249 Parents: Should My Goalie Play Spring Hockey?

Which is a great segue into our parent segment brought to you by GDI USA, and there's a interesting timely conversation that's taking place regarding spring hockey right now, Hutch.

There sure is. And before that, I just wanna welcome the first of, several new coaches program partners, GDI USA, who are presenting today's parent segment. And they're gonna be with us throughout this season in some form or another as they also choose to deliver InGoal Magazine subscriptions to many of their students. GDI offers an array of programming at the national including national and regional development camps this summer, mid season tune ups in the winter, year round specialty clinics, consultation, advising, game and video assessments, really everything you need to learn, develop, and thrive through the course of, your career. So visit gdiusa.us and check them out.

And there'll be some links in the show notes, there'll be some information in this week's newsletter as well. Okay, boys. Parent segment, does my goalie need to play spring hockey, or is it time for a spring break?

I don't have a young goalie. I don't have an answer. I know I need a break by this time of the year. So

Yeah. Well, look, for me, definitely, maybe it's a little bit late right now for some families to consider this, but maybe it's a good time just to be thinking about it as well and maybe for next year as well. Do you have to play spring hockey? Options have sprung up everywhere and, there's a bit of a fear of missing out with parents as they worry that maybe their son or daughter will be left behind if they don't jump into spring hockey experiences. So just to share my thoughts, I would say don't feel you have to, but it's also okay if you choose to.

But do play other sports. How many NHL goalie coaches guys have told us kids can't catch anymore? How many have told us that it's really important to be an athlete first? And, by the way, if you do play other sports, don't feel that pressure to go play at the rep level. Do you remember years ago, guys, Aerin Frankel on the podcast told us that he thinks it's important that you go out and play a sport not at the rep level.

And why is that? So that you can just focus on exploring your athleticism and not it's not all about winning. Just go out there and have fun and be an athlete. So but back to spring hockey. First off, it's a business and it's generally expensive.

And that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Someone's providing an experience for your kid and it's okay to run a business. But I would suggest that you go out there and evaluate it guys like a business as well. Is it good value for the money? In general, you're not getting a whole lot of goalie development in most spring programs.

So to me, it's all about the games. How many games is your kid gonna play for that money that you're spending on spring hockey? Also, ask yourself, what does your goalie need the most right now? Did they play a whole season without much goalie coaching? If that's the case, then maybe the money you're thinking about spending on spring hockey would be better spent on private coaching or maybe some really good camps, something like that.

Build up those goalie skills when you haven't had the opportunity in season. On the other hand, if they were with a team that gave you some great goalie development and you feel like their skills have progressed a lot this year, then maybe you do need to take some time and just get out there and play some games and then maybe spring hockey is for you. My son has had many opportunities to play spring hockey over the years and sometimes when it was a unique opportunity, like a different level of competitiveness, different group of friends or something, then we had him play. And there were other years we just didn't think the value was there for him. It wasn't the right thing.

So he didn't play. We passed up an expensive trip to California one time because it it was gonna be a whole lot of money and there'd be two goalies there and that's a lot of money to play two or three games. One year when he was really young, and this is a big caution parents, you could see he was burning out. You could see he was not happy at the rink. And so he just pulled a bit of hockey.

He went and played house baseball and had the time of his life. And later on, we said, you don't even have to go back to hockey if you don't want to. But after a nice long break, he was ready and it was his choice. And this year, playing at the CHL level, admittedly, it's the longest season he's ever experienced. The gear is going away when he comes back.

He's gonna play house league baseball. He's gonna hit the golf course a whole lot. The most important thing when you're making your spring hockey decision, everybody, is make sure your kid's having fun. Make sure they continue to enjoy the game when next season comes along. That's my 2 cents, boys.

Well, if Carey Price needed to put the gear away every summer until August because he felt it reinvigorated him when he hit the ice, there's a lesson there. Obviously, not every kid's playing as much as he did when he was at the Montreal Canadiens, but it's one I always reflect on. One we've heard more and more was in the Dallas Stars locker room this week. Jake Oettinger, little bit of a forced time off the ice because he had the surgery last offseason that a lot of people didn't know about. But he felt better for it going into this season, having had that break for the first time in his in in his career.

So the one question I had had, but Hutch, but Hutch. The coach says if I don't play spring hockey, I'm not gonna have a chance to make the rep team next year cause all the other kids on the rep team are make are playing spring hockey this year.

Yeah. Look, if I I I don't even know how to respond if you're tied up in a political situation where it's the same coach. That would be tragic. I can tell you that I've seen a whole lot of goaltenders play high level spring hockey over the years that are no longer in the game. So it it's a long term play.

And I would be very sad for you if you're in a situation where you really feel that pressure. And somebody really wants to have a chat about it and reach out, feel free to talk to a whole lot of parents as they make some of these decisions and you can reach us parents at ingoalmag.com.

One statement, one question. I think this is the statement. Every player, goaltender or skater, should have a first skate of the year, which means you stepped away from the game for a little while. You shouldn't just go all year and never experience that joy of walking back into the ring for the first time in in a while. That's that's part of regenerating your enthusiasm for the game.

And that goes for every sport because some other sports can can go year round too. The question is, if you are going to play spring hockey and you're a goaltender, should you be looking at a good team or a team where you're gonna get more shots? Because it's spring hockey, maybe a team that's not going to be on the upper echelon is better for you as a goalie.

I think that probably is an entire parent segment because it relate it relates to next season as well. And it's a question we've had here over the years many times. I would say it's a really hard question to answer, Daren. And I would also go back to why are you choosing spring hockey? If it's about the games, then playing on a really, really good team where you see 15 shots a game is probably not a great experience for you.

If it's about something more than just the games, playing on a really good team, you're gonna face those really good players every day in practice. So there's advantages on both sides of it. I think it really depends on the scenario and I think we'll revisit that one maybe closer to the season as people are looking towards what they might do this year.