Delaware Prep

[justafan66]

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Is this a legitamate entity? Seems like they promise good things to aspiring players.

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[JMCx4]

Looks like they've only been around 3 years, so that would leave staff backgrounds as probably the best indicator of value for young players. Seven guys on the coaching/training team list. They list Charlie Pens as head coach but Elite Prospects identifies him as the GM of the FHL's new Delaware Thunder team; so I'd worry that his years of coaching (and associated lower minor pro & junior player experience) will be lost. Other members here may recognize some of the other staff names, with the two assistants likely to fill a possible hole left by Coach Pens.

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

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Is this a legitamate entity? Seems like they promise good things to aspiring players.

A "prep" team that doesn't even have two goalies or a full roster with almost no players who have moved onto higher things. Seems like a money grab through and through. Their schedule is mostly them playing high schools with club hockey teams and even a college club team. All teams promise good things to aspiring players, but even just a quick look at this shows they're not capable of delivering. If you have a kid, put him with an organization or a school that has a track record of advancing your kid to where they want to go. Not here.

Head Coach Charlie Pens has been involved in a number of embarrassing ventures, with the most notable being the Delaware Lightning that never got off the ground: The Death Pool – Special Report – Delaware Lightning Vanish. He also GM and majority owner of the Delaware Thunder in the Fed, and has already hosted some pretty amateur hour happenings and the team was only made official a few weeks ago.

 

[BOS358]

Stay away. To call Charlie Pens dishonest would be a compliment. The schedule is weak. I'd never heard of the team or most of their opponents, and the ones I have heard of are not known for hockey. Plenty of better options in the Mid-Atlantic region.

 

[kij]

Charlie Pens somehow managed to be the "head coach" of the team last year while playing in the fed. That makes sense. Unreliable man, unknown team, stay away. As previously pointed out, he has managed/owned multiple failed teams.

 

[BOS358]

It gets better (or worse.)

I was thinking about this post and wondered what type of school would hire such a fraud. After all, such a hire would reflect poorly on the administration, right? Well, if Google is correct...THERE IS NO DELAWARE PREP! It's a crappy midget team playing against mostly weak prep school teams. Look at the team's website. There is no reference to a school anywhere!

 

[hockeymomDE]

There is no such school. It’s B team hockey at best. He promised players junior hockey, and when that failed, he just had the players who had paid thousands of dollars play on a team with Bantams.

Charlie Pens is a con artist. Most of what you find online about him is actually written by him. He is only allowed in a few rinks because as soon as he is asked to submit a background check, he backs out. It is my understanding he is not credentialed by USA Hockey. He finds a loophole around this somehow.

He is one shady dude.

It gets better (or worse.)

I was thinking about this post and wondered what type of school would hire such a fraud. After all, such a hire would reflect poorly on the administration, right? Well, if Google is correct...THERE IS NO DELAWARE PREP! It's a crappy midget team playing against mostly weak prep school teams. Look at the team's website. There is no reference to a school anywhere!

Th

 

[Sam Spade]

Just hit Tomorrows Ice (TI) hockey program which is just down the road if you live in Delaware and it won't bankrupt you. They have a lot of kids move on to junior programs and actual prep schools.

 

[Eric Ready]

Newark hockey player joins Delaware Thunder looking to jolt pro career

 

[BOS358]

Newark hockey player joins Delaware Thunder looking to jolt pro career

Charlie Pens, Sr. is the team owner. Charlie Pens, Jr. is his son. I think you may be confusing the two (I did before I googled it.)

DISCLAIMER: Do not misinterpret this as a defense of Charlie Pens.

 

[Eric Ready]

Charlie Pens, Sr. is the team owner. Charlie Pens, Jr. is his son. I think you may be confusing the two (I did before I googled it.)

DISCLAIMER: Do not misinterpret this as a defense of Charlie Pens.

I wasn't confused. Just thought it was germane to the conversation.
...And it is not every day that a father signs his son to a professional contract.

 

[BOS358]

Fair enough. And yes it is related.

The "signing the son" thing is strange, but it's happened before. One of my friends played for an SPHL team that guaranteed four fights per game or a full refund...and then signed the coach's son so no refunds would ever be issued.

 

[tealhockey]

I've never heard of them but they play most of the relevant high school teams in the region and won a lot of games. There isn't great HS hockey in the area, depends on what the alternatives are. Everyone starts somewhere, could be an opportunity

 

[BOS358]

With a quick look at the roster and the number of local players, I'm guessing the majority of them were cut from the viable Tier I midget programs like Virtua (fka Comcast), Skipjacks, and the like. God only knows what options their out-of-town players had. Their schedule wasn't exactly murderers row either, though they did get pasted by an NA3HL team a few times.