get anywhere.

 

My advice would be to go with the university route, get a scholarship to some NCAA school, that way, if you dont make hte NHL, atleast you a free education and got something out of it

i think i might of had a shot with the NCAA route if i would of taken hockey mroe seriously, i got cut from the AAA midget team cause i was "too small", so i played AA hockey, which is still pretty high calibre, but meh, not many scouts check out AA players, especially two way forwards who arent big goal scorers, ah well