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Fargo Squirt Tournament - and Youth Sports in General


MafiaMan

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Did anybody attend any of the games this past weekend? I heard Eastview's A team made quite the statement. Is this the norm nowadays at some of these "kid" tournaments? I've heard plenty of stories of fights, coaches being ejected, parents getting into it in the stands, and even host town hotel rooms being trashed by visiting teams.

We even heard about the dance competition at Target Center a few weeks ago. Winners allegedly cheating, losers refusing medals, Little League teams stacking rosters...Is this what youth sports is coming to?

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Did anybody attend any of the games this past weekend? I heard Eastview's A team made quite the statement. Is this the norm nowadays at some of these "kid" tournaments? I've heard plenty of stories of fights, coaches being ejected, parents getting into it in the stands, and even host town hotel rooms being trashed by visiting teams.

We even heard about the dance competition at Target Center a few weeks ago. Winners allegedly cheating, losers refusing medals, Little League teams stacking rosters...Is this what youth sports is coming to?

Sadly. Yes.

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Apparently Eastview came out for the 2nd period of their 2nd game of the day on Saturday, then promptly left the ice to "protest" the officiating.

just imagine if every hockey team that didn't like the officiating did that.  there would be no games completed.

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Apparently Eastview came out for the 2nd period of their 2nd game of the day on Saturday, then promptly left the ice to "protest" the officiating.

Wow, that's bad!

 

I'm still not sure how I feel about that dance competition.  According to some people who were there, the winning team basically admitted they stole big pieces of the routine, but I'm not sure I'm on board with the girls that didn't accept their medals.  I get they felt they had to do something, but I'm not sure they did the right thing... Then again, I have no better suggestion for them beyond the formal protest that was turned down.

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I know one of the refs who worked that game. The Eastview coaches told the refs prior to leaving the ice before the Zamboni came on to clean the ice after the 2nd period that they would take their team off the ice and not finish the game if they didn't start calling more penalties. About 2 minutes into the 3rd period a Minot player checked one of the Eastview players. The refs did call a checking penalty against the Minot player, but that didn't stop the Eastview coaches from carrying out their threat.

What was the score of the game when they left the ice?

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This is squirts, with checking NOT allowed. When I was helping coach Squirt B's we seriously considered pulling the team off the ice in one game because of the slashings, checking, and other things that were going on that the refs would not call. Kids were coming to the bench with injuries and we were getting concerned for their safety. It wasn't until we yelled at the refs after one of the opposing players intentionally kicked one of ours in the stomach who had fallen to the ice that they finally blew the whistle very late and called a penalty. At that young age, you have to take player safety into consideration. It goes beyond being unhappy with reffing at the squirt level. I don't know if that was the case in this situation.

One other thing with the Fargo Squirt tournament. There are teams from many states and Canada that come to compete. The age level for squirts varies from state to state, and at that time they didn't go by age, they went by the squirt level. Our team played teams that were two years older and considerably bigger. We didn't play any teams that tried to be physical so we didn't have any safety concerns, but the difference in skill level was quite obvious. That was a number of years ago and I don't know if it is still the same situation.

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Speaking of youth hockey, my son (8 years old) wants to join hockey. I have heard it's expensive and very time consuming. There are two leagues he could join this upcoming fall/winter a recreation league or a travel league. Travel league is more competitive but they travel in a 100 mile radius of Fargo (I wouldn't mind a trip to GF) so we are leaning towards the recreation league just to get his feet wet as he just learned to skate and is now in love with the sport. Can anyone shine the light on the truth/ myth about it being expensive and time consuming?

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Speaking of youth hockey, my son (8 years old) wants to join hockey. I have heard it's expensive and very time consuming. There are two leagues he could join this upcoming fall/winter a recreation league or a travel league. Travel league is more competitive but they travel in a 100 mile radius of Fargo (I wouldn't mind a trip to GF) so we are leaning towards the recreation league just to get his feet wet as he just learned to skate and is now in love with the sport. Can anyone shine the light on the truth/ myth about it being expensive and time consuming?

It's expensive and time-consuming.  My 5 year old is just in an initiation program in Minot, but I have friends whose kids are in the pee-wee level.  They're travelling overnight 10-12 weekends a season during USA Hockey season.  One friend has his kid on a summer team and they're playing about 6 tournaments from May thru August; all out of town.  They're also practicing ~ 3 times a week and playing tournaments/games in Minot pretty much every weekend they're not travelling.

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It's expensive and time-consuming. My 5 year old is just in an initiation program in Minot, but I have friends whose kids are in the pee-wee level. They're travelling overnight 10-12 weekends a season during USA Hockey season. One friend has his kid on a summer team and they're playing about 6 tournaments from May thru August; all out of town. They're also practicing ~ 3 times a week and playing tournaments/games in Minot pretty much every weekend they're not travelling.

Thanks for the info.

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It's expensive and time-consuming. My 5 year old is just in an initiation program in Minot, but I have friends whose kids are in the pee-wee level. They're travelling overnight 10-12 weekends a season during USA Hockey season. One friend has his kid on a summer team and they're playing about 6 tournaments from May thru August; all out of town. They're also practicing ~ 3 times a week and playing tournaments/games in Minot pretty much every weekend they're not travelling.

Wait until your on one of the USA hockey select teams. My brother just finished his second bantam year has the spiring showcase coming up were the top players in each district play for a chance to join the Minnesota select team which then they go for a chance to make the national team development program.

Also Darrell hate to say it but if he's just learning to skate at 8 he's behind development for USA hockey. Go with the rec league it will be more fun, and he and you will enjoy it more.

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Wait until your on one of the USA hockey select teams. My brother just finished his second bantam year has the spiring showcase coming up were the top players in each district play for a chance to join the Minnesota select team which then they go for a chance to make the national team development program.

Also Darrell hate to say it but if he's just learning to skate at 8 he's behind development for USA hockey. Go with the rec league it will be more fun, and he and you will enjoy it more.

Thanks, I think we will go that route with Hockey.

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It's expensive and time-consuming.  My 5 year old is just in an initiation program in Minot, but I have friends whose kids are in the pee-wee level.  They're travelling overnight 10-12 weekends a season during USA Hockey season.  One friend has his kid on a summer team and they're playing about 6 tournaments from May thru August; all out of town.  They're also practicing ~ 3 times a week and playing tournaments/games in Minot pretty much every weekend they're not travelling.

uh yea it's expensive but how expensive is relative to each person. Like NDSU said above it's allot of travel and this goes on for a long time. Start at 7-8 ends at 16 ish for summer teams and then if they're good enough they still do things after 16. My thoughts...keep him in hockey but don't buy a lake place. I cringe whenever I think about the costs of a lake place I don't seem to get to often enough. 

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I know one of the refs who worked that game. The Eastview coaches told the refs prior to leaving the ice before the Zamboni came on to clean the ice after the 2nd period that they would take their team off the ice and not finish the game if they didn't start calling more penalties. About 2 minutes into the 3rd period a Minot player checked one of the Eastview players. The refs did call a checking penalty against the Minot player, but that didn't stop the Eastview coaches from carrying out their threat.

So it might have been a real safety concern for the players, if that is the case the refs had lost control I can understand what they did.  Not saying this is what happened but if so the reason they stopped playing has some validity. 

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