Junior C or college Club

[Tyler0630 1]

ok, well, first of all im either about to make the biggest mistake of smartest choice for me.

as of next fall, i'm going to Old Dominion Univirsity and i was planning on playing club hockey there and adult league at my local rink. Which ive seen a couple of games and its just fun hockey, not to competitive or stressful. comparing myself to a couple guys on the team i would definently be a top scorer for sure.

but..

We have a new Jr. team in town called the Junior Whalers (www.jrwhalers.com) playing Junior C in CHA selects (basically lowest junior hockey possible....). I went to the tryouts just for the hell of it to see what was up, and i was asked to sign for them and i told them to hold off for a couple of days because i wasn't sure what i wanted to do. If i sign i would probably be the most skilled defencemen on the team and pretty close to one of the best in the CHA league. im also one of the oldest 6/30/88 (currently high school senior) and biggest.... 6'2 180lb, and im pretty quick on my feet and very athletic.

Well, the new junior team is basically a development team and the head coach is Brent Agrusa who i had no clue who he was, untill now, when i looked him up. He is the former coach of the NAHL Junior A, Helena Bighorns. ( so he basically has alot of connections and will up my game alot). They're are also a handful of Ex-Pros who are working with the team who are going to be our off ice trainers, managers, ect....

i know that this is probably one the best oppertunities for me, considering we will be practicing 6 days a week all summer long, and we will basically dominate the junior c league, and i will have chances to get scene by scouts.

Well basically the reason for this post is, do you think im too old or i waited to long for me to work my way up to a junior A and possibly NCAA div 1 school? Ive never really had the drive to be this hardcore about hockey, just because ive always naturally been one of the top kids on all my midget AA teams (mainly because most of the kids as good as me & better than me went to play juniors or prep school, and i always wanted to stay home to party on weekends, but now im kinda getting over that.)

and also has anyone on this site been in a similair situtation as me and how did it work out? what should i do, the owner of the team really wanted an answer yesterday but since they've only filled 13 of the 28 spots so far im sure i still have some time left... Also, how is the CHA, ive never seen a game, is it garbage like alot of my friends are telling me? or is it a pretty decent league.

if i were to play this i would have to put of college for a couple years or so.... maybe take some classes at a community college or somehtin, because i will need to get a decent day job to support myself.

[hockechamp14 0]

This is your decision. If you have that much ice time to practice, then you have to make the commitment to get better. In the end, you're probally going to have to use all 3 junior years if you want to get to division 1.

[gavin 0]

If you've never put in the time to get better, but now you have some natural talent and all of a sudden some drive, go for it.

Wanting it will make you 100% better right away. And the higher the competition, the more you will sharpen your skills. Your coach might move you up fast, if he realizes you're on top of the league.

[Icedog03 0]

Im going to be totally honest with you. The CHA selects is kind of a joke. I played for the Virginia Statesmen this past year in that league and more then half the team is not playing again...

[mnitishin 0]

go for it, if you wanna get better it seems like this is your chance, and that coach sounds like he can take care of you in terms of exposure.

[willy0314 0]

it depends on what league the club team is in. I'd say your better off going to the JR. c team if you want to advance your game, but there are some very high quality club programs out there. However there are alot of club hockey programs that are nothing more then glorified beer league. They will tell you how great the club program is, but alot of them are poorly runand not the place to play if you want to play high level competitive hockey. If you are only 18, play JR., If it sucks after 1 year, you still have plenty of time to play club hockey.

Dont worry about being too old either. Alot of D1 freshman hockey players coming in for the fall are 84's.

[Gongshow11 1]

once you hit jr. c there aint no goin up, its the lowest possible. jr.c in the US no less in the worst hockey imaginable, its basically houseleague. try to play at least jr.b if you're gonna stay in the US or get your life goin and go to school.

don't go jr.c

[BigT 4]

once you hit jr. c there aint no goin up, its the lowest possible. jr.c in the US no less in the worst hockey imaginable, its basically houseleague. try to play at least jr.b if you're gonna stay in the US or get your life goin and go to school.

don't go jr.c

what he said........jr c is brutal hockey

[badsk8ter 0]

Jr C may be brutal but if you play in the league and have a great year, with the coach being a former NAHL coach, who knows, maybe next year you could play in the NAHL or USHL. After that, possibly a scholarship or a chance to walk on somewhere. Don't worry about your age. Most D1 players have played a year, sometimes two in juniors after high school. Like what Willy said above, you can always play club hockey, down the line. This is a great opportunity for you. I say go for it.

