Rejected at 11. A True Story.

This happened. It’s a story that’s been told before in rinks across New England. It’s not a happy story, but can turn into one.

Yesterday we got a call from a parent. His child is a current 11U goalie and has been with his club 3 years. This week, the parent and child got the dreaded. “We won’t be able to offer you a contract next year” message. To a family and player it sounds and feels like “We don’t want you and you aren’t good enough for our team."  

When the father called us, the pain, stress, and sadness in his voice was palpable. His son loved his club and at the age of 11 being told he was told he was not good enough to be in his program because of MyHockey rankings is something no child at 11 should have to deal with. We felt empathy for this parent because we can relate.

The Imperials founder’s child grew up playing hockey and got cut many times until he found a club that took him in, a developing hockey player with a desire to get better but never had the opportunity to do so. This club said “we can make you better and you don’t have to worry about being cut, as long as you put in the work.” He did the work for four seasons in that club and had an enjoyable HS hockey experience, which was his goal all along.

This experience became the foundation of what hockey should be and what our program is based on. This is the experience that 95% of all hockey players should have, because only 5% are ever going to make it to NCAA hockey and only 1% of that the NHL. 

The Boston Imperials were founded in 2019 with that philosophy in mind. This philosophy is not popular with parents and coaches who are chasing rankings and trophies, because we cater to the 95% and maybe we'll develop some players into the 5%. We see many parents who already believe their kids will be in the 5% or chase the 5%, when it's better to take a long-term approach to development.

We believe that player development is a covenant between a club, the family, and the player that takes multiple years to achieve its potential. We will give you the best we have to offer in coaching, resources, and player development. The player in turn shows us a commitment by working hard and striving to get better every day, year over year. The family makes sure the player has positive reinforcement during the development process.  Thus our motto, “Hard Work Never Quits.” That’s from our coaches to the players, and the players to us.  The parents as well.  This motto also translates into core values that will make them successful in HS, College and work after college.

This covenant gives players the time and space they need to develop without worrying if they will be replaced by the next superstar. Our covenant can be summarized as Hockey without fear.  It’s about the family and player accepting that hockey development takes more than one single season and consistency to develop and improve. If a child has a bad shift, a bad game, or even a bad season, it doesn’t mean he’s not worthy of a roster spot on one of our teams. The other part of the covenant is from the family to us. We ask these families and players to commit to us, with hard work and a determination to improve and develop and allow us the ability to help get them ready for a satisfying high school or prep school experience. We don't take families that have a track record of playing and leaving multiple programs. Our time is too valuable for the "one and dones." The covenant also includes that if we aren't doing a good enough job as it relates to your child, let us know so we can discuss it. If we feel your child is cutting corners, we will let you know. It's a two-way relationship.

Our philosophy is working.  Almost 70% of our players who have come through our program stayed the entire time of their HS/Midget years. 95% of our players make their varsity teams. We also have two dozen players since 2019, who have gone on to juniors and college. That’s a very high number for a club less than 5 years old and we are proud of those statistics. 

Back to the story. We told the father that yes, he would have a home with us, and we would develop him, but we wanted him to understand that this is not the place for kids chasing trophies and championships above all else. This is place for the 95%, where you put in the work and in return you will get the best back from us. We ended our call that his son would have the time and space needed to develop, and could play in this club for as long as he wants to. 

We own who we are and our proud of it. Our system is designed to help players play at the appropriate level without the fear of being replaced and without looking over their shoulder. Once he is able to move to the next level, we will move him.

We want our teams competitive, so they improve enough to help the players reach their ultimate playing goals.  But, young players deserve the security and time to work on their games as opposed to worrying about next tryout season if they are getting replaced because their team isn’t in the Top 100 in the country. 

The word is starting to spread about our philosophy because it’s so different from others. We get parents calling us daily saying, “We’ve never heard of you, tell me more.” We tell them that it’s a place where you can enjoy the experience of being in the rink and being part of an inclusive community that doesn’t treat you like a number. Most respond, “I would love to be part of that. It seems less stressful.”

Hockey is not supposed to be stressful. It’s a time to celebrate, enjoy, and spend time with your child while they are young enough and before they head out in the world. It’s a precious time. Having stress ruin it because parents are worrying about the wrong things means you will miss the little things that matter. No one remembers the scores, or all the games, or even all the trophies. They remember they place that helped them get better and have fun along the way. 

Once parents hear that they go “Where do I sign up?”. We have parents who can vouch for our philosophy. If you think our philosophy is something you want to be a part of, contact us, and share your story with us and we’ll try to help.