Competitive hockey in the South?

[FEARoN]

I grew up in Memphis, TN and started playing ice hockey my sophmore year in high school. We had a six team high school league and a local travel team, that I also played on. We played at Silver Sticks in Windsor one year, did reasonably well, but did not go to many "big time" tournaments. I was fortunate enough to play for Team South at the Chicago Showcase my senior year, got a few junior offers, but ultimately decided to stay close to Memphis and played ACHA hockey in Nashville. I share all of that to say, while attending camps and tryouts up North, I most definetly saw a competitive difference between teams from the South. The few high school teams I watched in Michigan would have killed my travel team, which consisted of the best players in my area. There are obviously many variables as to why, but the biggest reasons that come to mind are the availabilty of ice time and the interest of hockey in each area. I am not saying there aren't legit players in the South by any means. Talent comes from everywhere and anywhere, but as far as developing a love for the game, coaching players to their max potential at a young age and giving them the most opportunities/ exposure to get looked at, the North def. dominates compared to what I have seen of Southern hockey.

I currently live in Western kentucky and we have zero ice. We have a roller hockey "league" that consists of two teams, maybe 11 kids total, so obviously if my son is going to get into competitive hockey, we will be driving or moving. There is ice in Owensboro KY, Evansville IN, Nashville TN and St. Louis MO. All of these rinks/ programs are two to two and a half hours away. My awesome wife and I are discussing where we want to be now that we have a kid and should he enjoy hockey and have the ability/ desire to play at higher level we want to provide him those opportunities. We're not crazy, my son is going to the NHL or we won't love him types, but we both love hockey and hopefully our son will too. We want to decide early if its worth driving up to five hours on school nights for hockey and continue life in Kentucky or bite the bullet and relocate. Obviously hockey isn't the only reason to stay or go, but something that will play a large role for me and my wife (I still want to play and we'd like to be closer to a local team for entertainment). We don't really like the idea of moving to the North East or Westcoast because of relatives, but are open to relocating just about anywhere else if the situation feels right.

So with all that out of the way, I guess my list of questions for discussion would be...

1) Does anyone have any info worth sharing about any of the programs I mentioned?

2) If you know of teams from these areas, how competitive are they and how much exposure are they getting?

3) In general, do players from small market programs get overlooked because of their geographical locations? I felt I was growing up.

4) If given the opportunity to pick up and move North (or at least closer to a better hockey area) would it be worth it from a purely hockey dad perspective? If so, what city, town, etc. has notable programs for both rec and competitive teams?


Thanks in advance for any suggestions, opinions, advice.

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[doncherrysgrill]

The St. Louis Blues program is excellent. One of the top in the country at the moment, and one that your son would be exposed to the right people all season long at. That's a program you'd be talking about if you want your son to play at the top top level of youth hockey, Missouri is quickly becoming a hotbed.

The others, I'd be lying if I said there are dozens of scouts dying to get out to Evansville, Owensboro, or Nashville. Not that there aren't scouts there but the programs aren't high-level full of kids with NCAA potential-type hockey.

Not exactly the same region, but if you're looking for another option in terms of high-level youth hockey in the south it's worth checking out TPH Thunder in Georgia. They don't start until peewee but their bantam and midget programs are full of players from around the south and very good.

 

[FEARoN]

Thanks. That's great info to start with. I've been to STL a few times, but had no idea their programs were that far above Nashville and other places I mentioned. I'll be looking into it. Thanks again.

 

[sbkbghockey]

Interesting post. Between the cities listed, I think your best options for quality and variety of ice hockey programs is St. Louis, with Nashville being an up-and-coming second.

Nashville
Nashville hockey scene has grown dramatically in the past 5-10 years with the growth in popularity and also on-ice success of the Predators. It seems like the Preds are putting a lot of effort into the community.

The Preds new two-sheet practice facility has greatly increased the ice availability in the region and it's used for high school, youth, adult, drop-in hockey, stick-and-puck sessions, etc... The NHL Preds also sponsor the Nashville Jr. Predators youth program that has a variety of youth travel levels. I have seen the Jr Preds a few times, and they've definitely gotten better. I don't know their programs overall strength, although the bit I've seen, they tend to fall short of the traditional hockey regions. Growing in size and skill so certainly I think there will be more high level players out of the Nashville area as youth hockey matures.

The Nashville Jr. Predators are a new NA3HL tier III jr A team this season. In their first season of competition the NA3 Preds have a few TN natives on their roster
There's some decent high school hockey in the Nashville area, although the high school programs are still small and not elite on the national stage compared to other states.

