Our goal is to promote, expose and educate elite hockey players in DC, MD and VA and help them pursue their hockey dreams at the junior and collegiate levels.
Young players please remember that when a coach or scout shows interest in you or offers you a chance to play on a team or compete for a spot on a team, that whether you are interested or not it's important to reply and be thankful. You never know where that person will end up.
Young players, please. Too many of you are chasing NCAA D3 hockey w/zero direction.
Don't go to a school you don't know about or may not like to say you were on an NCAA roster. First and foremost find schools you love. If you can't play there, find ACHA schools you love. 1/2
Every player and parent wants people to be honest with them in this sport, but very few of them really want to hear the truth or are capable of dealing with the truth.
Advisors don't get you to Tier 1 or Tier 2. Your ability, worth ethic and commitment do. Period.
For kids freaking out at all the NAHL tenders they see being announced, a recent study showed only slightly more than 50% of tenders make NAHL teams.
Play the game. Love the game. Enjoy the experience. Enjoy your teammates. Work hard. Stop stressing out. It's a game.
Many Tier 3 junior programs prey upon uneducated families, and so many kids wind up in bad situations because they just aren't aware of how it works and assume those recruiting them are trustworthy and giving them the whole story.
A lot of them aren't. I'm here to help.
With NCAA rosters now limited to 26 & schools allowed to offer full scholarships to all of them, playing D1 hockey just got that much harder & smaller, lower-budget programs will struggle to compete with the bigger schools. Terrible.
Level of play at D3 will continue to rise.
A disappointing NAHL Draft day for locals yesterday. There are capable players here and people who can and will help them. But we keep buying into the same scams and keep handing over money to people who aren’t going to help just because others are doing it.
One of the things that frustrates me about kids/parents in this area is the "who else is on the roster" syndrome. If u are playing against people as good or better than you in front of scouts, why isn't that good enough? Prove you deserve to be at a different level.
If you have an elite level program - AA or AAA - and are charging thousands of dollars for kids to play - and those kids hope to get to whatever the next level is - and you don't have an updated website with at least a roster, schedule & results, you are stealing money.
I understand that Brind'amour is emotional. But man, come on. Don't be a POS. You're talking about a guy who has one fight since 2010 and scores 50 goals a year and acting like he's Ryan Reaves. Your guy faced him up and asked him to fight. You played in the league. STOP IT!
Please stop wasting money and time and sacrificing your education and college experience. Go where you will love it. Go where you can play. Go where you will enjoy college and hockey. Don't settle. A satisfied ego doesn't pay the bills.
PLEASE!
Trust me on this.
You help a team win a championship in the DMV and you are forever one of us. Hero. A legend. Not sure he deserved the demotion, but he definitely deserved the welcome back. He will live in
#Caps
lore for eternity and will never ever have to pay for beers to double fist here again
Devante Smith-Pelly spent two months in the minors. Before that, he went 30 games without a goal.
Yet there he was Saturday, receiving a standing ovation in his DC return
On a second chance & the
#ALLCAPS
delivering a taste of 2018
@WTOP
@CapitalsRadio
Parents please:
1) Stop signing your kids up for things they don't want to do & making others deal w/their attitudes & lack of communication when they don't want to do it
2) Don't email or text a coach & pretend it's the kid doing it. EVER. Please.
You know what annoys me?
College coaches who say they can't use this kid or that kid isn't a fit or we don't recruit that league ... but they continue to do what they are doing and continue to suck.
Do your homework. Take some chances. Dare to be different and to be good.
It disturbs me when I see low character kids progressing up the hockey ranks.
Coaches say they look only for high character kids, but it's hard to really believe that sometimes. Too many cases of loose cannons continuing to advance.
I'm drawing a line in the sand. If u only are responsive when u need something, u are out. If u are going to ask me for my time to help u & then stop responding to me or those I put u in touch with, u are out. The selfishness & lack of consideration is incredibly disappointing.
As we put our 2019 spring and summer season to bed I would like to thank all the players and families who came along for the ride, all the tournament organizers and all the coaches and scouts who let me pester them and then still came to watch our kids. More to come next year!
Players. Learn to respond. To everything. Even it it's thanks, I'm not interested. Not responding is a terrible habit to get into and makes people think either you don't care or aren't responsible.
