248 Parents: Should I Send My Goalie To A Junior Tryout Camp?

We're moving down that that path, which also means you're starting to look ahead. And interesting question as we forecast, for parents to deal with or grapple with, Hutch.

Yeah. I've already had a few questions from parents who've reached out to me, parents@InGoalmag.com, if you have any questions. People want to know about junior camps and whether they should be looking at them and and looking to send their kids. And this is a question that I'm sure, you know, forwards and defensemen have the same question. Maybe it's a bit different from goal for goalies just for a reason I'll get to in a bit, Daren.

But just just to give it a little perspective, Junior A and Junior B teams often have open invite invitation camps. The CHL, they're they're by invitation. I'm not familiar with the American system, so I can't speak to that. But but we're talking about a situation where teams have open invite camps that just about anybody can go to. And you tend to have parents in two different camps.

One would be the group of parents that are worried about missing some opportunity. They need to chase every opportunity they can. They think they need to have scouts checking out their kids as often as possible and and just want to chase everything. And then you've got this other group of parents online tend to be quite loud about it. They just say, oh, it's crazy.

These camps are just a cash grab. All the spots on the team are already taken. Why would you send your kid to one of these camps? So just thought I'd give my perspective since I get the question a fair bit, guys. I've coached in the BCHL, which is arguably the top junior league in in Canada.

And I've had a kid who has gone to their camps and has gone to Western League camps. I've got a little bit of experience with this. And look, I I was in exactly the same situation when Matty went to his, first real opportunity at a BCHL camp. I had to reach out to a goalie coach who'd worked with him and just say, is this something he really should do? I was unsure too.

So just to respond to how I tend to tell parents, look, it's true. They make money for teams. They're generally paid $300, $350 for a weekend, something along those lines, with the exception again being the CHL teams because they're invite only, they're free generally. But I think it's unfair to call them a cash grab because look, it's a reality. Junior teams have to make some money.

So they do. And and and they're providing a service in these camps. You're getting something that you're paying for. So I think cash grab is a little bit unfair. I think that term tends to come about guys because people think that when you go to these camps, there's really no point because all the spots on the team were already spoken for.

Teams commit players verbally or written, even before these camps happen. Rosters tend to be generally built out away from this camp procedure. And so people think it's a cash grab because there's no spots available, but there are. I definitely think that you should ask around to make sure that the camps are a good experience, like team by team because I've been to camps where they've got six goaltenders and it's a great opportunity for ice time and they are fairly looking at kids. And I actually walked into a rink one time, guys, one of the rinks that Woody plays in.

Maybe I was there to watch Woody play. I'm not sure. And there was a BCHL camp doing goalie auditions and I kid you not, there was more than a dozen kids lined up at a single net. And they would go in for

was was Woody one of them?

No. No. And literally, they'd go in for two, three shots and then they'd cycle out for the next kid. Now I would not have spent money on a camp like that for my kid. But but I do think there's a place for them.

And it's true that many of the spots are taken on the team, but it's also true that spots are available.

Can you ask questions of the organization? Is that

I think it's a 100% fair. I think it's a 100% fair to do that. Yeah. Why wouldn't you? And and by the way, don't wait to be invited.

Like, check out the websites of the teams that you're interested advertise spring camps when they happen. And I hope that there's a limit in the number of spots that they take because that shows that they're trying to provide a really good experience.

There are there are for some. I've actually had this conversation on behalf of a parent friend whose son is approaching this age. And I had this conversation with the BCHL team recently and a goalie coach that I know and trust about maybe attending theirs. And he took a look at some film and said Mhmm. This kid looks like he can play, and so please give me his name because we get more submissions than we have space for

for sure.

I want this to be a very real experience. Does it mean I have a spot this year? Not necessarily. Although if you wow them, you never know. You know, it it's a chance for my friend's son to sort of see how he fares and stacks up at a level he hasn't competed against before.

And, of course, the caveat is, hey. It's probably not BCHL shooters. It's a bunch of shooters that want to make the BCHL. So you're not gonna get to maybe see the BCHL shooters in this example. But if you can't hang with the prospective kids, you're probably not gonna be able to hang with the ones that are already in the league.

So it can be used as a measuring stick and a chance to understand better where your young goalie ranks as they attempt to make these strides, and there's value in that. I think also too, it's fair to ask, is there any actual coaching time? Because there's a lot of really good goalie coaches in the BCHL, for example, and I'm sure in other junior a leagues across the country. And I I do think it's fair to ask, hey. Is this just gonna be, as you said, Hutch, 12 kids at a goalie station, they all get three shots each from, you know, different shooters, or they're actually gonna be goalie specific drills and exercises, and there could be value in that as well.