As you mentioned, Nashville area colleges have ACHA club hockey options, I beleive the areas' teams are ACHA D2 or D3. Up north, Kentucky and Louisville have solid ACHA D2 teams.

St. Louis
St. Louis is probably you best option for variety and quality. It's also the most established over Nashville and other Southern cities. Many former Blues and St. Louis University (NCAA DI back in the 1970s) have stayed in STL after their hockey careers and have greatly helped in developing youth programs. Although known as a 'baseball town', St. Louis is much more of a traditional hockey market than the other cities listed. Most of the ice rinks in Missouri are in the St. Louis suburbs. If you live anywhere in the area, you're no more than 10-15 minutes from at least one of the rinks. There's also a wide range of youth programs, A AA, and AAA travel programs, Adult hockey from adult hockey schools with beginners C/D leagues through high quality A+ level men's leagues with semi-pro and former NHLers in the league.

The St. Louis Jr Blues AAA midget major program is one of the elite programs in the country and consistently produces NCAA DI players and NHL prospects. There Lady Blues program also produces high level women's players that move onto NCAA DIII and NCAA DI schools.

Chesterfield Falcons program is also a solid large program with in-house through elite AAA midget major travel options. Chesterfield's Hardee's Iceplex is a three-sheet facility and hosts house, youth, adult, and the travel programs as well as many large tournaments. The Affton Americans are another program in the area and together with Chesterfield are both members of the Central States Development Hockey League elite travel programs. A number of players go to juniors or ACHA or NCAA DIII schools out of Central States.

The Afton Americans program also runs the St. Louis Jr Blues of the NA3HL. They have been one of the consistently strong programs in the league, although this past season they've been a very young squad and in a bit of a rebuild. The Jr Blues have advanced a large number of players to the NAHL, USHL, and NCAA DI hockey as well as many onto top ACHA DI and NCAA DIII schools.

St. Louis high school hockey has some solid players and a mix of public and prep schools play hockey. Some of the top programs like CBC, SLU, Desmet Jesuit, Chaminade Prep, produce jr players. Many of the better high school players also play on the AA and AAA programs in the area.

St. Peters Spirit program is big in St. Charles County, and works out of the three-sheet St. Peter's Rec Plex. St. Peters also runs the St. Louis Selects which produces college-level players as well as advances players to juniors. The Selects are part of the NAPHL, the U18 and U16 development league for the Tier II Jr A NAHL and Tier III JrA NA3HL.

There's a few other newer and growing youth and travel programs in the area such as the Meramec Sharks as well. The Shark have youth house and travel legues up to the Midget level. Their new rink, the FSI Shark Tank, is home to the St. Louis Storm USPHL Mid-West Tier III jr team (formerly Jr. B). The Twin Bridges Lightning on the IL side of St. Louis is out of East Alton, IL and has a large number of levels from youth up to Midget Major AA

Also St. Louis has the NHL St. Louis Blues, NCAA DI Women's Hockey in Lindenwood University and two of the top ACHA programs (varsity-club) in Lindenwood University St. Charles and Lindenwood University Belleville. They're both fully-funded programs and operate like NCAA DIII teams. There's also other college club programs at SIUE, St Louis University, Mizzou, and Missouri State.

Evansville and Owensboro
Evansville's youth hockey scene has been growing, I don't know as much about it but I assume the Evansville IceMen are a major factor. There is a youth hockey program in the city but it's small, I've never seen them at events so I'm not sure how good they are. There's also a high school program and a new NA3HL Evansville Thunderboltz Tier III Jr A team. Swonder Ice Arena is the main rec and youth rink, it's a dual-sheet complex.

I can't speak to the programs in Owensboro. I don't know anything about them

 

[FEARoN]

Wow. That was an incredible amount of information to supplement what district 9 provided. Thank you very much for your time and effort into that post.

It very much seems if I want to stay in this general area, St. Louis is the place to go. As a side note, I played for MTSU (2004-2006) which at the time was ACHA Div III. We played Lindenwood in a two game series and absolutely got smacked down the first game. We made the second game competitive, but lost it too. I remember being very impressed with their organization. Chesterfield sounds familiar as well. My brothers travel team played a weekend tourney there several years ago I believe. And coincidently, I watched the film "in the crease", a short documentary on the California wave program after submitting my questions and saw the JR. Blues, they won nationals the year the film was made I believe. So again it defines seems St. Louis could potentially be a good fit for me and my family.

The detailed info you provided will definitely assist me in not only potentially relocating to the St. Louis area, but also where to start looking in STL. Again, thanks for your time and input.

