Don't Skip the Scrimmage

I was pretty dismayed by the attendance at a scrimmage recently.

We've all been there. An opponent cancels at the last minute, or there's an open ice slot that your team can't find a dance partner for.

The ice is already paid for, so we're having a practice instead.

Or, if the officiating crew has already been arranged...a scrimmage.

And then people bail.

"Oh, it's just a scrimmage."

"It's not a real game."

"We'll skip."

First off, that whole attitude drives me bonkers.

Practices are worth so much more than games when it comes to player development. I know that's a tough sell to hockey parents, but I'll keep trying.

At the youth levels, drop things down to one game per week and add another weekly practice.

The improvement would be noticeable. Especially for the third- and fourth-line kids.

And not necessarily because those kids need more practice than everyone else.

It's because they actually get far more ice time during a practice than they do in games.

Sadly, those are often the exact players who skip these events.

Huge mistake.

Because hockey isn't just about skill.

It's about connections, luck, and then more connections.

Being in the right place at the right time is the secret ingredient.

I'm giving you the secret ingredient right now. Write it down.

Being at home, staring at your phone, will NEVER be the right place at the right time...while your teammates are on the ice in front of the coaching staff.

Never.

Why would you choose that?

Add-on events like these are opportunities.

Don't push opportunities aside for ANYTHING except a BETTER opportunity.

If you're not thrilled with your spot on the roster or even your team placement -- SKIPPING stuff like this only cements the predicament you find yourself in.

"F*ck those guys..." is not a solution.

I've always found that hard work in practice earns you better roles...and a standout performance in a "meaningless" scrimmage is where you really get noticed.

If you haven't already surmised, one of my kids just participated in one of these scrimmages.

And what happened afterward is exactly why I'm writing this.

And this isn't to brag and it's not 100% attributable to the fact that he's turned into a point-per-game player at his current level.

It's because he showed up to a scrimmage.

Physically.

And by that, I don't mean he was a physical force. I mean he was literally in the building.

I'm gonna rewind this 3 years now...

My oldest son, Duncan, was 14 and had just accepted a spot on a U15 midget team. Like, this is literally two days after tryouts in the Spring.

No uniforms, number hadn't been picked, hadn't even started paying the season tuition yet. Roster probably hadn't even been filled yet.

Get a text from the GM saying, "Hey, team from Vermont is heading to nationals and wants a warm-up scrimmage tomorrow morning before they fly out...in or out?"

Our home rink is kinda close to an airport -- the closest "big" airport for players coming down from Vermont -- so it all kinda made sense...not too out of the ordinary and a cool opportunity for a family that was brand new to the program.

There's that word again -- opportunity.

You bet we said, "Yes, we'll be there."

So we get there and come to learn that the Vermont team flying out to Nationals is a U18 team. My kid was playing bantam hockey 2 weeks prior...with middle schoolers. This was a step up, for sure.

Our team's roster was mostly a bunch of kids he'd never met -- a mixture of 15-17 year olds...players already playing for the program.

Bits and pieces of probably three teams...and then three or four of the "new" guys just coming on.

Now, I don't for a second believe my son was specifically selected -- certainly not one of those "Hey, we got this 14 year old at tryouts that's a stud -- let's have everyone take a look."

No, absolutely not... This was more a case of "lots of people were invited...a ton of them either didn't respond or said 'no'."

So we show up, they give my kid a jersey with a crappy number without a name on the back...and he plays his very first game against guys with full blown playoff beards and half shields on.

Finished the game, err, scrimmage with two assists in a 5-2 victory.

And that was that.

Five months later, his U15 season started, he played a single game...did absolutely nothing in it...but then got called up to play for the U16 team playing two towns over...forty-five minutes before that puck dropped.

I drove him there while he still had his bottom half on.

Never played or practiced with the U15 team again.

Now, that roster spot opened due to injury -- that's always the case -- but I've always believed the reason HE was selected over anyone else traces back to that scrimmage in March, five months earlier.

The one that so many players and families just blew off. The one with the GM and U16 coaches in attendance.

Had he been at home that Saturday morning staring at his phone instead...I'm convinced this would never have happened.

Completely changed his trajectory.

One. Single. Scrimmage.

You'd think after seeing that happen once, I'd never have to explain why these scrimmages matter again.

But, flashback to just this past weekend...and, again, it's a Vermont-based team playing a heavy role in the story.

U15 and U16 teams had a northern Vermont team cancel on them for games on Saturday so there was a wide open ice slot, a long one too, without an opponent to be found for either team.