For sure, can. I but where I was gonna go with it, Woody, is that I think there can be value in the camp regardless. First off, I would say that guys do get signed out of these camps. Let's put that side bit to the side. They're not a pure cash grab for spots that aren't available.

My son went to a camp and was offered a spot on a team right out of camp. It had nothing to do with being preselected. There are players on my son's team in the Western League that were camp invites and, were not drafted. They were just, quote, unquote, filling out a roster for camp, and they showed that they deserved a spot on the team

and they got it every year. I do think the people that I used to think about this

as well. You know, and I've talked to

a few coaches about this. The people that yell the loudest about it just being a cash grab are usually the ones whose kids didn't get selected after having spent the cash.

Yeah. And and just, like, don't have expectations that are too high. I think what Woody was saying about getting a good experience and seeing how you stack up is true. Also, what do goalies need the most? I mean, a lot of goaltenders are getting a lot of time with goalie coaches, are learning skills at a young age.

Sometimes we even have the debate on here saying kids are being over coached at a young age, but they need gameplay. So you go to a camp, BCHL, AJ, OJ, whatever it might be, and you get four or five games in a weekend. You get to see gameplay. If you're on the young side of the invites for those camps, chances are you're in games with kids that are three, four years older than you. They might not be ready for that league yet, as Woody said, quite correctly, but they're still pretty darn good compared to you at your age.

So great experience. And in my experience, Woody, there are players, rostered players at a lot of these camps because even though they fill out the goalie slots really quickly, quite often they haven't completely filled out the player slots. And so they'll invite some of the local guys on the team or something to come out and fill out the roster. So all that to say, they're not cheap, have a budget, be realistic. But I think you can get some good value out of the gameplay in these camps.

I would even argue cheaper per game in a lot of camps than your spring hockey experience that a lot of parents are lining up for. So it's a different thing to do, Something fun for kids to do. Just go in with an open mind, understand it's unlikely, but you just never know where it's going to lead. And maybe it's not a roster spot, but maybe it's for a phone call later on in the season when somebody's injured or they want to give you a look if you've had a good year. That's that's in general my long winded response, guys, when parents ask me what to do about camps.

And if they're not ready, it's a reality check.

Yeah. And that's fine.

Discussed sending us some video. That's interesting too to try and get ahead of the curve and and navigate that. I wonder, can you send in NHL Sense Arena tape and and say, I've got this great glove hand. Like, I'm working on this thing. Like, NHL Sense Arena has has blossomed.

It's getting, it's getting closer. I wouldn't be surprised if it happened one day. You'd able to file some of your drills and Sense Arena and teams could log on to watch you just like they do already with, some of the other services out there. That'd be pretty cool. Did you guys see some of the video going around?

Devin Cooley got his first NHL start for San Jose recently and he was warming up outside the dressing room with Sense Arena on. That got me thinking that as we just mentioned, spring hockey season is around the corner for a lot of people. Time to change routines or with maybe a different group of people. You're going to do things a little bit differently. Why not put Sense Arena into your routine like Devin Cooley?

Try a warm up before practice. Try a warm up before a game. See if working your hands from some shooters are going to hit the net unlike a lot of the guys on our teams, unfortunately. And maybe you're gonna be a little bit more ready when you hit the ice. And using Sense Arena in a warm up, like Devin Cooley and like some of the other goaltenders in the National Hockey League that use it today, could be something great to add to your routine.

Just one of the many things that Sense Arena gives us from great drills, eye hand coordination stuff, to what Kevin Woodley is dying to tell us about right now.

Well, no, I just think it's great that we see that video because you've gone through this, We know young goalies have gone through it where they feel like it would benefit them, but they're too embarrassed to break up the Sense Arena set at the rink Yeah. Because it it feels so unusual. And yet we've heard from Joey Daccord using it between periods in an NHL game he's playing in. Devin Levi using it at the rink. Joey Daccord at the rink.

Now Devin Cooley. Like, they're normalizing it for the kids that are maybe a little sheepish that they're gonna get ribbed, you know, at 13 or 14 years old if they pull this thing out as part of their preparation tool. When you see guys at the highest level doing it, guess what? It's okay.

Yeah. And I hope some goalie coaches will let head coaches know that this isn't crazy too because I could see that's probably a source of some of the concern for kids. What's my coach gonna think if I put on the headset and go play some games outside the dressing room? So guys, Sense Arena, great thing to try this spring. Head over to sensearena.com.

You know the code, IGM 50, and you'll save a bit more.