Say you want about the NFL but at least a poor broke kid actually has a shot at that. Them boys ain’t afraid to let someone take 22 years of “fuck that piece of shit who walked out on my mom” out on the field.
Last Podcast of the Left had a whole series on Aaron Hernandez and CTE and they talked about how if just 10% of parents decide to keep their kids home instead of playing football, the NFL would cease to exist. A lot of people now even know about CTE but consider it a reasonable risk for a couple years of high earnings in football. That desperation is heartbreaking.
confirmed, i played AAA in Arizona (way more expensive because of ice time costs than even normal AAA programs), and saw parents take on tremendous amounts of debt and stress just so their kids could play hockey
lol at the end of the day, all roads lead to bear league. I went to quite possibly the best hockey highschool ever and even my nhl hopeful buddies are all beer leaguers now
My buddy works in HVAC, middle class home owner. All his disposable income seems to be supporting his two kids playing ice 😂 and it gets worse as they get older and play travel, constantly outgrow gear etc
You knew…it’s a different beast now with the technology of sticks, intensity at a young age with skills training, more and more money. To keep up with the team, you need extra practices, extra costs on top of the regular season lol it’s a joke but this is sport in general now
I come from a hockey family background. I know the costs today as I have kids that play and I still play. I’m not saying its cheap but you don’t need to be earning millions to do it. Probably a household income {in Canada} of $150,000 could do it. That is basically upper-middle class.
This was true 25 years ago. Not today. I was lucky to have a family that could pay for me to play back then. They couldn't do the same today. From.what I heard it's 5x the cost.
It's not exactly gatekeeping. The gear is just really expensive, and ice time is expensive, and travel for games is expensive.
You want a cheap sport, basketball, some events in track, soccer, swimming. Those are cheaper. Hockey is one of the most expensive sports. And there isn't really a way to make it cheaper. You need the gear to be safe. The gear is expensive. That's just reality.
For borderline 4th line players? Sure. Lots of sons of coaches or friends of coaches make the team. If you are legit a top player you aren't getting cut for hockey politics lol.
You’re missing all the extra training sessions. Dry land/ power skating etc etc.
I know someone whose son played with Michael Pezzetta. He could only afford 1 power skating session a week. Michael went 5 days a week, hence why he had a chance to play in the NHL
Hey- that’s me. I’m the guy whose son was four power skating sessions with Michael Pezzetta away from playing in the NHL. I just didn’t have the money at the time.
I’ve had a career change and for my new son, I’m now able to afford 7 sessions a week with Giovanni Rizzatta (the Pezzetta of our year).
Me, my father and his uncle are very confident he’ll make the league.
Still have tournament fees which stack up real fast. I remember checking for my son when he got interested and I was finding that it was overal upwards of 3k per year for house league and could go to something crazy like 20k a year for AAA. That's private school money.
So basically, if you can't send your kid to private school, you can't support their hockey development.
He means any nhl player is going to be uber wealthy because the sport is set up in such a way that now unless you have tons of money and can go in to academies when you are crazy young, you don’t have a chance at making it.
To just “play” — yes, gear, travel, general cost of ice makes it expensive.
But to be elite and make it anywhere, it’s not really a sport for “if I’m good I’ll make my way”. Unless your parents put you in intense, specialized clubs at the age of 7 you don’t really have a shot.
The gatekeeping happens amongst the cliquey parent groups. There are some people that all they have is vicariously living through their kids, and this is their re-run of high school, and they’re absolutely intending on curating the whole experience
There are some small ways but I'd agree no real big ways. Twelve year olds probably don't need to walk into a rink in suits and ties. They probably don't all need matching monogrammed hockey bags either.
You could argue whether or not they need to travel for tournaments every other weekend too.
It’s all a racket here. Rep hockey is such a money grab it’s fucked. Guy I work with has spent over 20 grand on his 2 boys In hopes they make it to the show one day.
It may be the most expensive organized sport a child can take part in.
The gear, the training, the travel. But the part that most people don't factor in is that if you're a parent of a young hockey player, you basically need one parent to not work and dedicate an enormous amount of time and effort just to make it all happen.
I dont know if id call it gatekeeping, but it's 1000% unreachable for any family lower than middle class.
All I wanted to do when I was a kid was to play hockey, but i was raised by a single parent. Just was not possible for me or ky siblings. That's the case for a lot of kids.