[Gongshow11 1]

plus you're what 18? thats too old to move up from jr.c. if you were 16 then maybe and only maybe might i say do it. plus remember this is the USA jr.c which is worse than canada

[Jim A 4]

what's the big deal if he wants to play a year of hockey before he goes to school to see what happens? He gets some good coaching, learns a little more of the game and then goes off to get on with his life..

are you saying the Jr. C players couldn't play for a SUNYAC school? If so times have surely changed, there were a lot of Midget AA/AAA kids who couldn't make the Jr B squads and went on to SUNY or other D3 type programs in the NE

[Gongshow11 1]

yes im saying so. the lowest is jr.b. The SUNYAC is comprised of at least 80% canadian junior players, who played Jr. A

[Jim A 4]

that's cool..I had edited above...like I said times have changed..

however if this kid wants to play a year of hockey, why not..no reason to be 30 years old and think "crap I should have done that"...

[Gongshow11 1]

so try out for jr.b not jr.c , i bet you regret jr.c if you saw the caliber

[Megamandan 0]

I have the same delema, accept I am going to try and go just club. The problem is I have no idea how good the club team is. It's D1 club but that has no meaning. I've played AAA and Highschool. I'm more of a powerhouse than a skater, but I hope my size 205 Lbs and 6' 3" will help. I'm afraid I won't be good enough.

[the_game 452]

play juniors and see what happens....play hockey for as long as you can.

You have the rest of your life to work or go to school.

thats my advice.

[stickfixchaska 0]

It sounds to me like the Junior C opportunity is a great option. Dude, you're 18 and you can always go to school. Take a year to play hockey and have fun. You never know, with the coaching staff that you'll have, an opportunity for a better education (or team) could be a result from playing for this Junior C team.

To repeat what one guy already said...You don't want to be 30 yo and look back thinking you missed a big opportunity.

[aoes812 0]

Yeah, I agree with the guys saying go tryout for a higher level team or just go to college. Junior C in America seems like it would be some crappy hockey.. which is pretty much a dead end.

There are numerous tryouts in the US for Junior B and Junior A teams, I would do that first, and if you don't make it, then just take the college route. There are players in Junior B that do earn scholarships or make even Div III teams. Go to this site and looking around: http://www.usajuniorhockey.com/jrleagues.asp

[Gongshow11 1]

you guys are all dumb. hello, this is JR.C!!!!!!1 its not jr.b, where you gonna go from jr. c right to jr.a? please give me a break. If you're lucky you could maybe move up to jr.b, but jr.b usually consists of jr.b players, and the jr.a guys whoa re up and down. jr.c is the worst league out there, there is no where to go from there. no one recruits from US jr.b. the reason you play jr.b in the US is cuz your 16 and want to play jr.a in 2 yrs. At 18, jr.c is worthless, its a waste of money, and time. in 2 yrs you're not going to be an impact player at jr.a startign in jr.c, and i say 2 yrs because some teams have a quota for 20/21 year olds.

So say you put up 50 pts in jr.c, scouts will say so what, it's jr.c. i could have played jr.c at 14, its useless

[biff44 0]

The Virginia Statesmen are going to be playing in the Jr B Empire Hockey League this season. Empire hockey is not half bad, and you definitely have a shot of moving up to Jr A after a year in the Empire. Might want to try that out instead of Jr C.

Do not know where the statesmen skate out of but here is the empire league link:

http://www.empirehockey.com/index.shtml

You do have to make time to practice 3-5 afternoons a week, and probably will be making a road trip every other weekend, since most of the JR hockey is in New England/NY State. You will have to schedule your classes to be in the mornings!

[aoes812 0]

you guys are all dumb. hello, this is JR.C!!!!!!1 its not jr.b, where you gonna go from jr. c right to jr.a? please give me a break. If you're lucky you could maybe move up to jr.b, but jr.b usually consists of jr.b players, and the jr.a guys whoa re up and down. jr.c is the worst league out there, there is no where to go from there. no one recruits from US jr.b. the reason you play jr.b in the US is cuz your 16 and want to play jr.a in 2 yrs. At 18, jr.c is worthless, its a waste of money, and time. in 2 yrs you're not going to be an impact player at jr.a startign in jr.c, and i say 2 yrs because some teams have a quota for 20/21 year olds.

So say you put up 50 pts in jr.c, scouts will say so what, it's jr.c. i could have played jr.c at 14, its useless

Actually guys from Junior B do end up playing for college programs if they're good enough, and I'm not talking about club hockey..

[Gongshow11 1]

im sorry, i should have said rarely, canadian jr.b ya, US rare, maybe the atlantic jr. league, but id say only a handful.

[Jim A 4]

why not sit down with the coach and ask how you stack up to the Jr B team he owns in Helena?

If he tells you that is out of your reach (they have been in the mix for national champs so they are solid Jr B squad) enjoy it take the year to play some hockey have fun and then go to ODU

If he says maybe with some practice you could play..try it..so you are 20 entering college..that is pretty normal nowadays..and at the worst you played 2 more years before hitting the beer leagues...maybe you play some ACHA..still cool...

[aoes812 0]

Yeah, playing juniors until you're 20 in hopes to be recruited isn't a bad idea. A lot of hockey players play til their the end of their junior careers, and then go to college. Just make sure you pick a good team/league.

[Jbone 0]

Junior C= terrible. Go to a college club.