Depending where you are in CT, depending on what year he his, you might want to look into some of the split season junior hockey teams (Yale Junior Bulldogs, CT Chiefs, Junior Wolf Pack etc.) and see when the tryouts are and be clear about finding what their situation is in net, as hockey recruiting is obviously very different for goalies. Many of the top prep school players in CT play for these organizations in the fall and spring, and they are very competitive.
There are also a number of other organizations that run AAA teams and a good number of the players on these teams go on to play in college, so if your son is looking to stay at his school and play high level hockey, there are definitely other options to get noticed by colleges if that is his goal.
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Son’s dream is to play hockey as a career in the NHL or in the professional leagues in Europe. It’s not realistic and the odds are low but he is 14 years old. I dont want to close the door on D1 hockey.
The OP stated that there are financial constraints. [quote=“saleem145, post:3, topic:3671403”]
The cost varies from $50k for day schools to $85k for boarding. So cost becomes an issue.
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He is not on a path for professional hockey, let alone college hockey. If he wants to play college, even D3 hockey, he has to change the path he’s on. Either play AAA now (or higher tier) or go to a prep school with a history of sending players to college and/or juniors.
The road to professional (NHL) hockey seems particularly hard. I have a family member who played in HS, was not recruited for D1 so they went to a junior college that was known for getting players recruited to D1. He did eventually get recruited to a D1, although not one that was ranked for hockey. He played & graduated and then bounced around to a few lower-level teams (regional, not NHL but possibly feeder teams). After a couple of years of changing cities, he left and was able to capitalize on his engineering degree, got married, etc.
Unless your son has already been identified as a prodigy, I wouldn’t sacrifice academics. He can still play hockey for club teams, as others have suggested, and see how he develops from there. If D1 isn’t an option, there are other divisions. Often, the lure of following a sport doesn’t materialize as one hopes - so it’s always good to have the academics as a solid back up.
In many sports, the club team is much more important than the HS team. Is that different for hockey?
The other consideration is academic. Is your son on track to be do well enough acedmically in the competitive HS to get into top schools? Or is he a decent student that would get better grades at the lesser HS? That is, is he likley to end up at the same level of college regardless of which HS he goes to?
Are the academics offered at the private HS lesser (fewer advanced or AP classes, fewer electives) or are you basing the assesment on the SAT scores or assessment of the students? Are the students at the private school motivated or indifferent?
While playing hockey at the private school may not be a ticket to D1 or the NHL, it may be something that it important to the son. If the private HS is good (but not as high level as the local one) and has good course offerings, it may be worth it to your son and enhance his HS experience. OTOH if his aim is a top college, and he is wiling to work for As, it may be better at the public HS.
The other thing to remember is that there is no guarantee that the coach will stay at the private school for the next 4 years.