New to youth hockey

[TheRich25]

I am 35 and have been playing beer league hockey in the DC metro area for about 3 years now and absolutely love the game. My son who is only 2, I get out on the ice at least once a week and he loves it. That being said, looking forward for him and for my wallet, and not being that familiar with the youth hockey structure and the expected costs associated with playing, at what age/level (mites, squirts, etc) does the costs start to really get expensive due to travel, clinics etc? Obviously it ranges quite a bit depending on the level, but I haver heard numbers exceeding $10k a year etc for their child to play....is this true?

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[Barclay Donaldson]

I am 35 and have been playing beer league hockey in the DC metro area for about 3 years now and absolutely love the game. My son who is only 2, I get out on the ice at least once a week and he loves it. That being said, looking forward for him and for my wallet, and not being that familiar with the youth hockey structure and the expected costs associated with playing, at what age/level (mites, squirts, etc) does the costs start to really get expensive due to travel, clinics etc? Obviously it ranges quite a bit depending on the level, but I haver heard numbers exceeding $10k a year etc for their child to play....is this true?

Youth hockey structure is generally learn to play/termites (each district varies). Not sure how DC structure works, but the norm is A for town teams, AA for more travel but not super serious, and AAA is the high end, lots of travel, 10k/yr type stuff. If you're looking at town teams I can't imagine it would be much more than a 1k at every level, AA is probably going to cost ~5k and AAA is north of 10k. With travel, it'll start getting bad at peewees/bantams if he plays at AA or AAA. I think DC only has one AAA organization in the Little Caps with maybe Potomac Patriots. There's only a couple AA organizations in the area too but if he's 2, he's got a while until he's looking at tryout dates and you're looking at the price of gas.

Generally, discounting one time startup costs with buying him all his gear for the first time, it shouldn't cost more than 1.5k per year once you get him out of the learn to play level and onto a team for his first few years. Yes, parents regularly pay 10k, but there's also parents who pay 25-50k for their kid to play at New England prep school without batting an eye. The willingness of the crazy hockey parents to open up the wallet is matched by few.

 

[Yukon Joe]

Obviously DC Metro area is a whole different environment than where I live (Edmonton), but minor hockey absolutely does not have to cost five figures per year. Gear costs what it costs, but you can often get used gear either at local shops or via online classifieds (Kijiji up here, craigslist I think in the US).

At no point are you required to go on aa travel team for hockey. Your kid can have a fun and enjoyable hockey experience playing locally. It can still start to get expensive, but think more like $1000 for the season (VERY rough estimate - depends on your local area).

Now that being said... once you get into it it's easy to start spending more. Your kid might be doing well, but maybe that extra hockey camp will make him do even better. Maybe he gets invited to a travel team, or a spring team... and now maybe spending $5-$10 doesn't sound so crazy.

And by the way, even $10 per year is nothing is you're truly devoted. As I understand it (and my oldest is only 8, so I'm nowhere near this yet) if you want your kid to try and get drafted for junior hockey parents are paying a cool $30k plus to play for a high school academy at age 15.

But none of that is necessary! Nothing wrong with just playing at a club level and having fun.