Tuesday, January 20, 2009

USA Hockey Gets a Grant from the NHL

Open Letter


To all players, coaches and parents of our Youth and Junior Divisions;

By now many of you have heard that USA Hockey has received a huge increase of financial support from the NHL in the amount of $8 Millions dollars. While there is no written agreement from the NHL funding, USA Hockey has 5 major initiatives for this $8 million NHL grant.

They are;

1. A grant for the USHL, Tier I Junior Hockey
2. Funding for the USAH Officiating Development Program
3. Hockey Growth Department
4. NTDP - Total Budget relief - $2.5 Million allocationn
5. Performance Club (HPC) and the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD)

The USA Hockey initiatives called High Performance Club (HPC) and the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) seems to be sparking the most discussion and concern. I know there are many rumors and there is a great deal of misinformation in the market place. Some are exaggerations and some are just complete fabrications.

First, much of what is proposed in the LTAD aspect of these USAH initiatives has merit and is based in sound scientific principles. The HPC component may look good on paper, however there are far too many unknowns. The only thing that was clearly articulated was that USAH was hiring a significant number of staff to implement these programs.

For the record, Tier I and "AAA" hockey is not disappearing and neither is the Atlantic Youth Hockey League. The League and its members will be meeting with USA Hockey officials later this month to discuss concerns and answer questions.

Some perceptions are that USAH simply comes in, looks at your Club and then anoints it as a HPC. That is not the case. There are rigorous guidelines and significant USAH oversight. None of the dollars are for player tuition's. Players will still have to pay tuition to their respective programs. Most of the dollars are for staff support, and possibly the hosting some showcases.

Much of the guidelines for the HPC are very restrictive. For example, as a player in an HPC program, you will not be allowed to participate in tournaments like Nike Bauer, Bell Cup, Quebec Peewee, etc. There is a dramatic shift in the game to practice ratio and they will hold programs accountable to that ratio. These HPC teams will only play against other HPC teams and up to three showcases against other HPC's. There is much more to discuss however, we will refrain until our League Board meets with USA Hockey.

While there are many issues that effect player development in our sport that should and must be addressed, however our current system has many desirable aspects that are enjoyed by our players and families. After all, this is about fun and enjoyment for the player. To expect the system to make such a dramatic shift overnight may be an unreasonable expectation and could possibly do more harm than good, at least in the short term. The needed changes may need to take a longer period of time to actually see meaningful results.

Over the course of this week, we will post highlights from the HPC and LTAD, as well as the full document itself. Please feel free to send us your questions and comments. Do not jump to any conclusions about the impact of these initiatives. Its a work in progress and many of us suspect that there will be significant changes when all is said and done.

We are in discussions with other Tier I Leagues and Junior programs throughout the country and while there are many unanswered questions, we know we have a tremendous player development system within our current Tier I and Junior systems. It has been highly successful and will continue to be highly successful in the future.

I look forward to hearing any questions, comments or concerns.

Yours in Hockey,

Glenn Hefferan, AMHL President
Gene Palecco, AYHL Commissioner
Dick Foster, AMHL Commissioner


(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

3 comments:

Debbie said...

It is amazing to me that a good thing - getting a grant of money - can lead to such a negative thing. I am hearing of various changes - and while the it is just rumor at this point - I can tell you that our family will be making a choice of pulling our 3 boys out of hockey and playing a different sport. I think that USA Hockey needs to be very careful with using money to force state organizations to tow the line with USA Hockey rulings. While USA Hockey can force the organizations to be in compliance, they can't force parents to allow their children to participate. We can just pick a different sport that isn't so crazy with stupid rules made up by a few control freaks. I have three boys that have played hockey since they have been 2 and 3 years old. And while they will miss playing hockey greatly, we won't let them play if they are in danger. And there is one particular change to how districts are handled and whether you can go out of district or not that would put my children in danger. The club we are suppose to be at allows coaches with felony records to coach. This is not okay with our family and we have opted to go out of district by using a waiver. This is one of the things we are hearing will not be allowed. Again, I hope I am hearing this wrong because playing at our current district is not an option for our family. We feel it is unsafe and won't allow our children to be there. We will leave the sport before putting our children in danger. Some of the other changes we have heard about are just plain ridiculous and won't achieve the intended goal.

Anonymous said...

Hockey has become so political as to drive many good athletes out of the sport. Hockey in the U.S. is very inbred and very elitist, and apparently, that is the way U.S.A. hockey wants to keep it. Shouldn't we create a structure that encourages more kids to play competitively at there own level like they do in Canada? this is much more democratic. Many players who develop on competitive A and B teams at the younger levels in Canada go on to play AA or AAA later and junior A, college hockey or pro hockey as young men. In the United States, your fate is determined by how well you play or who you know at age 10. The 10 year old B player in the U.S. has a very long hill to climb if he wants a chance at playing at a higher level as an 18 year old. I would like to know how the Russians, Swedes, Fins et al approach this issue.

Anonymous said...

So if the USHL expands with this, what happens to the NAHL? After all isn't that where the league that the USNTDP is playing? I am still mulling this over but it appears that we are defining which kids are "good enough" to get into the program at a very young age. What about the late bloomers?