For all the naysayers one of the players playing for us in this “pick up” tournament is getting multiple Tier 2 junior offers off of his play there. With more to come.
If you're a prospect and following this account and tweet inappropriate or offensive things please don't expect me to recommend you to higher level coaches. Be smart, but also just be a good person. People see this stuff. Character counts.
So I think it's safe to announce that I've accepted the General Manager position at Reisterstown Sportsplex (the ice rink). I'm looking forward to helping grow the hockey programs there and growing the programming and opportunities provided by DMV Prospects there as well.
A lot people told this kid he couldn't. I knew he could. It just took
@TwinCityThunder
NCDC to give him the chance. Now he's their captain. Congrats to Andrew Kurapov, now wearing the C for TC!
#SEHL
and
@DMVHockey
Prospects alum.
So you ask for your release because you are barely playing and your coach keeps bringing in more players over top of you and you are told they won't release you or give you any money back?
That's the game we're playing now?
It’s easy to see what’s important to a program when they won’t look at a kid who is more than good enough to make their team because he didn’t pay for a main camp that already generates thousands of dollars.
These six players have been with us for most of the past 5-6 years. They’ve skated all summer and in a few days or weeks all we be heading off to college and NCAA hockey. Excited for all of them, especially the 4 freshmen.
I retweeted this earlier, but just re-read it. All parents should read this, but I really want the kids to read it to understand what's important in life and how people sacrifice so you can pursue your dreams.
Always stay humble and kind. Great advice.
Another player we have worked closely has committed to play NCAA hockey.
Congrats to Sam Stitz of the Black Bears - a client, summer-league participant for several years & member of our Kings of the East Coast Showcase team, for his commitment to play D1 hockey at Air Force!
Winning is really important. I get it. But it's not the end all. Developing players & good people & moving them on to whatever level they end up playing at or to whatever school they end up attending should be the top priority. Look for organizations with that approach.
I just came to a realization. For those kids going to so many main camps, keep in mind that more than 95% of the kids at that camp ARE NOT Tier 1 or Tier 2 players. So, yes you're getting exposed to that team, but are you getting better? Be careful of your time and $.
It takes hours for me each week to do the club and high school write ups. Information is spotty and I have to pull it from many sources. Maybe when there are 2-3 oversights or mistakes in a very long article, people could DM and ask me to fix them instead criticizing publicly?
Local programs that don't have rosters, schedules, results, etc. posted are doing their players and families a disservice. There are too many of you out there and I'm just not covering those programs anymore. Sorry. There isn't enough time in the day to track info down.
I would really appreciate it if organizations would refrain from tagging this account when trash talking or bickering. We are here to promote as many area kids and teams as possible. Thanks In advance.
Congratulations to Drew Lorinchak, former Little Caps and Skipjacks 18U, drafted by the South Shore Kings in the NCDC Draft! I believe he is a 1999, though, not a 2000 as listed.
MHR is extremely excited to announce we are stepping up our news/social media content for the 2019-20 season! Scott Lowe, MHR's Director of Digital Media, will be leading the charge. Read the full article here -
Couldn't be happier for Devin or more grateful to Coach Gurskis &
@SSK_Hockey
for the opportunity he got this year & for everything that
@EC_Kings
,
@jimhenkel12
&
@CJRHockey
did for him in drafting him & helping him develop as a player & person. Good luck to CJR in NCDC finals!
Time to fix pay to play jr hockey. Expand rosters by 2 from Sept-Thanksgiving. No trades & no new players brought in except for documented injuries until then. Make coaches work harder scouting & developing players. Keep them from stashing guys they don't really want who will pay
I would like to add that this goal got nowhere near the credit it deserved for degree of difficulty. Grab your skates and try this into an empty net and report back how many out of 100 you make.
Just curious if there would be much interest in a
@DMVHockey
podcast once or twice a week? I'd also like to get to the point where we are streaming and broadcasting some of the top local club and high school games next year ... thoughts?
A huge honor for Devin. Very happy for him.
All great players on this list including DMV products Connor Tait, Andrew Kurapov and Johnny Mulera. Devin, Connor and Johnny played for
@TeamMarylandAAA
. Andrew played for
@LittleCapitals
.
Congrats to all!
It’s a fine line parents. It’s very easy for you to ruin it for your kids at every step of the process. Whether it’s with them or with coaches or with people who truly want to help them. I see it all the time. Be careful. That’s all I got.
