I have almost no knowledge of kid's hockey. My buddy has zero knowledge of it, and never played hockey growing up. My buddy was in town with his son for a hockey tournament. The kid is 8 years old. He signed his son up for house league last year, the first time he'd played organized hockey, but then the kid liked hockey so much he wanted to play games more frequently, so my buddy signed him up this year for the competitive league because it plays more games.
My buddy happens to live right on the border of 2 suburbs. Kids play in the league based on where they live. My buddy tried to sign his son up in the league adjacent to where he lives because my buddy's parents live in that area and it would make things easier for him and the kids etc.
Well this caused a big controversy. My buddy was told that he acts as his son's agent & needs to know the rules. The other league found out and had to have the kid try out for them and release him to the other league. If this didn't happen, the league could sue the other league for stealing players. The kid is 8 & just wanted to play,
This league of 8 year old kids has 2 months of pre-season before the regular season begins. They drove 6 hours for a pre-season tournament against teams across the province. During this tournament, the coach has all the kids on a curfew, and they can't swim in the hotel pool because "it will tire them out", and also possibly get them sick. The kids are 8.
The teams have a head coach, like 4 or 5 assistant coaches, a goalie coach, 2 trainers, and a team manager. When i passed one of the teams' locker rooms before the game, the coaches were very loudly blasting Metallica music to hype the kids up and get them all aggressive. The kids are 8.
My buddy's kid just likes hockey and wants to play. This was one of the most insane things i've ever experienced. This kind of crap shouldn't matter, it should be about player development, making friends, having fun.