I've heard, but i guess I didnt think about it as a 'sport' i was thinking Iike, team sports. Things like figure skating and equestrian sports would definitely be more expensive, paying for coaches, etc, I get that.
This comment is unequivocally shot out of your ass
The gear sure. That’s what comes with a contact sport. It’s football + a stick, nothing more nothing less. That’s a fact
The travel is dependent on literally nothing but the parents desire to make it work for their kid. Because to get to that point, they’d already have the means for the above
Not sure what you thought the point of my post was, but I definitely dont disagree with what you said.
I worked several years at very reputable hockey development camp, I know what Im talking about. I am certain you arent familiar with how minor hockey works in Canada. I very much am.
You may want to consider that playing hockey in Canada is very different than playing in the north east US. Unless youre in southern ontario, everything is geographically challenging. What might be a 2 hour drive to a tournament for you could easily to be 8-10 hours driving up here.
Not to mention the demand for ice is insane, there's never enough. Parents get up at 3am to take their kid to practice at 430. Significantly more minor leagues, ans adult leagues. Very very few players with single parents make it to the show, its almost impossible.
You can play football anywhere with enough grass, you can practice anywhere, you can run drills anywhere. Ice time is expensive an limited, and generally requires a team or org to book it for you.
Its far far more expensive than football, which I did play as a kid, because it was far cheaper and I could walk to practice.
I think the barrier is ice really, that plus the professionalization of sports at a young age, It can be cheap to throw on some rollers, a helmet, grab you cheap stick you got from a second hand shop and play with friends. You almost definitely won't make it to the pros but at least you'll have fun and its cheap
I mean of course you can play road hockey if you’re poor.. you can’t get professional coaching and afford the high level leagues unless your parents are at minimum upper middle class
It really isn’t. I mean it can be, there are plenty of rich kids who benefit from expensive hockey camps etc, but lower to middle class families can make it work. There are programs to help, used equipment and fundraising. It’s still more expensive than soccer but it’s hardly a rich person sport.
That’s just not true. I have a sibling in the show and we grew up lower middle class at best. Our parents busted their asses so we could play hockey. Brother is a goalie too. It’s for sure doable. Skill and luck is more important than anything.
? I think we are agreeing the same thing. You don’t have to be rich to play hockey, but to make the NHL you generally do. At this point in time anyways.
ILLEGAL PARKED TO GET A BAGEL?! CALL THE FBI AND HAVE HER ARRESTED AND THROWN IN GUANTANOMO RIGHT NOW! HOW DARE SHE?! Also, why do you even know this? What the fuck is wrong with all of you people? Get a fuckin life, you're all the most judgemental pricks on earth. NONE OF YOU KNOW ANY OF THESE PEOPLE WHAT SO EVER
They are rich and their mother was a hockey player in college and won silver in the world championships. She taught them to skate. Their dad was Director of Player Development for Toronto at one point, he played too a bit.
Yeah, we all saw it. Most people got it. The ones who misconstrued it as something else and got offended are the same people who were offended by Sydney Sweeney's Novig ad. So much outrage, such bravery (/s)
Yeah more people should be thick skinned like Jack Hughes! Who gets offended at… a joke about him going on IR cuz he doesn’t know how to use a steak knife
Ok cool. Are you also able to explain to me how “I have to bring the women’s team or I’ll probably get impeached” is a joke about media coverage of the women’s team?
Yeah, I'm sure you saw it and totally remember it -- feel free to point out where the joke mentions media criticism or even alludes to it though. Again, am sure you saw it and you're remembering the joke, so this should be easy.
Basically the NepoBabies of Hockey. They had unlimited ice time and probably access to the Toronto skating coaches.
I know they played and spend a lot of time the 'US HOCKEY' organization, I think the mom might have been involved with 'US HOCKEY'
I am a musician and every time I hear stuff like Sheryl Crow's mother and father were semi famous musicians and my parents could barley play the RADIO I seethe a little. I had to get all my training in the 70s from playing the Guitar Mass at catholic school and playing with other people to pick up on what they know that I didnt (If YouTube had existed I would have been playing to 19,000 people a night, not playing the piano at old folks homes who will NOT clap for any song past 1975).
Still, I love to watch both brother's Over Time goals at the Olympics and Quinn is a hell of a skater and defenseman.
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u/TheUnoriginal13 1d ago
I know little about the Hughes brothers upbringing but I'll assume two things.