If you're a junior player hoping to play NCAA hockey and haven't had multiple meetings with your coach about that topic it's going to be very hard. It's not on your coach to do this. It's your future. Take control of the situation and talk to your coach immediately.
I would like to say I’m honored to be kicking off this years Chowder Cup, our second with
@Littlerhodyhock
, with 1 of the tournaments first games but I’m more tired than honored. Definitely happy and excited to be back though. College Open Blue 720 am in Attleboro on
@MyHockeyTV
I want to sincerely thank the 40-plus kids who gave us their absolute best over the last 2.5 weeks during
@teamdchockey
tryouts. We couldn't go wrong with any of you. We have many tough decisions. I'm most proud of how much hockey in this area improves ever year. Thanks boys!
If you think you are better than everyone else on the ice, you probably aren't. Prove it by setting the tone, not complaining about the level. Set the standard and the compete level and play the game the right way, otherwise you have no room to talk.
Kids never forget. Friendships and bonds formed transcend whatever decisions adults make and whatever grudges adults hold. Sometimes we ( parents and coaches - me included) need to step back and realize that hockey provides so much more than wins, losses and trophies.
I saw Justin play against Devin when he was 16 and he was dominant. And a gentleman off the ice. Very mature for his age. This story is heartbreaking to me on so many levels. It should be a must read for all junior coaches and GMs. Your job is to develop players not break them.
One thing local hockey players and families need to get much better at is communicating and responding. If you aren't interested it's okay to say no. Ignoring people and leading them on or constantly changing your mind is not ok. Opportunities will disappear.
Tonight a team of
@EHL_Hockey
All-Stars plays
@SUMustanghky
at Reisterstown in an exhibition. For ANYONE who wants to play junior & NCAA hockey this is a great opportunity to get out & understand how good you need to be to play at those levels. Many of you will be shocked.
Also, players who have ignored me for almost 18 months about many things now want to get into league games and get on showcase teams and train. The rules are the same for everyone. Be responsive and don't be above talking to anyone and you'll get more opportunities.
Parents you're crippling your kids by handling their emails/text messages - especially those acting like it's kids responding when it clearly isn't. It's so important for them to learn to communicate w/coaches, teachers, bosses etc. to be responsive & accountable.
Just. Don't.
A “coach” who has zero control of his players who also have zero interest in playing actual hockey telling another coach to control his parents is rich. Only at the Chowder Cup.
I have a lot of updates to catch up on, but I wanted to send out a huge congratulations to Wyatt Hinkson for earning a spot on the Castleton University varsity hockey roster.
It's been a long road and a ton of hard work and I couldn't be happier for him. Way to go Wyatt!
HUGE congratulations to frequent
@DMVHockey
Sunday Game participant Lacey Eden for being named to the 30-player roster of the 18U U.S. Women's National Team for the upcoming USA Hockey Women's National Festival Aug. 6-13 in Lake Placid. Good luck Lacey!
Congratulations to
@DMVHockey
Sunday game participant and former
@SpaldingHockey
and
@LittleCapitals
player
@lacey_eden
on winnings a silver medal with Team USA at the 18U world championships. Tough loss. Great tournament. You made the DMV proud!
I've learned a lot about people this summer - people on all sides of the hockey world.
Will put my thoughts in writing and will continue to tweak our model. Looking forward to pushing forward and helping deserving young players who need and embrace the help and the opportunity.
The fact that a guy like Rooney is a professional ref - and can officiate a game of this importance - is a major reason why the
@NHL
will never be taken seriously as a major sport in this country.
So tired of what goes on in youth hockey in this area. Very few people in it for the kids. Rich get richer but no one wants to listen then everyone wonders why they hit nothing but dead ends and end up having wasted thousands of dollars.
It's sad but you can only do so much.
We have Tier 2, Tier 3, AAA, high AA & prep school players on our Predraft rosters this weekend. A great mix of great kids with great potential. We have scouts confirmed to come watch our players and be on the bench with our coaches. We are different. It's up to you what you want
Honestly this is a huge problem across junior hockey. The officials mess up the scoring regularly and then the stats get published online and scouts/coaches use them and assume they are correct. All junior leagues should use hockey tv to make sure all scoring is accurate. AAA too
Don't know if the refs are blatantly not giving the right numbers to the scorekeeper, but Gavin Gulash not getting credit for the first goal when he should have. Right now
@NAHLHockey
has Eric Manoukian listed as the goal scorer.
