Post #85 – 5/29/23 – The Silly Season
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The Silly Season Begins
For our readers in the US, hopefully you are enjoying your Memorial Day with friends and family and making something great on the grill.
As Memorial Day is the unofficial start to Summer, in just a few short days the official start of the women’s college hockey recruiting season will begin – on June 1st. ‘The Silly Season’ as I would call it – is here.
I can’t lay claim to coining the phrase… For those who are regular listeners of NHL Sirius XM station like I am, you have surly heard the term – The Silly Season. A reference to all the crazy Tom-Foolery nonsense that surrounds NHL Free-Agency which begins July 1. Such a great term I had to use it.
So, for NCAA Coaches and youth hockey families, the summer can be a ‘Silly’ time of year. It can even seem more busy that the regular season. Is there really ever really a break?
For players and families ‘The Silly Season’ means traveling around and attending recruiting events from coast to coast, all across the globe for much of the summer. Your focus is primarily on getting as much exposure to college coaches as you can… and giving up the chance to play another sport, have a job, do some volunteer work, and really – just be a kid in the summer.
For College Coaches, ‘The Silly Season’ means a lot of recruiting: Phone calls to recruits at all hours of the day, lots of time in the car, airport and hotels, hours spent in rinks either working hockey camps or evaluating potential recruits. And lots of hours away from family and friends.
It’s like players and coaches are on the same hamster-wheel. Coaches chase players because we go where the players are, and players are chasing their college hockey dreams based on where coaches say they’ll be at.
Does it need to be this way?
No, it doesn’t.
And in tomorrow’s post, I’ll explain how you can control the silliness, get more out the recruiting process, while buying time and saving money.
Until Next Time Everyone… Be Well and take Care,
-Streams for games in the ECAC can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.
-Streams in the WCHA can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.
-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Hockey East once again is streaming all game live and for FREE.
-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. can be found HERE. Paid subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.
-Streams for NEWHA games can be found at each teams’ website. Subscriptions may be necessary to watch games.
NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.
Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.
Grant Kimball is founder and contributing writer at Women’s College Hockey.org and beginning his 4th season as an Assistant Coach with the Yale University women’s hockey program. Grant has developed an experienced perspective in the world of women’s ice hockey, having coached and recruited players from across the globe during his 25+ year amateur and NCAA coaching career. He has coached at 6 NCAA DIII and DI programs in the NCHA (D3), the CHA, WCHA, Hockey East, ECAC, and the Ivy League (DI). Beyond coaching, Grant served as a site representative for the 2019 NCAA quarterfinal of the D-I NCAA Tournament. He also currently serves as an Officer with the American Hockey Coaches Association as Vice President of Membership and sits on the AHCA’s Women’s Hockey Executive Committee.
Hi Grant, I can’t wait for tomorrow’s post. My daughter Nani is a 2025 at Choate and I’m resisting the FOMO by only having her attend a couple camps this Summer. I need encouragement that I’m doing the right thing!
Denny Keyes