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I'm looking to take the plunge into a AAA summer program for the first time. Part of me hates that i'm caving into it, but another part feels tired of seeing my son(talented B player with A potential) show up every fall behind others who've been playing all summer and spending the rest of the season catching up.

Two programs we're trying out for are the two mentioned in the title. Any thoughts on the programs? I want my son to be playing with people as good or better than he is, yet i don't want to do hockey to the exclusion of all else during the summer. Both programs say they welcome multi sport athletes, which is good because my boy wants to squeeze in some baseball, golf and soccer (tough, but i think we can do it).

We do have friends in the Ice Edge program, and have heard mixed things. The tryout process there was cursory at best, and they seem to be reorganizing yet again, so it's hard to get a handle on what level of talent they will have at the invite level. I know it is below the Blades , Machine, and some others. The price also seems to be pretty high-$2150- for a local team. I've heard good things about some of the people in charge, and I know for sure that a couple of the parents are good hockey people as well, and wouldn't stick their kids in a bad situation.

I know nothing about the Edge, really. I've heard that they are pretty competitive, but not as demanding as the Blades/ Machine type programs. I know these programs can vary from year to year, and can depend on who the coaches are.

My main goals are that my son;

- has good, but not manic, coaching. Overly intense coaching is unnecessary, and can turn a kid off a sport for life. It's a game!
- plays at or slightly above his level (he is an A/B tweener, IMO)

In all honesty if he's a bubble B/A, then he probably wouldn't make the 2000 MN Edge team as they are a high end team for that age. But hey you never know till you tryout.

Don't know much about ICE Edge in terms of the quality of program, but over 2k is too much. There are many more clubs out there than the 2 you have listed here. Just look through this message board and you'll see there's quite a few that advertise tryouts.

To name a couple more:

Legacy
Warrior
Magicians
Reebok Nationals

Ice Edge has added a week long camp in Hoyt Lakes / Giants Ridge for ALL players from 1998 - 2001 in the month of August. This cannot be compared to any other program for these birth levels. Each week will have a particular birthyear spending a week up there is what I've been told. They also have non parent coaching at the top level teams which I prefer.

TommyHockey--sounds like a great camp, but another program in the metro at the same levels will be doing some camping of their own. The 98s will be doing a week-long camp at the NTDP facilities in Ann Arbor, Michigan and players at a couple of younger levels will be participating in a USHL camp in Michigan put on by coaches of the USHL.

Now, this post has nothing to do with trying to get into some kind of chest-thumping competition of which proram is better. Only to point out that you need to be careful when you post comments like "This cannot be compared to any other program for these birth levels" when it's clear that you just don't know what all the other programs offer.

57special: I might be reading too much into your post. But you start by saying you are considering AAA spring/summer/fall hockey because your son is playing B hockey because the A team has kids playing year round. If my math is correct, your son is a PW or Squirt? If you're tired of the tryout results, I assume that means the last 2-3 years your son get beat out by AAA players. Here's my advice. Forget AAA hockey as a means to "make the A team" in October. Your son is probably the best player on the B team. He might be getting better than you think at the B level. Use the off season to play other sports AND do off-ice training for hockey.

I would not be concerned about making a Squirt B team.

thanks for the info, guys.

Badger Bob,

My boy is a first year Peewee. I'm not worried about him making an A team( he won't this year, for sure) in our very loaded association, but i am considering having him play summer AAA hockey either in 2012 or 2013 to develop some talents i see starting to emerge. Simple as that. I do agree in a perfect world that the summer would be left for other sports and activities, but i also know that about 90% of my son's last two Squirt B teams played AAA hockey. I think it's nuts, but i think many things are crazy in today's world. At a certain point one has to hold one's nose and go with the flow if you're going to compete. If, after one year, my son tells me that he only wants to play during the winter, then we'll go back to that.

My father played in the country during the 30 and 40's when some of his teammates didn't have enough money for pads. Helmets were unheard, of course, and he seldom played on indoor ice. When i played we were very hi tech and modern with our helmets (goalies were the only ones with facemasks, of course), pads, fibreglass wrapped sticks (later on, curved sticks...WOW!) heated arenas and leather Tack skates. Summer camps for hockey existed, but were very rare, even for high end players. I'm sure my father thought we were spoiled rotten, but he did buy me good equipment once it became clear i had some talent. I'm basically doing the same for my son, but not going overboard, hopefully.