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Polar Bear Tournament.........What Happened?

Re: Polar Bear Tournament.........What Happened?

Purehockey1 said:
Any news on the East Coast Wizards Tournament? What teams looked strong? Who won the tournament?
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Results are on the Wizards website.

http://www.eastcoastwizardshockey.assn.la/Page.asp?n=56617&org=eastcoastwizardshockey

Keep in mind that the USA U18 team candidates did not play as they are at the USA Hockey camp. Certainly hurt Assabet U19 the most (Assabet missing 4 players, Wizards missing their #1 goalie). Wasn't at the tournament, but I was surprised by the strong showing of the Chicago Young Americans in both age groups. If this is truly representative, then it's a bummer that the district only gets one team at Nationals as the Mission will almost certainly go at the U19 level (can't speak to the U16).

Heard that Team Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Seals?) had a short bench due to questions about the allowable number of out of district players they were allowed. I thought U19 Tier 1 teams were allowed an unlimited number of OOD players by USA Hockey, but perhaps the Mid-Am district has their own limit?

Hux had some negative comments in this thread about another U19 tourney over break and this likely was the Wizards tournament given his geography. Ice isn't always the best at the Edge, but it was good enough for the Women's National team to make it their home so judge for yourself. The Wizards tourney is designed to get reasonably priced college exposure for the club hockey kids at a high level of play with a format that makes it easy on coaches (one building, 2 rinks, only top tier teams, 3 days, 4-6 games). The Wizards tourney format meets that in a way that the Polar Bears never did - they had ~10 rinks all over CT, ridiculously expensive, little to no control over who played at what level (so lots of uncompetitive teams at the top level), 4 days, etc. To deliver a coach friendly format they only play 15 minutes at the U19 level and don't do the ice between periods - BFD. Does the extra 2 minutes per period and cleaner ice they play at Nationals at the U19 level really change the college exposure result? Doubtful - at least the coaches don't think so because they are almost all at the tournament.
 
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Re: Polar Bear Tournament.........What Happened?

HockeyEast33 said:
Results are on the Wizards website. Keep in mind that the U18 team candidates did not play as they are at the USA Hockey camp. Certainly hurt Assabet U19 the most (Assabet missing 4 players, Wizards missing their #1 goalie). Wasn't at the tournament, but I was surprised by the strong showing of the Chicago Young Americans in both age groups. If this is truly representative, then it's a bummer that the district only gets one team at Nationals as the Mission will almost certainly go at the U19 level (can't speak to the U16).
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Actually, it is a shame Illinois only gets one team at Nationals. Central District occassionally gets an extra slot and sends the 2nd place finisher at districts (Team Wisconsin u16 last year; Madison Capitols u19 in 2012). For the last few years, Illinois teams have had some of the very top teams in the nation knocked out at u19, u16 and u14. It will happen again this year.
 
Re: Polar Bear Tournament.........What Happened?

Were there any scouts at the Polar Bear or Wizard Tournament? There were scouts at the Minny HS games.
 
HockeyEast33 said:
Results are on the Wizards website.

http://www.eastcoastwizardshockey.assn.la/Page.asp?n=56617&org=eastcoastwizardshockey

Keep in mind that the USA U18 team candidates did not play as they are at the USA Hockey camp. Certainly hurt Assabet U19 the most (Assabet missing 4 players, Wizards missing their #1 goalie). Wasn't at the tournament, but I was surprised by the strong showing of the Chicago Young Americans in both age groups. If this is truly representative, then it's a bummer that the district only gets one team at Nationals as the Mission will almost certainly go at the U19 level (can't speak to the U16).

Heard that Team Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Seals?) had a short bench due to questions about the allowable number of out of district players they were allowed. I thought U19 Tier 1 teams were allowed an unlimited number of OOD players by USA Hockey, but perhaps the Mid-Am district has their own limit?

Hux had some negative comments in this thread about another U19 tourney over break and this likely was the Wizards tournament given his geography. Ice isn't always the best at the Edge, but it was good enough for the Women's National team to make it their home so judge for yourself. The Wizards tourney is designed to get reasonably priced college exposure for the club hockey kids at a high level of play with a format that makes it easy on coaches (one building, 2 rinks, only top tier teams, 3 days, 4-6 games). The Wizards tourney format meets that in a way that the Polar Bears never did - they had ~10 rinks all over CT, ridiculously expensive, little to no control over who played at what level (so lots of uncompetitive teams at the top level), 4 days, etc. To deliver a coach friendly format they only play 15 minutes at the U19 level and don't do the ice between periods - BFD. Does the extra 2 minutes per period and cleaner ice they play at Nationals at the U19 level really change the college exposure result? Doubtful - at least the coaches don't think so because they are almost all at the tournament.
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BFD? Yeah, it is when the first thing anyone says is "the ice sucks". Then the next thing is "they don't clean the ice during games?" The puck looked like a superball out there half the time, and the other half it was practically buried in snow. Talk about a mickey mouse way to run a tourney.