Disappointing, sure, no one likes a Saturday without a game (even though they should)...but the team calendars were updated with the cancelled game being replaced by an "Intrasquad Scrimmage" just as the Thursday night practice concluded.

It was like the light came on in a dark closet filled with cockroaches.

My middle son, Henrik, who's on the U15 team, didn't even question whether he was participating.

We know how this works.

But at the same time, within earshot in the rink lobby, I heard other families making plans as if the day was suddenly wide open.

And it's weird because many of them are families that would NEVER miss a practice.

If there were a game, they'd be there.

Seriously, at the midget age (15 to 18 year olds), most families are pretty all-in cause they've been at this for a decade already.

They could have said we had a game in Pittsburgh, an 8 hour drive, and there would have been grumbling but they would have been there.

But a practice or scrimmage, at home, instead of a game?

No, we're out.

Hockey can be weird that way. I trace that back to so many folks putting so much weight on the games. I don't get it...I'm a broken record on certain things...but...whatever.

So, anyway, I'd venture to say that half of the U15 team didn't show up.

Half of the U16 team...didn't show up either.

The GM, who doesn't coach either team, selected the teams based on the kids that were there...a few U14 kids were there too just like what had happened years prior with my oldest son...and they played an intrasquad scrimmage with a referee and everything.

Henrik scored the opening goal...on a line with two top line players from the U16 team.

It wasn't a pretty goal. Certainly not highlight material...but it showcased that he could hang with the older players, anticipate what they might (or should) do, generate his own opportunities, backcheck like a beast, and wasn't afraid to go into the dirty areas to muscle the puck into the net.

I wasn't there, in person, so I watched the first period of the game, err, scrimmage on LiveBarn from a rink parking lot two hours away but I could tell, just by his stride, he was pumped...even before scoring.

And it lasted all game -- now having rewatched the entire thing, I can see that he knew it was an opportunity.

Chipped in an assist late in the game and it ended as a 4-1 victory.

One of the other goals was from a U15 teammate and another was an empty netter. Strong showing for the younger players, for sure.

After my other son's game -- in one of those rinks with ZERO cell service or wifi -- we head out to the car and my phone starts going off with all of the missed notifications.

A text from the GM -- "Hey -- can Henrik play U16 tomorrow?"

I'm already driving at this point, so I have Duncan reply -- without even looking at the following day's schedule -- "Yes, 100%. He will be there."

As I alluded to earlier...BETTER opportunities take priority. Always.

Duncan then texts his brother who's at home handing out candy -- this all went down on Halloween.

"Call up for the kid."

And then they went back and forth with some teenager slang and a few LFGs!

Fulfilling as a parent when they support each other like that...

And, sure, he was probably on a sugar high anyway but my wife confirmed he was NEXT LEVEL pumped with the news.

He played the next day.

He was in the starting lineup. The coach read the lines off in the locker room like they do in the NHL, and everyone cheered when it was announced that the right wing would be "Rutschie".

Neat moment for him.

Didn't light up the scoresheet, but held his own. And that's all we could have asked for.

The opportunity itself was the accomplishment.

For the die hard hockey parents, and my own archives, here's his opening shift. He's the right wing, number, 38 in white.

So, yeah, this is one of those situations that almost every hockey parent has experienced: the supposedly meaningless practice, optional skate, or scrimmage that suddenly appears on the team calendar app.

And I can already hear the excuses.

"We didn't know that scrimmage was going to be an audition."

"We didn't know the GM would be watching."

"We didn't know there might be an opportunity waiting on the other side."

Well, of course you didn't.

That's the whole point.

Sure, sometimes you've got a legitimate reason to miss something. I'm talking about the families that skip simply because it doesn't count in the standings.

Opportunities don't always announce themselves as opportunities.

Sometimes they look like a Saturday afternoon scrimmage on Halloween that nobody really wants to attend.

And that's exactly why you should be there.

Now I said earlier that advancement in hockey is usually driven by connections, luck, and then more connections.

You can't control injuries.

You can't control roster openings.

You can't control who the coaches notice.

You can't predict which seemingly insignificant events will turn into meaningful opportunities.

But you can control whether you're there when an opportunity presents itself.

And that's where attendance comes in.

Neither opportunity would have come to fruition if the kids hadn't shown up.

Three years apart. Two different kids. Two different scrimmages.

Two opportunities that might never have happened.

Don't skip the scrimmage.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know -- I love the feedback from all angles!

Chris Rutsch

Hockey Dad

Year round, I spend a significant amount of time and money transporting my three boys to and from freezing cold ice rinks. Not because I expect them to make it to the NHL but because I know the rigorous youth hockey experience will serve them well in the future.