THE VAULT: HE COULD'VE BEEN... Yes, the excuses are starting to fill the in-box.

“My son should have been with a different coach, a different line, or maybe even a different league,” is just an example of the common complaints. Here’s the truth folks, players get to different levels of play for a great number of different reasons.

First of all, age is nothing but a number. Stop telling yourself that little Johnny is too young for this level of play, or too good for that league. Like the way water will always find its place, hockey players find themselves in the stalls of teams that fate led them to.

No, it’s not fun paying to play on a team that has not won a game all season. No, it’s not fun seeing another netminder getting more games, despite your son having a better season statistically. No, it’s not easy to try and manage a young man that’s rostered on a free-to-play team, but also only dressing for one out of every five games.

Chicago Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard is a 2005 birth year player from Vancouver, British Columbia. During the 2019-2020 season, the fourteen-year-old Bedard picked up 84 points playing for West Vancouver Academy Prep’s Canadian Sports School Hockey League under-18 team. At FOURTEEN. Was he too young or can we concede that he found the level of play that best suited his development to that date and level of maturity.

Bedard played the next three seasons with the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats, amassing 271 points in just 134 games played. Let’s not forget, that first year as a fifteen-year-old.

Every player, and every path, is different. Prospects and families should stop listening to the noise and concentrate on what’s the absolute best track for that single particular player. Players need to stop worrying about a linemate from two years ago, and the opportunity that player is getting. Instead, maybe simply focus on the individual’s own developmental opportunities and making sure to make the most of them.

We have a young, but highly skilled client, that made a few very immature off ice decisions over the course of his first year of junior hockey. The consequences of those bad choices have been a reduced number of serious developmental opportunities. Instead of being a lock to jump a few rungs on the developmental ladder, we had to scramble for legitimate possibilities for this season.

Bedard made a choice long ago to be the absolute best hockey player he could be. His dedication to the game overshadowed the temptation to do anything that would retard his development. That’s what seriously committed people do.

The lessons learned from the developmental path of highly competitive hockey will easily translate into everyday life. Success, in any career field or life goal, requires a tremendous level of commitment.

The really good news for youth and junior hockey players is this. It’s not too late to transition any prospect from “could’ve been” into a “going to be”. If the prospect is interested in putting in the work, I am interested in helping him reach the goals.

Now, how bad do you want it?