By: Joseph Kolodziej
AmericanJuniorHockey.com
I know I am going to take some heat over this piece, but so be it. This is not a piece that is
focusing on skill levels. Many Midget AAA players are highly skilled, as well as many Tier III
players.
Traveling the country scouting, watching camps, meeting players and parents is what I do. This
year I will spend between 300 and 340 days on the road, in the rinks working for players and
teams.
Often I am asked what I think about what ever camp I may be at by coaching staff, and parents
alike. I answer them honestly while always making sure to close a conversation on a high note.
You can always find something good about any camp, sometimes it may be that the coffee in the
snack bar is hot, but you can always find something.
Having attended several camps this month, I went through my notes to see if I could spot some
trends. Sure enough, one trend became very obvious. When attending NAHL camps, the Tier III
players coming into camp were as a group much more prepared for the NAHL than the Midget
AAA players coming in.
Please re-read that last paragraph. I did see some Midget AAA players that were clearly the best
players at NAHL camps, but as a whole, the Tier III players were better prepared.
When I talk about being better prepared, it is not only about being a better than average player. I
am talking about physical maturity, mental maturity, their presentation when arriving and leaving
the rink, front of the line for drills, asking questions to coaches and communicating on the ice.
The Tier III player parents were also better prepared. At one camp, I watched the typical player
and parent dressed in shorts and flip flops enter the arena followed by a player from the EJHL
and his parent, where both were dressed casual professional. Who do you think the head coach
walked up to and shook hands with first? It wasn't their second round Midget AAA draft choice,
it was the Tier III free agent they recruited.
The Tier III players clearly as a group are spending more time in the gym. They are putting on
muscle and they understand how committed to that gym time they need to be. Players the same
age coming from Midget programs were smaller physically, and are in large part relying on skill
to carry them through. These are usually the players you see get injured during camp or in
season.
Perhaps the most important thing I have noticed is attitude. There seems to be a tremendous
difference in attitude between these two groups of players and their families.
The attitude of entitlement that I have observed from some Midget AAA players and parents has
amazed me. Are these people being told by Midget personnel that they will be a lock to play in
the NAHL or USHL? Is there some kind of deal in place that says if you play in the Tier 1 Elite
League or NAPHL that you will get to an NAHL or USHL team? I sincerely doubt that deal is in
place, but it certainly appears that many of these players are either being told that is the case or
think that is the case.
Recently I spoke to a parent and player that was a 1992 DOB coming out of a smaller sized AAA
program in Michigan. This player cannot go back to Midget, was not invited to any USHL
camps, and was not an NAHL draft pick. That said, this player and parent were convinced they
would make this NAHL team and when speaking to a Tier III coach were so arrogant that the
coach felt as those they were dismissal toward him even approaching as they said they would not
consider Tier III an option.
The next day, when the player was cut, the same parent and player approached the coach in
disbelief of being cut. Needless to say, the coach was no longer interested, and I am certain that
players name was mentioned to the other four Tier III coaches in attendance.
News flash; Tier III hockey in many cases is better than Midget AAA. A seventeen year old who
has completed a year of Tier III is almost always better prepared for the NAHL than an eighteen
year old coming out of Midget AAA. Why? Because the top AAA players are going to the
USHL. There is a reason why they are going to the USHL and that is because they are the best
players in their age group.
If you are an eighteen year old, and you are not one of the very top players in the country at the
AAA level, you will be more prepared for the NAHL by playing Tier III than you will by
playing Midget. Also if you are a midget player attending camps, lose the attitude, you’re a good
player, but you haven’t made it anyplace yet.
Joseph Kolodziej has spent the majority of his life in and around the game of hockey. A former
team owner, general manager, coach, and current family adviser / player agent. Joseph
Kolodziej provides AJH readers a unique point of view from someone who has experienced all
the highs and lows that can be found in and out of hockey