Just got off the phone with my good friend
@Jlounsbury11
... excited to be able to let you know that
@DMVHockey
will be formally partnering with
@GELSTX
and
@Elevenhockey11
on training products and video analysis/content. Official announcements coming soon!
I would advise anyone looking at junior hockey to not only go by the leagues' "commitment numbers." Do some homework before you spend $15,000. Go player by player on their list. See what schools kids committed to and how much they played - or if they played at all.
Just don't sign ANY hockey contract that doesn't provide protections for both sides and doesn't clearly spell out what your rights are. Too many people are signing contracts that are completely one-sided.
It really is amazing to sit back every Sunday and watch all the hockey talent from the DMV converge on
@rtownsports
for fast paced high level hockey. Tonight we had over 60 players again. And they have a blast while getting better. Very rewarding to see. Love the camaraderie.
Players:
If you want to play in college do not rely solely on other people. Don't assume your coach will get you there. Talk to your coach. Talk to other coaches. Build relationships. Show them how much you want it.
BE PROACTIVE!
Don't wait. It's never too early to start.
I hear this comment a lot. "I play better with better players." No kidding. We all do. They are better. That's why. Really good players make the players around them better. Does that mean you belong on the ice with them? EARN IT!
This is so important for players of all levels who want to advance. Meet people. Build relationships. Get people to like you. If you're a good person of high character who people like and who brings the right work ethic and compete level every day, you make yourself hard to cut.
Director of Player development for
@NHLJets
on the importance of building relationships at Dev. camp. He talks about putting your phone down at dinner and talking to the guy across from you. We all want a "good culture", it starts with good people and strong relationships.
The USHL draft results were bad for the DMV last year. This year they were non-existent.
Youth hockey here must be fixed. We were making progress for a while but we've taken 10 steps back & are moving in the wrong direction. Need more people who care about the sport & the kids.
@CoachJasonWitt
@dmaciuk
I agree with the parent aggression part, unfortunately in this day and age playing time on many teams is often not based on merit, attendance, attitude, work ethic, aptitude, etc. It SHOULD be, and when it is there are no room for complaints.
Every year I tell myself it can't get worse, but somehow it does.
I don't know if in good conscience I can keep helping kids pursue something that has a pretty good chance of ending up with them spending thousands of dollars chasing something they are promised that isn't real.
Anybody tweeting or retweeting negativity about Baltimore will be unfollowed and blocked from my timeline. If you don't live here go mind your own business please.
Some of you - many of you - need to start doing things on your own. You are turning things down or not going because your buddies aren't going or aren't invited. It's healthy to break away, to meet and play with and against new players. Pack mentality will hold you back.
Calling on the junior (& youth) hockey world, as I know hockey is truly one big family. Bobby DeFriest, a teammate of my son's on the CT Jr. Rangers NCDC team, is suffering from brain cancer. He's 19. Please consider donating to help:
#DeFriestStrong
Congratulations to Gavin Glaubitz, another member of our showcase teams, the SEHL and our training group, on his college commitment!
A lot of schools slept on this guy and he's going to be a great addition as MCLA builds its D3 program.
Pet peeve:
Me to player: "Hey would you like to play for our showcase team? 8 of our players got contract offers, several others got main camp invites and one was drafted in the NCDC from the last showcase we attended.
Parent responds instead of player: "Who is on the roster?"
As we enter our 3rd year at DMV Prospects we are ready to change the model of what's available to elite players who want to get to whatever their next level is.
We have a more clear & determined focus & more to offer going forward.
Check it out here:
Our annual DMV Prospects trip to
@BabsonHockey
for a pre-tournament practice.
This year we took our Chowder Cup players.
Special thanks to coaches Rice and Gaudet for having us!
Could you imagine all the things I could accomplish if I had all the time back I’ve spent waiting in ice rink lobbies? Nah don’t want the time back. Will miss it when it’s over.
Big day & big play for
@lacey_eden
yesterday in
@usahockey
18U women's national team OT win vs Canada. Her faceoff win & pass set up the tying goal w/8 seconds left. Lacey is part of our training group & plays in the
#SEHL
. Great kid. Hard worker. Loves to play. Congrats Lacey!