Junior Hockey Position Switch

Question
Hello Martial, My 19 yr old son made a junior b hockey team after taking 2yrs off of hockey. His position has always been defense, after noticing his speed and skating skills they moved him to offense. He never played there and is not being mentored at all to play the position- therefore he will sit on the bench. Odd- coaching- sitting your fastest player- anyway I want him to take another avenue, even a move from our state'NC' to Florida or Michigan (relatives there)He is in the MJHL, any idea's on what we can do- I wont let him sit and have no clue how these junior politics work. Thanks for any advise

Answer
Hi Joe!

Sorry for delay in reply - seems that AllExperts has had some issues with delivering mail!!

But I have it now!

Yes the last thing you want to do is waste time playing hockey "riding the pine"!!  Unless he can talk to the coach about his real chances - or what he needs to do to be able to earn more ice time - you may want to consider going to another team.  

Note: The coaches may actually like your son - cause moving a player to another position is a sign they want to keep him and are trying to give him some sort of chance to break the line up...  again a good talk with the coaches might help!

Unfortunately politics in junior hockey does exist.   It often seems those that "squeak" the most get the attention.   In many case parents and players who constantly sell themselves do get more attention!  I guess that happens in alot of situations!!  

You may want to consider another team or league as there are many other leagues at varying levels like Junior B and Junior C... -- sometimes being a bigger fish in a small pond is alot for enjoyable and less stressful....  You can check out www.usahockey.com for the links to theses different leagues...  
Here are few of the higher grade leagues:
http://www.nahl.com/
http://www.ushl.com/
http://www.cshlhockey.com/

Hope this helps!  Feel free to follow up with other questions!

Thank you!

Good Luck!

Martial