GRIT Hockey

Youth hockey can feel like a race to be the best 9-year-old on the ice, and it’s an unfortunate trap. Making a certain team at a particular age has little bearing on long-term development. What matters most is helping your child grow into a confident young adult with friends, mentors, direction, and a passion that sticks. You don’t need “elite” hockey to accomplish those goals.

Many talented kids won’t make AAA this year—and that hurts. They’ve worked hard and come so close. Opening the final roster without seeing their name can be heartbreaking for all the right reasons. They wanted it. They worked for it. Maybe they even deserved it. But this can be a teaching moment that builds resilience and determination- traits that can take them much further than a certain level of hockey ever will.

Once the sting fades, it’s time to focus on the incredible positives still ahead:

You get to play hockey next season.

You’ll be part of a new team, with new friendships to build.

Great coaches exist at every level, and development continues everywhere.

You can thrive in a different division, build confidence, and sharpen your game.

And if that passion is still burning? It’ll show up again—stronger and more focused—next year.

This is when it’s most important to ensure hockey is child-led. Don’t turn spring and summer into 7-day-a-week hockey unless it’s what they want. Sometimes, a break is exactly what they need. If your kid loves the game, they’ll be the ones asking to get on the ice- and if higher-level hockey is in their future, they’ll find their way. Maybe next year, maybe in five. But the key to long-term success is the love of the game, so don’t let your well-meaning ambitions extinguish the fire.

They’ll get there.