The Sask First tournament, featuring 8 different zones and 160 players will take place in Regina at the Cooperators Centre from March 18-20. At the completion of the tournament, there will be a top 40 team selected of 24 fowards, 12 defenseman and 4 goalies.
http://players.sha.sk.ca/images/stories/Rosters_for_the_Web.pdf
10 comments:
This is a joke. These team selections and process are a waste of time. I hope the scouts take in some of these camps, they might notice some kids that were overlooked and not selected to the team. A total waste of time and politically decided.????
what a joke, i can't believe i was a part of this experience. this by no means was an indication of talent attending the camp. any scounts in attendance would have solidified picks in a heartbeat. some top talent were to say the least """"LAZY"""" or better were already on the team. I thouht this was based on the camp. Teams were picked well in advance. Hopefully some scouts were in attendance. Might make a difference in their selection.
These are the complaints that come up every year.
Personally I don't think it is a fair way to make an assessment of players, one weekend. The best player in any zone may be injured or sick does that mean he does not have the right to make his zone team because he cannot contribute at his regular level. With a short term injury or flu exceptions need to be made. This cannot be done without previous knowledge of the player.
So are teams picked for the camp? In some cases I believe you have obvious choices that are going to make it in every zone simply by showing up. It is with the last 2 dmen and the last 3 forwards where it becomes a personal preference of the evaluators and the coaches. Right or wrong this is the system that is in place. In most cases if you are an offensive player and you are not in the top 9 forwwards unfortunately you are not going to make it as the last 3 spots will go to big physical players who contribute in this way, all the time.
Don't get mad and complain on a blog site about the details of the system. Make recommendations to SHA for changes that would be for the better of all the kids, not your kid who didn't make it. Read the rosters again and I think that that you will find that there is nobody missing that should be there, besides the long-term injured players, all of the top ranked players are there.
The SHA Sask first program states the best player on the weekend tryout makes the team in each zone. Now the rumor is out teams are being prepicked and coaches are influencing kids to make sure they go to tryouts with spots pre awarded. Some kids are making teams that cant tryout due to concussion and broken limbs. SHA should state on thier zone application "give us your cash,,but we already picked the team"
R. Teal
What is the ultimate purpose of the SaskFirst program?
Develop the elite players in the Province of Saskatchewan.
Who are the major sponsors of the SaskFirst program?
The WHL and SJHL.
Who should be on the teams if they are capable of playing in the Zone tournament, dispite injury during the zone camps?
The elite players.
If your kid did not make their zone team, move on there will be other opportunities in hockey that come from hard work and motivation.
Enough said!
1033
For the record, no kid that tried out just avid hockey fan. Observed alot of the games and talked with parents of kids who were trying out. Have watched some of the kids in previous games and this weekend. The team selected was definetly not the best from the kids that were available. And if the play at camp was the deciding factor then there should have been some changes. And for the record DOES SHA really care, they showed how much they care when they pushed the new aaa bantam league through. Saskatoon deserves alot of credit for standing up. Fair and equal is all that most people want. The scouts will get it right in the end, and for you kids who tried out and worked your but off don't stop working. Your time will come and you will get noticed.
The truth is making a sask first team in your zone does very little you then must make top 40 then make the u16 team to be considered in the elite stream. We all talk about the players that made it after over coming the odds truth is that playing elite hockey will happen for very few. Making it outside of the u16 stream will happen for fewer
saskatoon deserves a spanking for acting so selfishly
to be honest most people dont really care what saskatoon does, because despite what saskatoon people think hockey does not revolve around them
sha needs to move on and not allow saskatoon to take part in not only provincials but tournaments as well
let them play only themselves for a few years and their tune will change
smha needs to better inform its membership on what is entailed within the new proposed league
to March 7, 2011 7:46 AM
I don't live in SK, I live next door. I find it interesting that people are stomping on the SMHA for thinking about their feeder systems. Living in a city, I don't expect that the fortunate rural teams would understand how tight ice supply is and how much competition there is for hockey players.
From what I have read, there would be a reduction in bantam teams in Saskatoon from 6 down to 4. Also, there would be more requirement for alloted ice times in Saskatoon for these 4 new AAA teams, in AB there is still a AA stream that preps 1st year bantams for the AAA the following year and second year Bantams for Minor Midget AAA as well. These city arena's have to make a go of it, and that means renting ice to men's leagues in prime time so that they can play their games and get some sleep as well. Unfortunately, most governments do not have the stomach to build new hockey rinks that basically shut down for the spring and summer. Until we can provide year round facilities that can make money and not cost the taxpayer a whole bunch of extra money, we will always have this argument.
There are other things involved as well, because there is a significant cost and safety issues for travelling in the western provinces in the winter, these have to be looked at as well.
I cannot tell you what went on years ago before building the AA or AAA programs in AB, but it seems to me that with the AA programs that SK has, they produce some pretty fine hockey players per capita that I think far outnumbers AB. Now, if this is all about providing competition for Westerns AAA championships, then that would explain why you are upset with Saskatoon.
I'm a minor hockey coach at an elite level and my boy is in PeeWee. Wither your son makes it or not in SaskFirst does not matter in the long run. If he has the desire and work ethic he will come to the top. Make the negative of being cut into a positve - show them different! Be the best in the league you are in. The scouts will notice, guaranteed. And, please, keep it positive for your boy, because some day that boy may be the next Mike Babcock. Pick any birth year - there will be less than five SK-born players that will make their living playing in the NHL, so maintaining the love of the game is what matters.
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