You have two rinks, a limited number of teams, and all the time in the world. Either clean the ice every two periods of play, or run the game with two 22 minute periods and a flood in between. If the object is to "get reasonably priced college exposure for the club hockey kids at a high level of play" then make sure the ice is in a condition that allows for it. The high level of play was greatly diminished by the ice conditions. Take the time and do it right or watch the teams, and college coaches go away. (And yes, college coaches I talked to commented on the ice conditions.)

At last check the Out Of District limit was five players, but that shouldn't impact a tournament, only playing at Nationals. CYA teams looked very good, and U19 Wizards had both of their goalies and both played well.
 
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Re: Polar Bear Tournament.........What Happened?

Call It said:
Were there any scouts at the Polar Bear or Wizard Tournament? There were scouts at the Minny HS games.
Click to expand...

Coach's list from last year's Wizards tournament - assume they were all there this year (and likely more as last year was the first year of the tournament I believe). All Eastern schools. I don't know what St Paul's School is doing in the list....it's a prep school.

Amherst College
Boston College
Boston University
Brown
Brown
Castleton
Castleton
Colby College
Connecticut College
Connecticut College
Franklin Pierce
Hamilton College
Harvard
Holy Cross
Maine
Middlebury
Norwich University
Oswego
Quinnipiac
RPI
Southern Maine
St Lawrence
St. Anslems
St. Pauls School
Syracuse
Uconn
Umass Boston
Union College
Utica College
Vermont
Wesleyan
Williams College
Yale
 
Re: Polar Bear Tournament.........What Happened?

Hux said:
BFD? Yeah, it is when the first thing anyone says is "the ice sucks". Then the next thing is "they don't clean the ice during games?" The puck looked like a superball out there half the time, and the other half it was practically buried in snow. Talk about a mickey mouse way to run a tourney.

You have two rinks, a limited number of teams, and all the time in the world. Either clean the ice every two periods of play, or run the game with two 22 minute periods and a flood in between. If the object is to "get reasonably priced college exposure for the club hockey kids at a high level of play" then make sure the ice is in a condition that allows for it. The high level of play was greatly diminished by the ice conditions. Take the time and do it right or watch the teams, and college coaches go away. (And yes, college coaches I talked to commented on the ice conditions.)

At last check the Out Of District limit was five players, but that shouldn't impact a tournament, only playing at Nationals. CYA teams looked very good, and U19 Wizards had both of their goalies and both played well.
Click to expand...

Ice - Both rinks in use from 7-8 am until 10 pm on Friday and Saturday and 7-8 am until 6:30 pm on Sunday - I don't know where all of the extra time is to do the ice between periods....you could take less teams but that then lessens the coach attractiveness.

Pittsburgh - If the limit is 5 then previous Pittsburgh teams were over the limit - they had significant numbers of kids from around the country. Thinking about it some more, is this a new rule? Assabet would have had an issue at the U19 level last year - Mastel, Turner, Pate, Wolejko, Staenz, Marchin, Strabley, Avery, Conway, Tomlinson were all out of the MA district and none of them even played for a MA prep school team. And this year they have Pate, Wolejko, Avery, Tomlinson, Mullins, Deangelis, Coyne, and Lonergan from out of district. The more I think about it the more I'm convinced that there is no limit.

Wizards goalie - My bad - Wizards goalie at U18 camp is on the U16 team, not U19.
 
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Re: Polar Bear Tournament.........What Happened?

HockeyEast33 said:
Coach's list from last year's Wizards tournament - assume they were all there this year (and likely more as last year was the first year of the tournament I believe). All Eastern schools. I don't know what St Paul's School is doing in the list....it's a prep school.
Click to expand...

Saw Coach Pacific there from Exeter. Not uncommon for the Preps to attend events like this, especially if there are younger age groups, as there are always parents looking to get deals on their kid's education. Of course, they could also be there to root on their players. ;)

HockeyEast33 said:
Ice - Both rinks in use from 7-8 am until 10 pm on Friday and Saturday and 7-8 am until 6:30 pm on Sunday - I don't know where all of the extra time is to do the ice between periods....you could take less teams but that then lessens the coach attractiveness.

Pittsburgh - If the limit is 5 then previous Pittsburgh teams were over the limit - they had significant numbers of kids from around the country. Thinking about it some more, is this a new rule? Assabet would have had an issue at the U19 level last year - Mastel, Turner, Pate, Wolejko, Staenz, Marchin, Strabley, Avery, Conway, Tomlinson were all out of the MA district and none of them even played for a MA prep school team. And this year they have Pate, Wolejko, Avery, Tomlinson, Mullins, Deangelis, Coyne, and Lonergan from out of district. The more I think about it the more I'm convinced that there is no limit.

Wizards goalie - My bad - Wizards goalie at U18 camp is on the U16 team, not U19.
Click to expand...

Look, they are in a great location, with a pretty good facility and format for this type of event. IF you want to be taken seriously and not as a cash grab, then do it right. That means at least one flood between periods. As for coach attractiveness. The coaches will show up for the right teams. Quality not quantity...and that includes play. Bad ice makes for bad play. (And while I'm on the subject of doing it right...and this is just a pet peeve of mine...Organizers of tournaments, please take the time to paint your frikken nets and wash the rink glass and windows of viewing areas.)

