Why would a kid be punished for trying to achieve something bigger or better? The referenced example is even more perfect, a kid got to go play high level competition, gets experience and grow and mature themselves and still able to come back and live a high school life with their friends and family and make the home product better.
Yes, we have the Team ND program and that does do a great job for the most part for some to help fill the gap to an extent, but the premise is why on God's green earth do we need to threaten kids with barring them from playing hockey if they dare try and explore options that may or may not work out?
Quite frankly some of these situations evolve from Coach Papa JV hero thinking they know what's best for little Johnny first rounder but not AA cause meh politics, and they force the kid to go, and the kid just wants to hang out back with their buddies. Denied, or at the very least play JV a full year.
Or they get into a situation where the program they join suddenly has a couple kids from here and there, or the GMs buddy drop down or join and a kid is basically cut? Those kids can't go home and play.
There's more than one example of those kids ending up filling the void in their young teenage years with much more destructive activities.
That's a disgusting misuse of power and authority for the sole sake of holding the power and authority.