352 Parents: Junior Drafts: Important thoughts whether you hear your name called or not

Yeah. Stop It Goaltending U, the app, presents our parents segment. We got junior hockey drafts that have taken place, and we're in that season right now. Before we get to that, a word about Stop It Goaltending U.

Well, we're into the off season, and so it's a great time of year to look for more voices, more ideas. Well, how about getting twenty five years of NHL goalie experience at your fingertips on your phone or tablet? How about tapping into the parenting expertise that helped Joey Daccord reach the NHL and excel? That's what you get with a subscription to Stop It Goaltending U, the app. All the knowledge from Brian Daccord, who's been an NHL goalie coach, scout, and director, as well as all the insights and expertise from his staff at Stop It, which includes a long list of veteran NCAA coaches and in the summers, former pros.

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Hutch.

Yeah. Guys, draft day. The, WHL held their draft recently, and I think the USHL as well. And if you are a goalie family whose young goalie was eligible for either of those drafts, this week probably felt like one of two things, either a celebration or a quiet ache that's, hard to put words to, and I wanna talk to both those families today. As a corollary, the families who might be looking forward to other drafts around North America as their kids head into junior hockey.

If your kid was drafted, congratulations. Honestly, it's just take a minute, let it land, enjoy it. But I want to share something from experience and I share it with as much of a smile as I can. There is no moment in minor hockey where you will feel more valued as a parent and as a goalie than draft weekend if you're lucky enough to hear your name called. Those calls come in.

You get welcomed. They give you the best seats at one of the games. Nobody treats you better. Enjoy every second of it because you've all earned it. Just know that the team's interest in mom and dad tends to drop pretty close to zero by the following season.

And look, that's fine because at that point, it's about your kid and the work they have to do, not the family experience of draft weekend. This is the beginning. It's not the destination. It's just the beginning. The draft is an invite to compete for a roster spot to prove yourself in a new environment against better players.

That is a gift, but it's not a guarantee of anything. The families who handle this best treat draft day as exactly that. One day, then back to work. Enjoy it. Celebrate it.

Then back to work. Now, if your kid wasn't drafted, I want you to sit with this for a second. Josh Ravensbergen wasn't picked in the twenty twenty one WHL Bantam draft, not by any of the 24 teams that took a goalie that day, including our son act actually, when he was picked in that draft. Josh went back to his local program. He skated harder.

The goalie coach vouched for him with Prince George and he got a tryout and he made the most of it. Then last June, the San Jose sharks took him thirtieth overall at the NHL draft. The same system that passed on him produced a first round pick. But here's what I want to say carefully because Josh's story, an incredible one but it's also a very specific one. Not every kid who gets passed over gets that call.

What I've seen over a long time watching this game is that the path you imagined, the one that ran through the draft through this particular league, it's only one path. And when that particular door doesn't open, it can feel like a wall, but it isn't. There are kids who didn't get a WHL or USHL look who found their game in the BCHL, the NHL, kids who went the college route and played four of the best years of their life.

Not every kid gets the camp invite. That's real and it's okay to acknowledge that. What I've seen over a long time watching this game is that the path you imagined, the one that ran through the draft through this particular league, it's only one path. And when that particular door doesn't open, it can feel like a wall, but it isn't. There are kids who didn't get a WHL or USHL look who found their game in the BCHL, the AJHL, kids who went the college route and played four of the best years of their life.

Kids who walked on somewhere, earned ice time nobody handed them, and ended up places they never would have predicted at 16. Kids who took a different path entirely and found that hockey became something they loved again once the pressure of the next level wasn't the only thing defining it. None of those are consolation prizes. They're just different doors. And sometimes, the one that opens is better than the one you were waiting for.

Your job as a parent doesn't actually change based on what happened this week. Keep them working. Keep it fun. Keep the process the focus, not the outcomes. And if your kid is sitting with some hurt right now, let them feel it.

That part is real. Then remind them that this moment is not a verdict. It's not a ceiling. It's just where the path bends. Every path is different.

Keep going. Good luck, everyone.