It doesn't take a rocket scientist, or a Harvard grad, to figure this one out. You are a privately owned facility. You know your dates. When you are doing the ice contracts for the youth teams you tell them, "sorry, no ice on this weekend, we have a tourney." The organization may kick and scream a bit, but ultimately no parent is going to whine much when they don't have to drag their kid to the rink on a holiday weekend.

Several years ago the Michigan or Central district made a stink about kids crossing borders and playing on other teams and proposed a two player limit for National bound teams. Obviously, this doesn't work for teams like Assabet, the Wizards, Polar Bears etc. that have Prep kids from across the country rostered. The good Mr. Gray made a counter proposal of five, which was accepted. I don't know if that has since been tossed and now you can have unlimited or whatever.

As for Pitt, or any other team, it really doesn't matter how many kids they have from without, it is just a tourney (unless there are tourney rules that set a limit, which likely would be counter productive to attendance given the propensity of teams to have a plethora of players from across the globe.)
 
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I remember a few years ago, we had a D playing at the Polar bear. It was the last game, on the last day. My wife and I and two other kids went, with our $80 in weekend passes, with my wife's aunt who came to this one game. We told her to just walk in with us as we showed our passes. Three men in their $60 s were at the gate. As we went past, two of them didn't as much as blink, but the third one leaped to his feet and blocked the aunts path demanding to see her pass. We tried to reason with him that this was the only game she could see. Asked for a pro rated fee. Was told no way. So I had her go in with the wife and kids. I told this guy I would have to go to my car to get the $20 for him. Started digging in my car change for pennies first. After pulling about $7 in pennies I went to nickels, and then dimes to make the $20. I put it all in a Barry White CD boxed set tin to carry it to him. Set it down on the table and said " here's your $20 count it, if it's short you know where you can find me". " and by the way I want my Barry White tin back when I leave". It's was all the other two could do to keep from laughing as I walked past them. Ahhhh good times, good tomes
 
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Re: Polar Bear Tournament.........What Happened?

Hux said:
Saw Coach Pacific there from Exeter. Not uncommon for the Preps to attend events like this, especially if there are younger age groups, as there are always parents looking to get deals on their kid's education. Of course, they could also be there to root on their players. ;)

As for Pitt, or any other team, it really doesn't matter how many kids they have from without, it is just a tourney (unless there are tourney rules that set a limit, which likely would be counter productive to attendance given the propensity of teams to have a plethora of players from across the globe.)
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- Coach Pacific is a great guy and a great advocate for girls hockey! I was not aware he coaches at Exeter (hear so little about their girls program).
- A lot of these tournaments require official USA Hockey rosters. If the district wouldn't certify their roster or they had to shorten it to get certification then it could impact the number of players they had at a tournament. Heard that the Pitt Penguins Elite were pitching a fit in this particular case, which may be cause for the district to tighten/enforce the rules.
 
Re: Polar Bear Tournament.........What Happened?

Hux said:
Saw Coach Pacific there from Exeter. Not uncommon for the Preps to attend events like this, especially if there are younger age groups, as there are always parents looking to get deals on their kid's education. Of course, they could also be there to root on their players. ;)



Look, they are in a great location, with a pretty good facility and format for this type of event. IF you want to be taken seriously and not as a cash grab, then do it right. That means at least one flood between periods. As for coach attractiveness. The coaches will show up for the right teams. Quality not quantity...and that includes play. Bad ice makes for bad play. (And while I'm on the subject of doing it right...and this is just a pet peeve of mine...Organizers of tournaments, please take the time to paint your frikken nets and wash the rink glass and windows of viewing areas.)

It doesn't take a rocket scientist, or a Harvard grad, to figure this one out. You are a privately owned facility. You know your dates. When you are doing the ice contracts for the youth teams you tell them, "sorry, no ice on this weekend, we have a tourney." The organization may kick and scream a bit, but ultimately no parent is going to whine much when they don't have to drag their kid to the rink on a holiday weekend.

Several years ago the Michigan or Central district made a stink about kids crossing borders and playing on other teams and proposed a two player limit for National bound teams. Obviously, this doesn't work for teams like Assabet, the Wizards, Polar Bears etc. that have Prep kids from across the country rostered. The good Mr. Gray made a counter proposal of five, which was accepted. I don't know if that has since been tossed and now you can have unlimited or whatever.

As for Pitt, or any other team, it really doesn't matter how many kids they have from without, it is just a tourney (unless there are tourney rules that set a limit, which likely would be counter productive to attendance given the propensity of teams to have a plethora of players from across the globe.)
Click to expand...

The great USA hockey (nice job on the men's selection) leaves residency rules up to each STATE. That's right not district, STATE. (See NAHA vs Vermont). Out of district player #'s are dictated by the state. With the addition of Tier II out of player restrictions were loosened here in Ma.. Yes last year's Assabet team under the previous rules would have had too many.
 
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