 

[sbkbghockey]

No problem, glad to help. I re-read your OP and a few more things.
St. Louis also has a solid roller scene. It's hotbed for roller hockey outside of FL and Calif. There's various youth, high school, adult, and college roller leagues in STL.

Also as you said, there's good players all over now, but until the Southern cities like Nashville consistently produce top-end talent, they will likely be skipped by scouts. Scouts come to tournaments in St. Louis, I've seen college, jr, and pro scouts at hockey events in the area. Also the high end youth travel teams from STL often travel and do well in the heavily scouted prestigious national AAA tournaments...

Also St. Louis, like Nashville and other midwestern cities is a great place to raise a family. The big city is there when you need it but it's also easy to get around, not super crowded like the Northeast US, CHI, or GTA. Still a reasonable cost of living- ex/ the St. Louis Zoo, Art Museum, and History Museum are all free admission. St. Louis Blues tix are still some of the most reasonable in the NHL, esp for a consistently good team (Despite the playoff woes). Cardinals tix have a wide range of prices too.

 

[FEARoN]

Can you provide a bit on insight as to how the varying teams are run? I know in some programs once your in the system, as long as you're playing/ developing well, you are somewhat more easily on the next team (bantom to midget, etc.). I tried to read up on the Afton rink and Jr. Blues orginzation, but it really didn't provide too much other than the different divisions and that there are tryouts for each team. I guess what I'm looking to know is, do I need to push to try and get him involved as young as possible into a certain organization so he can develop and have the edge over tryout kids in certain instances. Or just let it him develop without all of the travel at the younger age divisions and tryout when being looked at starts becoming more important?

I guess my concern is, regardless of whatever program he might get affiliated with, due to my career I would be able to get him to practices and local games, but traveling on the weekend for games would be his mother and grandparents responsibility. I certainly wouldn't want to miss out on that and also wonder if the cost of hotels and other travel expenses are justifiable for a 6-10 year old. I would think the latter years of that age bracket would be when that would potentially start to matter, but if teams are set up so that one feeds into the other and have very few openings, we might miss the chance to join a strong team. Obviously it all boils down to how good a player he is in the end anyways, but I have had experience where you have 60 new kids trying out for maybe Three or fewer roster spots. My brother fell into that situation as a goalie, which is tougher due to having only two slots. But man his tryout went extremely well and the backup tender who was already on the team had a pretty poor outing. It was more or less explained to him that he looked good, but the other tenders had been with them for years, they're familiar with them and they've paid their dues kind of thing. Certainly could be a million other factors into why he didn't make it, but I know the world doesn't always give you an easy path. Thanks again for all of the information. You've been a huge help this far. If I could buy you a beer I would. Cheers.

 

[doncherrysgrill]

Glad sbkb jumped in here, I'm not nearly as familiar with the South as I would like to be but get glimpses at bigger showcases when those teams come up north. I've only actually been to St. Louis once so my ins-and-outs knowledge of that program (and all of the ones mentioned) is limited.

 

[yohockey]

TPH Thunder based in TN. Has several players drafted into the USHL and or now playing in the NAHL. Aaron O'Neill (Green Bay Gamblers) and Josh Wilkins (Sioux City) most recently. Downside is if its AAA costs are $10K+ for tourneys/fees.

 

[Blue Liner]

The St. Louis Blues program is excellent. One of the top in the country at the moment, and one that your son would be exposed to the right people all season long at. That's a program you'd be talking about if you want your son to play at the top top level of youth hockey, Missouri is quickly becoming a hotbed.

The others, I'd be lying if I said there are dozens of scouts dying to get out to Evansville, Owensboro, or Nashville. Not that there aren't scouts there but the programs aren't high-level full of kids with NCAA potential-type hockey.

Not exactly the same region, but if you're looking for another option in terms of high-level youth hockey in the south it's worth checking out TPH Thunder in Georgia. They don't start until peewee but their bantam and midget programs are full of players from around the south and very good.

I was going to say this but you beat me to it. Good recommendation.

If you're considering St. Louis, also a solid youth hockey area with a lot of talent and good programs.

 

[doncherrysgrill]

TPH Thunder based in TN. Has several players drafted into the USHL and or now playing in the NAHL. Aaron O'Neill (Green Bay Gamblers) and Josh Wilkins (Sioux City) most recently. Downside is if its AAA costs are $10K+ for tourneys/fees.

Good catch! for whatever reason I thought TPH Thunder was in Georgia but yes it's based in TN. Helps give you another option if Nashville is the destination!

 

[wisssh]

TPH is out of Atlanta, Nashville and Huntsville. Consists of kids from all over Southeast.

We live in NC and almost went this route... decided on another program that had the same model as TPH and somewhat closer to home a few years ago.